If this is Sully, is it almost time to say goodbye?

[2short]

My preseason idea was sully Bradley and draft pick(s) in a trade for_____
I'm still looking at that.  Sully apparently can't control his weight and for sure isn't going to grow to 6'10" .  He's a short power forward , listed at 6'9" but he isn't any taller than turner!

Sully is a good passer who doesn't seem to pass that much.  His defense simply isn't that good.  He does a good job on low post with that weight but doesn't have true height to defend centers.  His team or side to side defense is bad as his foot speed is a few steps above perk.  The effort he puts out while on floor is noticeable compared to the team.  And I'm not putting him up against crowder Bradley or smart.  Compare his effort to jerebko, turner or zeller!  All three out work him on both ends of the floor consistently. 
Trade him

[cltc5]

I like sullys heart out there, but im ready for Mickey.

[greece66]

I'm disappointed his performance this season.

He started well, but then he regressed to last year's Sully.

Three things to consider

-Altho we all have our reservations, it's not over till the fat lady sings. Wait to reach a fuller assessment of Sully later in the season.

-If he continues to play like this, probably the right move will be to trade him, he won't be worth the money he is likely once a protected FA.

-Having said this, if he turns out to be reasonable (and Ainge has his way with players: think of  AB's and Crowder's contracts), a renewal might also be an appealing option.

tl;dr: Too early to reach definite conclusions.

[trickybilly]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuuObGsB0No

[Who]

I think so. Sully has become a tweener big. Too slow for PF. Too small for C. Doesn't provide the interior help defense a C needs to provide. Cannot play perimeter help defense the PF needs to provide. More of a backup C nowadays. Not worth the money to keep that around.

Hasn't developed his offense well enough over last few years. Stevens has been a terrible coach for Sully. Sully has an impressive midrange game that is totally under-utilized by Stevens and Stevens continues to push Sully to shoot 3s - a bad shot for him and takes him out of better positions to use his passing, offensive rebounding and cutting. Stevens deserves a lot of blame for how Sully has developed / not developed.

Disappointed with Sully's physical size this season. I thought he would have come into camp into better shape. Sully needs to get down to around 260lbs instead of 280lbs. His failure to do this -- even in a contract year where it would have earned him much more money -- worries about his long term weight issues.

Sully reminds me a lot of Mike Sweetney at this point. I thought Scott Skiles used Sweetney to good effective in Chicago as a 16-20mpg big man. Someone who can cause matchup problems here and there and be a valuable reserve big man. I think that is Sully's immediate future in the NBA.

[JBcat]

I remember hearing during one of the recent games that Sully has been battling a hand injury to his shooting hand.  I wonder how bad it is and if it's contributing to his lower scoring this year.  Still young, I think at least a full year younger than KO, and KO seems to be breaking out a little bit now.  Maybe we should give him more time but we are against the clock too with restricted free agency coming up.

[walker834]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGTtv3yFdco

I agree.   A lot of you are coming off as politically correct pundits here.  Except i'm old and young people today tend to do that.  I think Tommy is right that people miss the obvious here and fact Sully is a good player.  He isn't Mike Sweetney.  It depends on stipulations obviously but he is still very young.  He isn't Ali.  But I don't think he is Sonny Liston either.

He is a restricted free agent.  We still hold the cards on what to do with him regardless. And I'm not that old.

[LooseCannon]

People who want to get rid of Amir Johnson are not smart enough to work in the Nets front office.  He's a good player on a reasonable contract for his role.

Keep Johnson.  Keep Olynyk.  Keep Sullinger for the right price.  Find a fourth big who fits well with them and can do things they can't.  Keep Mickey waiting in the wings and he'll have his chance to prove he belongs when someone has an inevitable injury.

[walker834]

I don't think we have to get rid of Amir either.  If it became between SUlly and Amir right this second  Both players are players that have attractive trade value.  Amir could help a contender. He can also help us.   I think long term Sully is just as attractive an asset though if not moreso. People are in a rush to get rid of Sully but they aren't thinking it through and that's the only point I was trying to make.

