About Sully; How good a rebounder is he?

[billysan]

Perk was not a great rebounder for us and hasnt been for OKC. (I think he was adequate though) This guy is better than Perk IMO. I know they play different positions but I think they are somewhat similar at 6'9" plus, long arms, powerful body, physical presence, and not great leapers.

[SHAQATTACK]

Sully is maybe 20 yrs old ? So I guess he is finished growing , he is a huge fellow.

Hard to say, but practicing against our  7 footers Sully should deveople some nice skills to avoid being blocked.

I kinda hope Sully turns out to be a Charles Barkley type of scorer.  Charles couldn't usually out leap or run many people , but he could OUT HUSSLE and out play and fake out his opponents under the basket.  He used the rim to help keep the taller opponents off him.   I can see some of this in Sully's game and learning against KG and Darko , he should do pretty good against 90% of the PF's and smaller centers.

I can't wait to see Sully play and Kris Joeseph too !!

[Chris]

Sully is maybe 20 yrs old ? So I guess he is finished growing , he is a huge fellow.

Hard to say, but practicing against our  7 footers Sully should deveople some nice skills to avoid being blocked.

I kinda hope Sully turns out to be a Charles Barkley type of scorer.  Charles couldn't usually out leap or run many people , but he could OUT HUSSLE and out play and fake out his opponents under the basket.  He used the rim to help keep the taller opponents off him.   I can see some of this in Sully's game and learning against KG and Darko , he should do pretty good against 90% of the PF's and smaller centers.

I can't wait to see Sully play and Kris Joeseph too !!

Did you watch Charles early in his career?  Because he could absolutely outleap and run his opponents.  He was a pretty spectacular athlete.

The guy I think Sully should be emulating is Elton Brand.  He is a better athlete than Sully as well, but he is closer (especially if Sully can get a little quicker as he sheds pounds).  Brand, at his peak, really used his intelligence and ball skills to make up for his less than spectacular athleticism and size.

[SHAQATTACK]

Sully is maybe 20 yrs old ? So I guess he is finished growing , he is a huge fellow.

Hard to say, but practicing against our  7 footers Sully should deveople some nice skills to avoid being blocked.

I kinda hope Sully turns out to be a Charles Barkley type of scorer.  Charles couldn't usually out leap or run many people , but he could OUT HUSSLE and out play and fake out his opponents under the basket.  He used the rim to help keep the taller opponents off him.   I can see some of this in Sully's game and learning against KG and Darko , he should do pretty good against 90% of the PF's and smaller centers.

I can't wait to see Sully play and Kris Joeseph too !!

Did you watch Charles early in his career?  Because he could absolutely outleap and run his opponents.  He was a pretty spectacular athlete.

The guy I think Sully should be emulating is Elton Brand.  He is a better athlete than Sully as well, but he is closer (especially if Sully can get a little quicker as he sheds pounds).  Brand, at his peak, really used his intelligence and ball skills to make up for his less than spectacular athleticism and size.

I sure  hope Sully is better than Brand  , a player I never like at Duke or anywhere else did he impress me much.

[Chris]

Sully is maybe 20 yrs old ? So I guess he is finished growing , he is a huge fellow.

Hard to say, but practicing against our  7 footers Sully should deveople some nice skills to avoid being blocked.

I kinda hope Sully turns out to be a Charles Barkley type of scorer.  Charles couldn't usually out leap or run many people , but he could OUT HUSSLE and out play and fake out his opponents under the basket.  He used the rim to help keep the taller opponents off him.   I can see some of this in Sully's game and learning against KG and Darko , he should do pretty good against 90% of the PF's and smaller centers.

I can't wait to see Sully play and Kris Joeseph too !!

Did you watch Charles early in his career?  Because he could absolutely outleap and run his opponents.  He was a pretty spectacular athlete.

The guy I think Sully should be emulating is Elton Brand.  He is a better athlete than Sully as well, but he is closer (especially if Sully can get a little quicker as he sheds pounds).  Brand, at his peak, really used his intelligence and ball skills to make up for his less than spectacular athleticism and size.

I sure  hope Sully is better than Brand  , a player I never like at Duke or anywhere else did he impress me much.

Well, you are certainly setting your hopes very high.  Brand has a career average of 18 and 9, and was a regular 20 and 10 guy with good defense during his prime.  He is probably one of the top 5 or 6 PFs of his generation (with only really KG, Duncan, Webber, and Dirk firmly ahead of him).

