A. Sherrod Blakely tweet about Sully

[Celtics4ever]

A lot is being said about his struggles, lately... yet in his 3 prior games he was shooting 60% from the floor, including 2-4 from 3s. So benching him based on a trend would have been an idiotic move from Stevens.

His struggles are in the effort area, and defense.  He can be a skilled offensive player when he focuses on his strength.  He almost always finds a way to rebound.

I agree, he needs to played with Wright who can compensate for his lack of athletic ability.

I actually like Sully and think with hard work he could see an all-star game.

  I am his number one detractor and I almost agree with this one, it would take a lot of hard work and dedication though, something I am not sure he has really.

[GreenGoggles]

If you've never been close to being an All Star, you have no right to be mad if a guy gets traded. But, that's clearly not the source of the problem here as Sullinger's tailed off for a few weeks now. JG, on the other hand...

The out of shape angle...if he came in out of shape, wouldn't that mean a poor training camp and preseason? That was the best part of his season. But he had a good preseason, struggled out of the gates, and then looked like the best player on the team for games 5-18 or so. You'd think if there were conditioning issues, they'd sort of evaporate after playing a professional sport on the fastest paced team in the league for 30 mpg for 2 months.

I'm scared to imply it's the other route, but genuinely worrying about his back problems(or some other injury) at this point. Or he's just 22 freaking years old and is just figuring himself out as a professional. Tough to tell. 

A lot is being said about his struggles, lately... yet in his 3 prior games he was shooting 60% from the floor, including 2-4 from 3s. So benching him based on a trend would have been an idiotic move from Stevens.

So he had a poor 9 minutes of play, big deal. You just don't bench one of your top prospects, a very young one at that, due to that particularly when he's been playing very well through the rest of the year.

This is either a dumb move from Stevens or something happened that we aren't aware of.

Very true, I don't see how guys like Jameer Nelson get traded here and get their starting spot immediately while established Celtic's like Sullinger are getting 9 minutes of play because of poor performance. He can't turn his struggles around in 9 minutes.

[KeepRondo]

I think Stevens deserves some credit for finally growing a pair and making a tough decision(benching Sully). If Sully really feels he's entitled to his 30 minutes and he's going to run out of the building like a child when he doesn't get his minutes, then he probably needs more tough love from Stevens. And if this is really who he is and these actions represent him then I think Sully would had kept skating through the year. Hopefully Sully responds by increasing his effort and moving with more purpose on defense.

[Celtics4ever]

He showed zero effort in the first 9 minutes, rewatch it.   It was not about struggling, it was about not trying.   There will be no turn around, with that kind of effort.  There is a huge difference between struggling and not giving a darn.   Last night it was the latter.

http://nesn.com/2014/12/celtics-notes-jared-sullinger-jeff-green-pull-disappearing-act-vs-magic/

All the Sully apologists talk, sounds delusional and desperate to me, it is almost like people are in denial of what they are seeing.  They are throwing out every excuse in the book.   

[MBunge]

If you've never been close to being an All Star, you have no right to be mad if a guy gets traded. But, that's clearly not the source of the problem here as Sullinger's tailed off for a few weeks now. JG, on the other hand...

The out of shape angle...if he came in out of shape, wouldn't that mean a poor training camp and preseason? That was the best part of his season. But he had a good preseason, struggled out of the gates, and then looked like the best player on the team for games 5-18 or so. You'd think if there were conditioning issues, they'd sort of evaporate after playing a professional sport on the fastest paced team in the league for 30 mpg for 2 months.

I'm scared to imply it's the other route, but genuinely worrying about his back problems(or some other injury) at this point. Or he's just 22 freaking years old and is just figuring himself out as a professional. Tough to tell. 

A lot is being said about his struggles, lately... yet in his 3 prior games he was shooting 60% from the floor, including 2-4 from 3s. So benching him based on a trend would have been an idiotic move from Stevens.

So he had a poor 9 minutes of play, big deal. You just don't bench one of your top prospects, a very young one at that, due to that particularly when he's been playing very well through the rest of the year.

This is either a dumb move from Stevens or something happened that we aren't aware of.

