I would be very curious to actually see. Last year he put on lots of weight in season and he appears to be at least no better if not a bit bigger over the course of this year.
I also don't mind Sully on a good deal but I think someone may pay him and I hope it's not us. I much prefer Olynyk and hopefully we bring in a better big to take Sully's role/minutes.
The interesting part of this is that Sully and Olynyk together have been really really good, so I think the vs. debate should be stopped in that context. Outside of that, hopefully we can find better players than either.
I think the debate is fair.
* Both guys came in at similar times and at similar ages.
* Both guys came in as highly skilled, high BBIQ players
* Both came in with concerns about athleticism and defense at the NBA level
* Both have become quite productive NBA players, but have yet to take that big step
If there is one clear distinction between the two players, I feel it is attitude and work ethic.
I feel that Sully has come in to this league very cocky, with the belief that he's so talented that he can earn his pay day and have a long career without ever having to put in 100% effort...and to be honest he's probably right.
I feel Olynyk has come into the league very humble, fearing that he is the young goofy kid starting high school all over again, and that he needs to earn respect and work his way to success.
I think you can see those attitudes clearly when you watch the guys plays. Sully has a very obvious ego to him - he has no shame taking questionable shots, talking back to star players, etc. But the ego seems to also impact his work ethic, because he seems to feel that he doesn't have to work as hard as other guys, and so he lets himself go abit.
Looking at Olynyk you can see he is not a natural born leader, lacks natural confidence, is unselfish to a fault. He often seems to second guess himself, passing up a good shots because he'd rather see his teammate hit a shot rather than take all the glory himself. Sometimes that's a bad thing, because sometimes the shot he initially had was better than the shot his teammate had. But on the flip side you can see that even though he lacks confidence, he WANTS to earn respect and he WANTS to be a good player. You can see that every year he works on his body, works on his game, really tries hard to be a great team player and make an impact - which he does.
I tend to lean heavily towards Olynyk because I feel like a guy who works hard and is unselfish will almost always earn the respect of his teammates, and will almost always get better as a player during the course of his career. I think Olynyk is the type of guy players would love to play with - somebody who has no problems sacrificing his numbers and doing the little things that nobody else wants to do...if that's what he has to do to help his team win.
i feel like Sully is the guy who teammates will tire of having to constantly push (for lack of natural motivation), constantly scold (for making bad decisions and forcing things) and get frustrated playing with (for his selfishness and tendency to hog the ball), etc.
I feel like Sully vs Olynyk argument is like a Big Baby vs Bass argument. Big Baby was probably infinitely more talented than Bass ever was, but he was undisciplined, lacked motivation, and lacked self control. Bass had very limited natural talent, but he worked butt off every year, and every year he added something new to his game - and by the time he reached his last one or two seasons with us, he was a really solid starter who you could depend on any and every night to give you that 14 and 7 with 110% effort...while Big Baby is now pretty much out of the league.
It's for this reason that i take Olynyk over Sully every time.