If Sully can give us even 70% of Brand, then he is a huge steal.

Although I do understand the Duke hate.

[2short]

Sully is maybe 20 yrs old ? So I guess he is finished growing , he is a huge fellow.

Hard to say, but practicing against our  7 footers Sully should deveople some nice skills to avoid being blocked.

I kinda hope Sully turns out to be a Charles Barkley type of scorer.  Charles couldn't usually out leap or run many people , but he could OUT HUSSLE and out play and fake out his opponents under the basket.  He used the rim to help keep the taller opponents off him.   I can see some of this in Sully's game and learning against KG and Darko , he should do pretty good against 90% of the PF's and smaller centers.

I can't wait to see Sully play and Kris Joeseph too !!

Did you watch Charles early in his career?  Because he could absolutely outleap and run his opponents.  He was a pretty spectacular athlete.

The guy I think Sully should be emulating is Elton Brand.  He is a better athlete than Sully as well, but he is closer (especially if Sully can get a little quicker as he sheds pounds).  Brand, at his peak, really used his intelligence and ball skills to make up for his less than spectacular athleticism and size.

agreed, barkley had hops, speed down the court and an outside shot
i'm thinking more of a paul silas clone...good rebounder & defender who can play within the team game and hit that elbow jumper

[nickagneta]

There have been a ton, and I mean a TON, of great rebounders in college that never had that skill translate into being a great NBA rebounder. Michael Beasley and Malik Rose come instantly to mind. I'm not sure with his physical limitations that Sully translates into a great NBA rebounder, but he should be at least as good as Bass.

[ManUp]

Sully is maybe 20 yrs old ? So I guess he is finished growing , he is a huge fellow.

Hard to say, but practicing against our  7 footers Sully should deveople some nice skills to avoid being blocked.

I kinda hope Sully turns out to be a Charles Barkley type of scorer.  Charles couldn't usually out leap or run many people , but he could OUT HUSSLE and out play and fake out his opponents under the basket.  He used the rim to help keep the taller opponents off him.   I can see some of this in Sully's game and learning against KG and Darko , he should do pretty good against 90% of the PF's and smaller centers.

I can't wait to see Sully play and Kris Joeseph too !!

Did you watch Charles early in his career?  Because he could absolutely outleap and run his opponents.  He was a pretty spectacular athlete.

The guy I think Sully should be emulating is Elton Brand.  He is a better athlete than Sully as well, but he is closer (especially if Sully can get a little quicker as he sheds pounds).  Brand, at his peak, really used his intelligence and ball skills to make up for his less than spectacular athleticism and size.

I sure  hope Sully is better than Brand  , a player I never like at Duke or anywhere else did he impress me much.

Your knowledge of basketball players is looking Shaky man, lol.

Barkley was an amazing athlete and Elton Brand was a beast until joining Philly.

I'm crossing my fingers for somewhere along the lines of Brand, Boozer, Brand, and Love.

[mctyson]

Sullinger has a standing reach of 8'10", with an OK vert of 30".  His No-Step max Vertical Reach was measured at 11'3" - which is exactly the same as Thomas Robinson's. 

Now how many people on this board would say Robinson is not athletic enough to rebound in the NBA?  Probably very few.  Because he is ripped and he was a lottery pick.  But everyone says Sully lacks athleticism. 

Here's the catch - Sully outweighs Robinson by almost 30 pounds.

So the #5 pick in the draft can reach those rebounds just as well as our #21 pick, but needs to be 30 pounds lighter to do so?  I'll put my money on Sully being a better rebounder in the NBA.

[nickagneta]

Sullinger has a standing reach of 8'10", with an OK vert of 30".  His No-Step max Vertical Reach was measured at 11'3" - which is exactly the same as Thomas Robinson's. 

Now how many people on this board would say Robinson is not athletic enough to rebound in the NBA?  Probably very few.  Because he is ripped and he was a lottery pick.  But everyone says Sully lacks athleticism. 

Here's the catch - Sully outweighs Robinson by almost 30 pounds.

So the #5 pick in the draft can reach those rebounds just as well as our #21 pick, but needs to be 30 pounds lighter to do so?  I'll put my money on Sully being a better rebounder in the NBA.

What you are leaving out is Robinson's 2" more of reach, 4.5" more in max vertical and his superior athleticism, quickness and strength that all showed up in pre draft measurements. You also left out that Robinson didn't have possible back problems that could manifest itself.

