As Doc used to say, you are your record

[NHHillbilly]

Celtics are 3rd in the east and that is who they are.
They won in NY last night because of a few defensive spurts and clutch play offense and defense.

But looking at the shot chart, they shot horribly.  Could not make hardly anything past 10 ft.  Good thing they had all those fast breaks and Isaiah layups.  But it did prove they can win now on a poor shooting night. 

The other thing that was obvious was that they need someone taller than Sully to grab rebounds.  Though I like Sully, I don't think he will ever be a starter on a championship team unless he somehow gets the Paul Silas knack of boxing out.  If Sully is too expensive, we have to either say hes the best we can do and the championship window opens after he leaves, or potentially take a step back and let him walk to leave room for our power forward and center of the future.

One time Isaiah switched onto Robin Lopez.  Isaiah held his ground and the pass to Lopez was a little high, Lopez reached for it but it went out of bounds.  Maybe Sully could take a lesson from Isaiah about holding your ground.

As lovable as this team is:  shooting and a vacuum cleaner on the defensive boards is needed before we can talk championship.

[jambr380]

Sully has a lot of things he can still work on (number one being conditioning), but I think boxing out and positioning are two of his best attributes. Unfortunately we can't make him any taller or give him Aaron Gordon-like athleticism, but he has found a way to be very effective in today's NBA. That being said, I am hoping we can upgrade the position this offseason.

You are definitely right about the Cs record, though, and nobody can just say they are lucky. They are near the top of the league in many different categories; not having a superstar doesn't change that.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Wow, of all the things to criticize Sully for you choose boxing out and rebounding? Whaaaaat?

[KeepRondo]

Sully has a lot of things he can still work on (number one being conditioning), but I think boxing out and positioning are two of his best attributes. Unfortunately we can't make him any taller or give him Aaron Gordon-like athleticism, but he has found a way to be very effective in today's NBA. That being said, I am hoping we can upgrade the position this offseason.

You are definitely right about the Cs record, though, and nobody can just say they are lucky. They are near the top of the league in many different categories; not having a superstar doesn't change that.

Agreed. I was cringing when we put Zeller in for Sully when we were playing Small ball. Sully is the only guy that rebounds well enough on the Cektics to play that style. Rebounding and keeping bigs off the glass is his biggest strength on this team.

[KeepRondo]

Wow, of all the things to criticize Sully for you choose boxing out and rebounding? Whaaaaat?

I know.

Talk about your early morning surprise on CB.

[Ogaju]

Wow, of all the things to criticize Sully for you choose boxing out and rebounding? Whaaaaat?

I know.

Talk about your early morning surprise on CB.

You guys actually had to open the thread to be surprised? He had me at  'Ass Doc used to say'

[NHHillbilly]

Seeing the highlights, I find I missed some of Sully's outlet passes, which he is very good at also.  But my criticism stands:  Sully got pushed out or rebounded over by Robin Lopez around 5 times versus NY.  Some of these were real killer offensive rebounds for the Knicks because they came after a good defensive sequence and then led to Knicks points because the defense did not have time to reset.

I am not saying Sully is bad, I am saying he is good, but not starter championship good which complicates team building.  And I am not questioning his work ethic or hustle:  that is good also.  But it is disturbing that even when he is playing good, a guy like Robin Lopez can steal 4-5 killer offensive rebounds against him.

[nickagneta]

Sully is currently 7th in the league in defensive rebound percentage and 11 in total rebound percentage. He has had double figures in rebounds in 8 of the last 10 games while averaging only about 26-27MPG. Sully is one of the top 10 rebounders in the game right now when he is on the floor.

Say what you want, but a top 10 rebounder in the game can start for my NBA championship level team any day of the week.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Seeing the highlights, I find I missed some of Sully's outlet passes, which he is very good at also.  But my criticism stands:  Sully got pushed out or rebounded over by Robin Lopez around 5 times versus NY.  Some of these were real killer offensive rebounds for the Knicks because they came after a good defensive sequence and then led to Knicks points because the defense did not have time to reset.

I am not saying Sully is bad, I am saying he is good, but not starter championship good which complicates team building.  And I am not questioning his work ethic or hustle:  that is good also.  But it is disturbing that even when he is playing good, a guy like Robin Lopez can steal 4-5 killer offensive rebounds against him.

You're taking things way way WAY WAY WAY out of proportion first of all. Only 2 of the 4 (not 5) where grabbed while Sullinger was on the floor. The others where grabbed with the much taller Zeller.

Other than that, lets cross our fingers for Whiteside... you know who plays for the Heat, a team which gave up 14 rebounds to Lopez recently including 6 offensive rebounds (2 more than the Celtics who have less rebound capable players).

Sullinger himself grabbed 3 offensive rebounds and 11 rebounds total.

So sorry, but pointing to Sullinger and the need to upgrade him to solve some of our "rebound issues" is incredibly misplaced.

[NHHillbilly]

I can be convinced by advanced stats.  I like Sully -- I think he has real hustle and competitiveness. 
I'm Just an over emotional fan.  Seeing those offensive rebounds after good defense is a killer when you watch it.
So at least for now, I agree with BudweiserCeltic. 

But I can't guarantee that my Dad might change my mind again.  He's been watching the Celtics for over 50 years, and he goes with his eyes rather than the stats, and he's been pretty rough on Sullinger and yells at the TV every time Sully takes a 3. 

[Evantime34]

I really like Sullinger, but I think we need to upgrade one or both of our bigs in the off season to take the jump. Sully's positional defense has been really good and his rebounding has been great since the break. I think he's a long term starter at center if we can add a 4 who can block shots and knock down 3's.

He is the only player we have who can defend legit 7 footers. Zeller is a good position defender but he sometimes struggles against quality size. Lopez played well against us but I think Sullinger's team played better when they were both on the court.