Time to try KO and Sully frontcourt pairing experiment again?

[Tr1boy]

It didn't really work last season, especially on the defensive end.  But offensively we saw some nice chemistry, interior passing

Now with these guys having better conditioned body/stronger/leaner can we play them together ? 

[Celtics18]

It didn't really work last season, especially on the defensive end.  But offensively we saw some nice chemistry, interior passing

Now with these guys having better conditioned body/stronger/leaner can we play them together ?

I don't have the numbers, but it actually seemed like they played more together last night than they have in a while. 

[Quetzalcoatl]

I love Kelly, but he's really an elite bench guy.  With his arsenal, he can score on bad players at will and his defensive win shares stat is crazy, but it's mainly because he's playing against the other team's bench the whole game.  However, he can't really do this as well vs starters.  I would like something like:

Smart / IT
Bradley / RJ
[New SF] / Crowder
[New PF] / KO / Amir
Sullinger / [New back up center] / Mickey

Those are the guys we have now that I think can contribute, although an upgrade on Sully would be nice, too.  Everyone else on our team should go.

Really hopefully we can get Simmons or Skal for the New PF spot or Ingram or Brown for the new SF spot, then get a FA or trade to fill the other.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Me on mid November (excuse the poor grammar):

I've never been a fan of the pairing, but it seems to me that Sully/KO had done well early in this season. Stevens' rotations though have so far prevented that pairing from then on for some reason, not sure why.

http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=81223.msg1972693;topicseen#msg1972693

Not long after this observation, there was an article written by Kevin O'Connor on the front page analyzing the front court pairs, which supported my observations. In the small sample size, they were a very good pair and only playing very little together for unknown reasons.

[chambers]

Amir is just too solid defensively.
He's an enormous part of our success. Sully and KO have both improved but at this stage, Amir needs to start in the middle.Kelly is still too foul prone against solid post playing centers. See him vs the Spurs? He's a foul robot.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Amir is just too solid defensively.
He's an enormous part of our success. Sully and KO have both improved but at this stage, Amir needs to start in the middle.Kelly is still too foul prone against solid post playing centers. See him vs the Spurs? He's a foul robot.

What does this have to do with Amir? All we've talked about is seeing them on the floor together, not necessarily starting together.

[chambers]

Amir is just too solid defensively.
He's an enormous part of our success. Sully and KO have both improved but at this stage, Amir needs to start in the middle.Kelly is still too foul prone against solid post playing centers. See him vs the Spurs? He's a foul robot.

What does this have to do with Amir? All we've talked about is seeing them on the floor together, not necessarily starting together.

You're right.
I dunno why I thought the topic was 'starting' them together- I was thinking about them starting a few years ago and got caught up in the terror. My bad.

That being the case, I think they could be put on the floor together but we'd need Avery, Smart and Crowder out there to ease the defensive pain.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Amir is just too solid defensively.
He's an enormous part of our success. Sully and KO have both improved but at this stage, Amir needs to start in the middle.Kelly is still too foul prone against solid post playing centers. See him vs the Spurs? He's a foul robot.

What does this have to do with Amir? All we've talked about is seeing them on the floor together, not necessarily starting together.

You're right.
I dunno why I thought the topic was 'starting' them together- I was thinking about them starting a few years ago and got caught up in the terror. My bad.

That being the case, I think they could be put on the floor together but we'd need Avery, Smart and Crowder out there to ease the defensive pain.

I don't know how things have gone since Mid-November honestly with them playing together, but more than anything, at least in the early part of the season, it was interesting seeing them finally playing effectively together and Stevens deciding to not give them more reps.

Since then I've honestly haven't been focusing on this particular point, so I'm really not sure if their reps have increased since then... in part because Olynyk was in a major funk as it was.

[ThePaintedArea]

Now with these guys having better conditioned body/stronger/leaner can we play them together ?

 Now this is a really interesting question, especially given that the rotations have been unsettled so far this season. Their playing  together in the fourth quarter of the New Orleans game is especially interesting, since, I would argue, that was the decisive run that put the game out of reach for the pelicans. Just as interesting is the rest of the lineup at that point: Turner, Bradley, and James Young.

[fairweatherfan]

I like Amir too much as a starter to go with that.  An inconsistent scoring big like Kelly is probably better suited for coming off the bench at this stage.  But it's an interesting question.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I like Amir too much as a starter to go with that.  An inconsistent scoring big like Kelly is probably better suited for coming off the bench at this stage.  But it's an interesting question.

I suggest reading a few posts up.

[PhoSita]

I like what we've got going for now.  The main change I'd make is scaling back David Lee's minutes in favor of trying to work Zeller back into the rotation, albeit in a 10-15 minute a night role. 

[The Oracle]

  I don't know why people continually spew this nonsense that K.O./Sully as a pairing have been ineffective now or at any point in the past!  Here are some statistics for all 3 years overall and as a starting pairing.
                           min.     +/-     +/-per48
13-14 Overall       542     +98        +8.7
13-14 as starters   33      +13       +18.6

14-15 Overall       409     +75        +8.8
14-15 as starters  198      +5         +1.2

15-16 Overall        55      +30       +26.4
15-16 No starts

  As starters they have played 231 minutes and are +18 against a ridiculously tough schedule of games.  In K.O.'s rookie year their only 2 starts were against the 2 best teams in the league at the time in San Antonio and Indiana.  They outscored them both when on the floor as a pairing before K.O. sprained his ankle against Indiana.  Last year they started the 1st 13 games together and were +5 overall against a very tough schedule.

  Overall as a pairing they have now played a total of 1006 minutes together.  They are +203 points during those minutes.  This equates to +9.69 points per 48 minutes which is fantastic under any circumstances.  The fact that these statistics were obtained while playing on a 25 win team and a 40 win team makes them even more impressive.

[brundlenye the sciencefly]

I would like to see more Sullynyk

[Tr1boy]

I like what we've got going for now.  The main change I'd make is scaling back David Lee's minutes in favor of trying to work Zeller back into the rotation, albeit in a 10-15 minute a night role.

Can't wait until the deadline so that Lee will be gone. I would give Zeller a break and trade him