I'd vote dumb move by Stevens.  I think he's not handling all these losses very well and is starting to flail around for anything that might work.  At least that's the only explanation I can come up with for inserting the aging, limited Jameer Nelson into the rotation faster than the younger, more athletic B. Wright.

It's looking like Stan Van Gundy has a challenger for the title "Master of Panic."

Mike

[KeepRondo]

If you've never been close to being an All Star, you have no right to be mad if a guy gets traded. But, that's clearly not the source of the problem here as Sullinger's tailed off for a few weeks now. JG, on the other hand...

The out of shape angle...if he came in out of shape, wouldn't that mean a poor training camp and preseason? That was the best part of his season. But he had a good preseason, struggled out of the gates, and then looked like the best player on the team for games 5-18 or so. You'd think if there were conditioning issues, they'd sort of evaporate after playing a professional sport on the fastest paced team in the league for 30 mpg for 2 months.

I'm scared to imply it's the other route, but genuinely worrying about his back problems(or some other injury) at this point. Or he's just 22 freaking years old and is just figuring himself out as a professional. Tough to tell. 

A lot is being said about his struggles, lately... yet in his 3 prior games he was shooting 60% from the floor, including 2-4 from 3s. So benching him based on a trend would have been an idiotic move from Stevens.

So he had a poor 9 minutes of play, big deal. You just don't bench one of your top prospects, a very young one at that, due to that particularly when he's been playing very well through the rest of the year.

This is either a dumb move from Stevens or something happened that we aren't aware of.

His terrible defense is not a trend. And I'm pretty sure if he was playing good defense that Stevens would let Sulky work through his offensive struggles.

[Celtics18]

We need Sully to break out of this slump and play like he was playing earlier in the season so that we can get a decent return for him when we trade him at the deadline. 

[MBunge]

He showed zero effort in the first 9 minutes, rewatch it.   It was not about struggling, it was about not trying.   There will be no turn around, with that kind of effort.  There is a huge difference between struggling and not giving a darn.   Last night it was the latter.

http://nesn.com/2014/12/celtics-notes-jared-sullinger-jeff-green-pull-disappearing-act-vs-magic/

All the Sully apologists talk, sounds delusional and desperate to me, it is almost like people are in denial of what they are seeing.  They are throwing out every excuse in the book.

Have you paid attention to Jeff Green on defense since Rondo was traded?  Did you see Rondo on  defense when he was here?  Have you taken a gander at what the advanced stats say about everybody's current hero Tyler Zeller?

This isn't to make excuses for Sully or ANY of the guys on the roster.  They are professionals.  They should play hard and be working to constantly improve their games.

However, it is long past time for Stevens to be getting just as much heat as any player on this team.  Last night was a near-total coaching debacle saved only by a 4th quarter comeback that was as much about how bad Orlando is as anything Boston did.  When a coach makes a major starting line up change and the team comes out and scored 9 POINTS in a first quarter, who should really get the blame for that?  When a coach plays a 12 MAN ROTATION, who's really at fault when players struggle to get comfortable on the court?  When a team is consistently a total disaster are running set plays out of time-outs, is that really ALL on the players?

Mike

[KeepRondo]

He showed zero effort in the first 9 minutes, rewatch it.   It was not about struggling, it was about not trying.   There will be no turn around, with that kind of effort.  There is a huge difference between struggling and not giving a darn.   Last night it was the latter.

http://nesn.com/2014/12/celtics-notes-jared-sullinger-jeff-green-pull-disappearing-act-vs-magic/

All the Sully apologists talk, sounds delusional and desperate to me, it is almost like people are in denial of what they are seeing.  They are throwing out every excuse in the book.

Have you paid attention to Jeff Green on defense since Rondo was traded?  Did you see Rondo on  defense when he was here?  Have you taken a gander at what the advanced stats say about everybody's current hero Tyler Zeller?

This isn't to make excuses for Sully or ANY of the guys on the roster.  They are professionals.  They should play hard and be working to constantly improve their games.

