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

[walker834]

Well Dieng and Lavine have settling and mediocre written all over it me as well. Reminds me of a move Danny would make if we were phoenix.  I wouldn't put it past him though.

Maybe I'm a bit greedy wanting to keep Sully's skills and getting a better center and wing player. It's worth thinking about and maybe worth a gamble but eh.

I agree on the instinct part though.  Sully is an instinctive rebounder. 

[chilidawg]

Kelly is more the guy who is going to roaming and cutting and moving all over the place and blocking shots out of nowhere with his athleticism, length, iq and range. Sully we more need him to play the game with toughness and similar energy but totally different players.

Kelly Olynyk?  Flying around and blocking shots with his length and athleticism?  I wish.

[walker834]

The bounce is real people.  Brad Stevens response that he likes to bring it out a couple times a month was funny though.

[jambr380]

I think it should be emphasized again that if Danny isn't willing to overpay this offseason for Sully, then he is gone and we are getting nothing in return. Dieng might not be the optimal return (for some), but he has an extra year left on his contract which Sully does not.

Oftentimes it just comes down to contract situation, not necessarily if somebody is a perfect fit or if we are receiving top value for an asset.

[walker834]

I think it should be emphasized again that if Danny isn't willing to overpay this offseason for Sully, then he is gone and we are getting nothing in return. Dieng might not be the optimal return (for some), but he has an extra year left on his contract which Sully does not.

Oftentimes it just comes down to contract situation, not necessarily if somebody is a perfect fit or if we are receiving top value for an asset.

This is a good point I hadn't thought about.  But what is the difference if we get another year of Dieng or reup Sully?  Then we are in the same position with dieng next  year? If a player is signed longer it's somewhat risky but  they don't necessarily lose their value.  Would we have bird rights on Dieng?

I just don't like this move on so many levels.  Sry I'm going on and on.

[walker834]

I agree if it comes down to losing Sully for nothing but we should be trying to sign him that's the whole point! lol and why I keep debating it.  He's our own player. What is being preached is selling ourselves short when people aren't looking at what is right in front of them.  We should be trying to sign Sully no?

Everything as far as his contract demands etc is all speculation right now. I get it and it's good to look at other options. But even still I don't comprehend why this is it for Sully.

I feel like I can debate this all day for a reason. No. No. No. Maybe. Good point I agree with that. No.  lol.

[slamtheking]

I think it should be emphasized again that if Danny isn't willing to overpay this offseason for Sully, then he is gone and we are getting nothing in return. Dieng might not be the optimal return (for some), but he has an extra year left on his contract which Sully does not.

Oftentimes it just comes down to contract situation, not necessarily if somebody is a perfect fit or if we are receiving top value for an asset.

I guess the question is - what do you consider an overpay and why do you think some other team would do it (forcing Danny to match if he wants to keep him) if you don't see Sully as particularly valuable?

[kozlodoev]

I think it should be emphasized again that if Danny isn't willing to overpay this offseason for Sully, then he is gone and we are getting nothing in return.

No. We're getting his salary slot in cap money. And given that Wyc has gone on the record about the fact that they're positioning to be able to offer 2 max contracts this summer, it is relevant.

[walker834]

I still think our first priority this offseason should be resigning Sully.  Dependant on trades but I still really like Sully here. I also like how he has played this year even though it doesn't show up as far as offense. He's been more active defensively and rebounding.

I am still a big fan and think he is important to this teams future.

I'd give him Jay Crowder money with stipulations without blinking an eye. 

Unless we are getting Kevin Love I feel like he is too big a piece here to let go.  Even then I'd be hesistant. 

I'm concerned about his back and health but he is too important a piece here I feel.

[Evantime34]

I think it should be emphasized again that if Danny isn't willing to overpay this offseason for Sully, then he is gone and we are getting nothing in return.

No. We're getting his salary slot in cap money. And given that Wyc has gone on the record about the fact that they're positioning to be able to offer 2 max contracts this summer, it is relevant.

We could keep him and use his bird rights to go over the cap. So keeping him doesn't really hurt our ability to sign two max guys very much (I believe his cap hold is low).

If Danny decides it's likely that they are going to move on from him in the summer I'd rather see him dealt now for an asset rather than only bring back his salary slot.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I think it should be emphasized again that if Danny isn't willing to overpay this offseason for Sully, then he is gone and we are getting nothing in return.

No. We're getting his salary slot in cap money. And given that Wyc has gone on the record about the fact that they're positioning to be able to offer 2 max contracts this summer, it is relevant.

There are two key questions here that are more important than price: Ainge's interest in Sullinger and timing.

I mention this because price is irrelevant when once considers the potential to go after 2 max free-agents.

I haven't run the calculations lately, but things will be tight to make that happen regardless (I don't think we'll be going after the $30+ million types, so if we remove that from the equation then things become more practical/likely). So keeping this in mind the key part is how much does the cap hold from Sullinger affect the possibility of going after these types of players.

And that's why timing is important, in the assumption of actual interest from Ainge, getting a verbal agreement from Sullinger instead of letting him go to the market and sign an offer sheet is very important to keep our cap space flexibility. If this can't be managed, I think it's very unlikely that Sullinger is retained (unless Ainge already judged the free-agent opportunities to be non-existent, but I doubt that's going to be the case). if Ainge can't secure a verbal agreement early, then I'm fairly certain Sullinger will be all but gone unless his market value is poor, so that's the unknown in this.

I'm not saying that we should overpay Sullinger, and I have no interest in that, but in the scheme of things, that's the least of our worries in the context of how it'll affect this particular free-agency period. After that is analyzing how it'll affect future free-agency situations.

We have a lot of youth coming in, we have a big man prospect that seems to project favorably, so losing Sullinger is not the end of the world.

But worth pointing out that there's room to retain him if management still has interest in him without it actually affecting our buying power much this off season. That's why interest and timing are the key factors here, and price comes in right after that.

If Ainge has no interest in him, then just move him at the trade deadline and move on. There's still quite of basketball to be played, let's see how it goes from here through February.