Doc: "if Jared gets a smaller guy, he's going to destroy him."

[celticinorlando]

can't wait to see sully. hope he grasps things quickly. he is better than baby and could really be a asset

[Edgar]

can't wait to see sully. hope he grasps things quickly. he is better than baby and could really be a asset

I put my money on him

I am not a great bet guy

fingers crossed

[mctyson]

He's going to gradually develop Paul Pierce-like face-up skills so that he'll be able to destroy centers off the dribble and draw a ton of fouls as well. Learning from Pierce will be invaluable to Sully.

Sullinger is a PF.  He has a face-up game.  He doesn't need to drive to the basket to beat centers.  He has enough length to get off his shot against anyone in the league.

[Chris]

He has enough length to get off his shot against anyone in the league.

That's a strange thing to say, since the knock on him in college was that he didn't have enough length to get his shot off (at least cleanly) against longer COLLEGE defenders.  Are they smaller in the NBA?

This is going to be Sully's toughest transition.  He will have to learn how to get his shot off against guys who are both bigger and stronger, which rarely happened in college. 

[Jon]

Well, I think the worst case scenario for Sullinger is that he can do most of what Bass can do (hit the jumper, finish relatively open looks under the rim) and rebound a bit better.  The question will be whether he can do the latter two skills as well as Bass can do them (which is darn well). 

Best case is that he develops that post game and has the other skills, which would make him a very valuable player. 

Time will tell. 

[snively]

Maybe Doc is thinking of a lot of the back-up 4s in the league.  In our division: Ed Davis, Steve Novak, Thaddeus Young, Teletovic.  I can see Sully having a lot of success against such players

I think Young gets the better of him both sides of the ball considered. Teletovic is an unknown quantity for me.

You don't think Sullinger could give Young a lot of problems in the post (I don't doubt that Young would give him problem on the other end of the court)?

[indeedproceed]

Maybe Doc is thinking of a lot of the back-up 4s in the league.  In our division: Ed Davis, Steve Novak, Thaddeus Young, Teletovic.  I can see Sully having a lot of success against such players

I think Young gets the better of him both sides of the ball considered. Teletovic is an unknown quantity for me.

You don't think Sullinger could give Young a lot of problems in the post (I don't doubt that Young would give him problem on the other end of the court)?

I think that Young gets consistently underrated because he's small. Some people still think of the guy as a 3/4. Defensively Thad Young is good enough to make sure he's consistently getting the better (scoring more points than he's allowing) of opposing PF's.

http://www.82games.com/1112/11PHI8.HTM#bypos

Young is mobile, he's good at taking charges, and he's a very good P&R defender (according to John Hollinger). Against Sullinger, there would be possessions where Sully just beasts over him, but when you look at the entire sample size, I think you'd find the same thing most teams find with Young: That while his game is a bit flawed, when he was out there the sixers were better than when he wasn't.

 

[Who]

Maybe Doc is thinking of a lot of the back-up 4s in the league.  In our division: Ed Davis, Steve Novak, Thaddeus Young, Teletovic.  I can see Sully having a lot of success against such players

I think Young gets the better of him both sides of the ball considered. Teletovic is an unknown quantity for me.

You don't think Sullinger could give Young a lot of problems in the post (I don't doubt that Young would give him problem on the other end of the court)?

I think that Young gets consistently underrated because he's small. Some people still think of the guy as a 3/4. Defensively Thad Young is good enough to make sure he's consistently getting the better (scoring more points than he's allowing) of opposing PF's.

http://www.82games.com/1112/11PHI8.HTM#bypos

Young is mobile, he's good at taking charges, and he's a very good P&R defender (according to John Hollinger). Against Sullinger, there would be possessions where Sully just beasts over him, but when you look at the entire sample size, I think you'd find the same thing most teams find with Young: That while his game is a bit flawed, when he was out there the sixers were better than when he wasn't.

I don't think either one can defend the other.

That said, I'd give Sullinger the edge. Sully is a better individual shot-creator than Thaddeus Young is.

Thaddeus Young's main value defensively is active quick-footed team defense rather than tough man-to-man defense. This is the main reason why Thaddeus is a backup PF/SF and 6th/7th man rather than a starter; that lack of defensive range in man-to-man coverages.

A guy Sully's size at 270-280lbs is a tough cover for Thaddeus Young (6-8, 230lbs). He'll need double teams to contain Sullinger. It just comes down to how well Boston exploit the advantage. It's certainly there.