However, it is long past time for Stevens to be getting just as much heat as any player on this team.  Last night was a near-total coaching debacle saved only by a 4th quarter comeback that was as much about how bad Orlando is as anything Boston did.  When a coach makes a major starting line up change and the team comes out and scored 9 POINTS in a first quarter, who should really get the blame for that?  When a coach plays a 12 MAN ROTATION, who's really at fault when players struggle to get comfortable on the court?  When a team is consistently a total disaster are running set plays out of time-outs, is that really ALL on the players?

Mike

You are talking about one game. Sully's been playing terrible defense all year. Sorry if your advanced stats deceived you.

[Evantime34]

He showed zero effort in the first 9 minutes, rewatch it.   It was not about struggling, it was about not trying.   There will be no turn around, with that kind of effort.  There is a huge difference between struggling and not giving a darn.   Last night it was the latter.

http://nesn.com/2014/12/celtics-notes-jared-sullinger-jeff-green-pull-disappearing-act-vs-magic/

All the Sully apologists talk, sounds delusional and desperate to me, it is almost like people are in denial of what they are seeing.  They are throwing out every excuse in the book.

Have you paid attention to Jeff Green on defense since Rondo was traded?  Did you see Rondo on  defense when he was here?  Have you taken a gander at what the advanced stats say about everybody's current hero Tyler Zeller?

This isn't to make excuses for Sully or ANY of the guys on the roster.  They are professionals.  They should play hard and be working to constantly improve their games.

However, it is long past time for Stevens to be getting just as much heat as any player on this team.  Last night was a near-total coaching debacle saved only by a 4th quarter comeback that was as much about how bad Orlando is as anything Boston did.  When a coach makes a major starting line up change and the team comes out and scored 9 POINTS in a first quarter, who should really get the blame for that?  When a coach plays a 12 MAN ROTATION, who's really at fault when players struggle to get comfortable on the court?  When a team is consistently a total disaster are running set plays out of time-outs, is that really ALL on the players?

Mike

You could also blame, coach Stevens for Sullinger's lack of effort. By continuing to play Sully while he was refusing to play help defense he was enabling his behavior. Now that he has benched Sullinger for a half, maybe Sully will come out with more effort next time. If he starts playing better after this you have to credit Stevens.

The goal of this team isn't to win every game, it is to get better over the course of the season and improve upon their tradable assets. Starting Nelson might be a move that pays dividends later in the season even if their poor start cost them the game.

He showed zero effort in the first 9 minutes, rewatch it.   It was not about struggling, it was about not trying.   There will be no turn around, with that kind of effort.  There is a huge difference between struggling and not giving a darn.   Last night it was the latter.

http://nesn.com/2014/12/celtics-notes-jared-sullinger-jeff-green-pull-disappearing-act-vs-magic/

All the Sully apologists talk, sounds delusional and desperate to me, it is almost like people are in denial of what they are seeing.  They are throwing out every excuse in the book.

Have you paid attention to Jeff Green on defense since Rondo was traded?  Did you see Rondo on  defense when he was here?  Have you taken a gander at what the advanced stats say about everybody's current hero Tyler Zeller?

This isn't to make excuses for Sully or ANY of the guys on the roster.  They are professionals.  They should play hard and be working to constantly improve their games.

However, it is long past time for Stevens to be getting just as much heat as any player on this team.  Last night was a near-total coaching debacle saved only by a 4th quarter comeback that was as much about how bad Orlando is as anything Boston did.  When a coach makes a major starting line up change and the team comes out and scored 9 POINTS in a first quarter, who should really get the blame for that?  When a coach plays a 12 MAN ROTATION, who's really at fault when players struggle to get comfortable on the court?  When a team is consistently a total disaster are running set plays out of time-outs, is that really ALL on the players?

Mike

You are talking about one game. Sully's been playing terrible defense all year. Sorry if your advanced stats deceived you.

I feel like I have seen him play help defense less than a handful of times this season. Every time the other team gets a clear path to the rim you will see Sully setting up for the rebound instead of stopping the ball. It is a really lazy and stat padding move.

[KeepRondo]

I'm seeing the same thing.