[#1P4P]

Sullinger has a standing reach of 8'10", with an OK vert of 30".  His No-Step max Vertical Reach was measured at 11'3" - which is exactly the same as Thomas Robinson's. 

Now how many people on this board would say Robinson is not athletic enough to rebound in the NBA?  Probably very few.  Because he is ripped and he was a lottery pick.  But everyone says Sully lacks athleticism. 

Here's the catch - Sully outweighs Robinson by almost 30 pounds.

So the #5 pick in the draft can reach those rebounds just as well as our #21 pick, but needs to be 30 pounds lighter to do so?  I'll put my money on Sully being a better rebounder in the NBA.

This post deserveth one tommy point...

To clarify some of the statements made in this thread... In 4 games in the Orlando league, Sullinger averaged 8.3 RPG in 28.3 MPG placing him 2nd behind Enes Kanter. In 5 games in the Vegas league, JS averaged 8.6 RPG in 26 MPG placing him 7th in the league.

How could his ceiling be that of an average rebounder when he's either in the top 2 or 7 among his peers (granted a small sample size)?

Sullinger should model his game after Zach Randolph. They have similar measurements (both listed at 6'9" 260) and Sully is a better athlete. Z-Bo's arsenal is polished in some aspects and and gritty in others, either way, he gets it done. Jared would be well suited to emulate Z-Bo's game.

[csfansince60s]

Sully's upside is probably ZBo.

Sully doesn't have ZBo's agility, but possesses other skills that ZBo doesn't have.

They are roughly the same size and weight. Both can rebound and both can shoot the short jumper.

Couldn't find ZBo's pre-draft measurements for 2001. I wonder how they compare.

TP to #1P4P. Was typing V-E-R-Y slowly while you posted.

TP to mctyson, too.

Dime magazine agrees with us by the way:

PLAYER COMPARISONS:
Best Case: Zach Randolph
Worst Case: Josh Harrellson
Final Comparison: Carlos Boozer

http://dimemag.com/2012/06/dime-nba-draft-profile-jared-sullinger/

[billysan]

Actually, Z Bo is a better comparison for Sullinger than my Perkins attempt. The real things that have helped Z Bo to be successful (in spite of his shortcomings of lacking leaping ability and athleticism) are motor, foot work, soft hands and shooting touch. Sullinger has all of these same attributes to some degree IMO.

Sullinger will be somewhat effected by his back. I hope it is never a major issue for him but merely an annoyance. Hopefully he can keep it in check with flexibility work and good weight management.

I would be thrilled if he is 80% Z Bo.

[mmmmm]

I concur with the Z-Bo comparisons - that's probably a good body type to compare Sully with.

I think though, that Sully is likely to be at least a marginally _better_ rebounder than Randolph for a few reasons.

1) as mentioned, he's a little bit more athletic
2) One of Sully's advantageous attributes is his velcro hands.  He rarely fails to catch passes into the post and rarely fumbles the ball away (Not that I'm mentioning any names of former Celtic big men ...).   If the ball is near him, he is like glue.  This applies to his rebounding as well.
3) Sully, offensively, is more likely than most to play near the post.  This will put him in far better position to grab offensive rebounds than most Celtic big men the last couple of years (since Shaq, really).   Even though Doc will continue to NOT emphasize ORBs, Sully will almost certainly, by virtue of positioning, grab quite a few.
4) Defensively, Sully is not highly mobile.  I expect Doc to try to usually put him on the floor mainly with another big who has good lateral mobility (i.e., KG) so that Sully can focus on post and weak-side defense.  This will leave Sully again, closer to the basket.

All these things, combined with his well-known superior lower body strength and footwork lead me to believe that Sully could end up with very good rebounding numbers.

[Who]

Couldn't find ZBo's pre-draft measurements for 2001. I wonder how they compare.

Zach Randolph had/has much greater length. Something like a 7-4 or 7-5 wingspan. Similar to Elton Brand and a couple of inches longer than Carlos Boozer.

I think Kevin Love had the most similar physical measurements to Sullinger (amongst star PFs) that I have come across. Love has improved his body quite a bit since coming to the NBA though. Reports on Sully's weight loss last year were worrying. Apparently, Sully didn't gain much athleticism despite losing a lot of weight. Only decreased his power advantage in the post. Something we'll have to wait to find out more about in the next few seasons.