I think our team is fine for the most part how it stands. Some decisions are going to need to be made though.

I hope Ainge thinks it through and doesn't make any hasty decisions this deadline.  He might be missing what I'm saying himself but if he does his homework.  Sometimes AInge makes questionable moves. Not often but he does miss certain things sometimes. So do I.  He might see something better and if he does I'd understand that.

If he does trade Sully I'd be interested t see what his logic is, because I don't really hear it here outside of free agency coming up,  where we want to save that money for someone else.  But I still think we can sign sully anyways with the expiring deals we have. I could be mistaken. Having both Sully and Crowder at those deals might be pushing it. I feel like Sully is a good free agent signing as it is though and fits here depending on how we draft etc, what we do with Amir and everything in between.

[Chris22]

When Sullinger comes off the bench, we are 2-6.
When Sullinger starts, we are 19-14.

And Sullinger said that he is no longer going to try to shoot threes, which are a big part of his shooting woes. He said when he pops out, he will shoot a long two, rather than going for a three.

[walker834]

When Sullinger comes off the bench, we are 2-6.
When Sullinger starts, we are 19-14.

And Sullinger said that he is no longer going to try to shoot threes, which are a big part of his shooting woes. He said when he pops out, he will shoot a long two, rather than going for a three.

I agree.  Sully is more Perk than Amir is.  It's really the turners, lee and amir's that should go ultimately.  Sully is our own guy.  We drafted him for a reason. Vets from other teams are good to come in and serve a purpose  but over keeping a guy like Sully I don't know. We own Bird rights on Sully.  He is our own player and is a more valuable asset that way. He's also  younger. 

what we should do is keep Sully and Crowder.   Draft a legit starting center and a wing scorer. Possibly make a trade depending on what's out tehre but Amir is fine for now. So is Turner in ways.  We can look to move guys like Zeller, or Lee for a shooter maybe to help us this year b ut i dont know on that either. Give KO and Smart a shot.

We really need Amir right now because we don't have a legit starting center and might not find him this draft either.  We have Zeller too but those guys probably are going to need to be replaced.

[walker834]

We can look at moving Crowder and Amir as well for trade happy people, but i wouldn't be so fast to do that either. Like everything else is really depends. WE have a ton of picks as it stands.  It wouldnt really make sense in and of itself.  It would have to be for really good wing player or center.  But i dont even think we need that.  I'd role with what we have and draft.

I think KO is coming on and we can bring more young plaeyrs along on the cheap.

I'm not really one of those peopel  who feels we have to trade someone in fear of losing them for nothing. I talk about a lot of scenarios but I've always thought ainge gets a bad rap that way too. Ainge doesn't just trade for the sake of it. He might be opinionated that way and explore alot of stuff.

I haven't seen the right move yet.   I feel lukewarm on  a  lot of stuff. The celtics havent made any moves either so I'm assuming they feel the same way.

I don't think Ainge just looks at Sully and says we are going to trade Sully and are done with him either. He doesn't work like that. 

[trickybilly]

Sully's post moves arent great. He predictably goes right and forces a tough hook. Smart amir and even turner are far more reliable. Just need to use him better. KO needs more minutes though.. that is sure.

[LooseCannon]

I agree.  Sully is more Perk than Amir is.  It's really the turners, lee and amir's that should go ultimately.

You have a fundamentally poor understanding of basketball if you think that Amir Johnson is in the same class as Evan Turner.

[walker834]

I agree.  Sully is more Perk than Amir is.  It's really the turners, lee and amir's that should go ultimately.

You have a fundamentally poor understanding of basketball if you think that Amir Johnson is in the same class as Evan Turner.

I think you don't give me enough credit for thinking moreso than you think I do.  Keep jumping to conclusions though.

You seem to jump to a lot of conclusions.  I don't think Ainge looks at a player and says we are going to deal this guy and makes a decision on a guy like Sully like you think he does.  Or Amir either.