Sully and Amir vs Zeller and Bass

[Celtics4ever]

No. Sullinger is better this year, statistically as you mention. The Amir/Olynyk pair has been more effectively defensively though, but then again that may have a lot to do with the units they've been playing against and not necessarily against the other team's best bigs.

It could be some of who they are playing against, but I think to be fair KO has a better basketball IQ though Sully is no slouch.   KO is also a little better at anticipating and quicker.   Sully seems better to handle beefy guys than KO though.

[BudweiserCeltic]

No. Sullinger is better this year, statistically as you mention. The Amir/Olynyk pair has been more effectively defensively though, but then again that may have a lot to do with the units they've been playing against and not necessarily against the other team's best bigs.

It could be some of who they are playing against, but I think to be fair KO has a better basketball IQ though Sully is no slouch.   KO is also a little better at anticipating and quicker.   Sully seems better to handle beefy guys than KO though.

Basketball IQ at this point is all anecdotal, but what I've seen from Olynyk in this season in particular that statement is a bit questionable. Not because he hasn't improved his defense substantially this year, but because his decision making has been very questionable game after game (Tommy almost blew a gasket with him last game lol, but we know Tommy).

I guess I'd say overall Sullinger has shown himself to be more dependable no matter the situation, while Olynyk might find himself at an advantage with certain types of players while a potential disaster against others.

But we're splitting hairs at this point, just happy both have improved their defenses significantly this year in my opinion (Sully at the very least showing what I saw from him in his rookie season). The task now is make sure Stevens puts both of them in positions to succeed.

Though I don't want to put  all that ails on Lee's shoulders, but he's finding to be the odd man out at least in compatibility with the rest of the bigs. As I mentioned earlier though, the only big he's shown to be a positive with, or at the very least stable, is when he plays alongside Sullinger. We saw some of that when Stevens went with them through much of the 3rd quarter and I believe extended the lead (which would've been quite more if Sullinger wasn't in this bad free-throw shooting funk).

So, we have some limited evidence Amir/Olynyk work well. We have some limited evidence that Lee/Sullinger work well. We have some evidence that Sullinger/Olynyk work well. We have to see what Stevens decides to do going forward if that remains true. If Zeller becomes a bigger part of the rotation that would change thing.

But I don't know... don't know what ends up being sacrificed regardless of the decision he goes with.