Why do Zeller and Sully seldom play together.

[Rosco917]

I understand Bass is being show cased. But it seems to me Zeller and Sully should be getting more minutes, with Zeller at Center and Sully at PF. They do get a few minutes a game together, but after a short time one is taken out

Is there a "story" in the stats that is causing Stevens to shy away from playing this duo more often?

[rollie mass]

i think zeller clogs the inside for sully-

[slamtheking]

they would seem like a natural pairing especially when Bass is the only other big man we have with KO out. 

[Evantime34]

On offense there is some overlap in their skills. Sully is best in the paint, but so is Zeller.

On defense there is the same overlap. Both are better defending slower post players and have problems guarding quick 4's.

Earlier in the season Sullinger had a bad stretch, this coincided with Zeller moving to the starting lineup

[timobusa]

Cause they need almost the same areas to be effective, and thats inside the paint.

[Rosco917]

All good answers, but then the question has to be asked, what type of center will be able to play along side Sully? If he can't play with Zeller for reasons stated, just who would be a candidate to play with Sully at PF?

If his skill set overlaps what is considered to be the centers area of domain. I mean we're supposed to be looking for a rim protecting big man right?

[littleteapot]

I think that with more and more 3-guard lineups, we have less ability to deal with an athletic 4 like Millsap without Bass. If we had Crowder (or Green before he got traded) at the 3 and the other team has a 4 who can just blow by Sully but a perimeter guy who has no offensive game, we can hide Sully and just have our best athlete guard their best forward. We can also have a big wing just sag off his man and help the slowish bigs in the paint. We can't play those games with Evan Turner.

TBH though, I really haven't been watching a lot of C's in the past couple of weeks, so this is mostly just speculation.

[littleteapot]

All good answers, but then the question has to be asked, what type of center will be able to play along side Sully? If he can't play with Zeller for reasons stated, just who would be a candidate to play with Sully at PF?

If his skill set overlaps what is considered to be the centers area of domain. I mean we're supposed to be looking for a rim protecting big man right?

I think Sully realistically needs some sort of "outside" game. The 3 hasn't worked consistently so far, but I think its worth spending time this summer to become a legit stretch player. Even if he can't develop that part of his game, he is already a solid midrange shooter, and he needs to commit more to running the offense from the high post - and Stevens needs to find ways to use him in this capacity.

I think the goal for Sully (besides getting him in shape and showing up on time) is to have him be a matchup-dependent interior player. Want to put a skinny power forward on him? He'll post you up and get easy layups, assists and rebounds. Put a bigger guy on him? He makes that guy chase after him to the 3-point line or the elbow.

[Rosco917]

All good answers, but then the question has to be asked, what type of center will be able to play along side Sully? If he can't play with Zeller for reasons stated, just who would be a candidate to play with Sully at PF?

If his skill set overlaps what is considered to be the centers area of domain. I mean we're supposed to be looking for a rim protecting big man right?

I think Sully realistically needs some sort of "outside" game. The 3 hasn't worked consistently so far, but I think its worth spending time this summer to become a legit stretch player. Even if he can't develop that part of his game, he is already a solid midrange shooter, and he needs to commit more to running the offense from the high post - and Stevens needs to find ways to use him in this capacity.

I think the goal for Sully (besides getting him in shape and showing up on time) is to have him be a matchup-dependent interior player. Want to put a skinny power forward on him? He'll post you up and get easy layups, assists and rebounds. Put a bigger guy on him? He makes that guy chase after him to the 3-point line or the elbow.

I understand what you're saying, it doesn't sound like Sully can be penciled in as the starting Power Forward of the future yet. 

[littleteapot]

I understand what you're saying, it doesn't sound like Sully can be penciled in as the starting Power Forward of the future yet.

Oh yeah I agree. Honestly if he can't get in shape and get his mind right, he's not talented enough to contribute to a legit contender.

And he needs to improve both on the perimeter and the interior.

[Rosco917]

If what everyone seems agrees on is true, Sully and Zeller can't coexist successfully as a Center, Power forward duo, what makes you think Sully can coexist with Cousins, D. Jordan, Cauley-Stein etc, or any center that operates down low. Sully would have to cover the opposing teams power forward all game long. Interesting.

All of a sudden KO is looking good, oh right he can't defend either.

[Surferdad]

If what everyone seems agrees on is true, Sully and Zeller can't coexist successfully as a Center, Power forward duo, what makes you think Sully can coexist with Cousins, D. Jordan, Cauley-Stein etc, or any center that operates down low. Sully would have to cover the opposing teams power forward all game long. Interesting.

All of a sudden KO is looking good, oh right he can't defend either.

I would actually be willing to give up Sully to get D.Jordan or Cousins. 

[clover]

If what everyone seems agrees on is true, Sully and Zeller can't coexist successfully as a Center, Power forward duo, what makes you think Sully can coexist with Cousins, D. Jordan, Cauley-Stein etc, or any center that operates down low. Sully would have to cover the opposing teams power forward all game long. Interesting.

All of a sudden KO is looking good, oh right he can't defend either.

KO continues to take unwarranted grief here. He's a second-year 7-footer playing out of position, and yet, as Forsberg notes of Marcus Smart:

"Only second-year big man Kelly Olynyk -- voted to the Rising Stars game, but not participating due to an ankle injury -- owns a better plus/minus this season (Olynyk is a team-best plus-85 and Smart is second at plus-39 for a Boston team that's minus-76 for the year)."

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4717735/rising-star-snub-wont-look-smart-in-future

[BornReady]

Not sure why but it may be a chemistry issue

Both prefer to bang inside the paint and are not the best defenders
Stevens hides our defence deficiencies by having a stretch big e.g. Olynyk or sully stay out on the perimeter so they can run back on defence fast enough while the other big stays in the paint for offensive rebounds and points in the paint

Playing like this forces sully to shoot more which he is less efficient at doing

[Chris22]

Because Brad hasn't realized that Zeller should be shooting threes.