[Tr1boy]

Sully will have a good game next or else another blunder will result in coming off the bench moving fwd

[MBunge]

He showed zero effort in the first 9 minutes, rewatch it.   It was not about struggling, it was about not trying.   There will be no turn around, with that kind of effort.  There is a huge difference between struggling and not giving a darn.   Last night it was the latter.

http://nesn.com/2014/12/celtics-notes-jared-sullinger-jeff-green-pull-disappearing-act-vs-magic/

All the Sully apologists talk, sounds delusional and desperate to me, it is almost like people are in denial of what they are seeing.  They are throwing out every excuse in the book.

Have you paid attention to Jeff Green on defense since Rondo was traded?  Did you see Rondo on  defense when he was here?  Have you taken a gander at what the advanced stats say about everybody's current hero Tyler Zeller?

This isn't to make excuses for Sully or ANY of the guys on the roster.  They are professionals.  They should play hard and be working to constantly improve their games.

However, it is long past time for Stevens to be getting just as much heat as any player on this team.  Last night was a near-total coaching debacle saved only by a 4th quarter comeback that was as much about how bad Orlando is as anything Boston did.  When a coach makes a major starting line up change and the team comes out and scored 9 POINTS in a first quarter, who should really get the blame for that?  When a coach plays a 12 MAN ROTATION, who's really at fault when players struggle to get comfortable on the court?  When a team is consistently a total disaster are running set plays out of time-outs, is that really ALL on the players?

Mike

You are talking about one game. Sully's been playing terrible defense all year. Sorry if your advanced stats deceived you.

Of course, Sully has been playing bad defense.  Who on this team hasn't been?

Stevens' rotations have also been a freak show all season long, the team's laughable performance on plays out of time-outs has also been seen in almost every game this year and Nelson's play in his first game in green was so bad, people couldn't wait for him to be off the team.  Yet he's starting the next game?

Mike

[MBunge]

He showed zero effort in the first 9 minutes, rewatch it.   It was not about struggling, it was about not trying.   There will be no turn around, with that kind of effort.  There is a huge difference between struggling and not giving a darn.   Last night it was the latter.

http://nesn.com/2014/12/celtics-notes-jared-sullinger-jeff-green-pull-disappearing-act-vs-magic/

All the Sully apologists talk, sounds delusional and desperate to me, it is almost like people are in denial of what they are seeing.  They are throwing out every excuse in the book.

Have you paid attention to Jeff Green on defense since Rondo was traded?  Did you see Rondo on  defense when he was here?  Have you taken a gander at what the advanced stats say about everybody's current hero Tyler Zeller?

This isn't to make excuses for Sully or ANY of the guys on the roster.  They are professionals.  They should play hard and be working to constantly improve their games.

However, it is long past time for Stevens to be getting just as much heat as any player on this team.  Last night was a near-total coaching debacle saved only by a 4th quarter comeback that was as much about how bad Orlando is as anything Boston did.  When a coach makes a major starting line up change and the team comes out and scored 9 POINTS in a first quarter, who should really get the blame for that?  When a coach plays a 12 MAN ROTATION, who's really at fault when players struggle to get comfortable on the court?  When a team is consistently a total disaster are running set plays out of time-outs, is that really ALL on the players?

Mike

You could also blame, coach Stevens for Sullinger's lack of effort. By continuing to play Sully while he was refusing to play help defense he was enabling his behavior. Now that he has benched Sullinger for a half, maybe Sully will come out with more effort next time. If he starts playing better after this you have to credit Stevens.

The goal of this team isn't to win every game, it is to get better over the course of the season and improve upon their tradable assets. Starting Nelson might be a move that pays dividends later in the season even if their poor start cost them the game.

I'll credit Stevens if the team, and Sully, turn it around.  But everyone needs to stop giving Stevens slack for what is happening with the team in the here and now.

Just as an example, when you've got three guys on the roster who've played PG and looked good at times doing it (Smart, Turner and Pressey), how do you as a coach justify to your team starting a guy you just traded for who completely stunk up the joint in his first game?

Mike

[SHAQATTACK]

Sully ,

Needed to leave early at Orlando ......it's Christmas...

He needed to get home in time

To play Santa Claus.