Do you think a healthy Sulley would make this Celtics team better?

[Diggles]

Was wondering if people think a healthy Sulley would be a plus or a minus for this team......

I feel like Sulley is a gamer.  Hates to practice, but loves to compete.    If he was healthy I think him and AL would be a good front court.    Amir and KO with spot minutes for Zeller would give us the edge over Toronto.   

[Phantom255x]

The main issue I see with what the Celtics did, is that people assumed that by letting Sullinger walk and adding Horford, we got a HUGE upgrade. In reality though, we added Horford, someone who could rebound slightly better than Sullinger, but also lost Sullinger, our BEST rebounder last season. (And I don't blame the C's at all for that. Even I thought it was okay letting Sullinger walk at the time, I'll admit)

So in essence, our rebounding really didn't improve at all, and sadly none of the other bigs are really helping consistently in that department (heck, even Bradley leads this team in rebounding...).

While Horford brings more to the table than Sullinger and overall has still been a great fit, the answer is YES, a healthy Sullinger would make this team better, and would help the rebounding a bit, although this team really needs someone who can terrorize the paint and rebound consistently (a Tristan Thompson or DeAndre Jordan type).

Hopefully Bogut or Nurkic is available at the right price.

What does surprise me though.. is that Sully went to Toronto for 1/6M.. but we're paying Zeller 8M/Year... we should have kept Sully not Zeller but I won't rant much about that. Sullinger could have also been that "Amir-like, or Zeller-like salary filler trade piece" as well.

[TheSundanceKid]

I think we offered Sully the same deal we offered Zeller but he turned it down because he wanted a big payday this summer, a la Biyombo. It's not going well for him so far...

But for us he'd be a great player off the bench this year to put in certain match ups and we wouldn't be losing anything else in our rotation

[Phantom255x]

I think we offered Sully the same deal we offered Zeller but he turned it down because he wanted a big payday this summer, a la Biyombo. It's not going well for him so far...

But for us he'd be a great player off the bench this year to put in certain match ups and we wouldn't be losing anything else in our rotation

Oh my bad I didn't really know that. Like I knew he wanted a big payday but didn't realize he explicitly turned down the offers meaning Ainge signed Zeller.

I would have overpaid a bit to keep Sullinger after the Durant saga ended and the C's still had some remaining cap space.

Sullinger is injured, yes, but Zeller is also not getting minutes nowadays.

[wdleehi]

Of course the team would be better for the short term, but I think the contract could have hurt the teams ability to improve in the future.

[csfansince60s]

He would've last night.

One game against V and the Raps in the Garden he had 22 and 20.

[Rosco917]

If nothing else, Sully always had an effect on the game with his strong rebounding.

The Celtics this year are routinely getting out rebounded by double digits. We give up the dreaded offensive rebound at a rate of 2 to 1.

Answer to the OP question...yes.

[Roy H.]

Yes. We could use his skill set.

[Moranis]

The main issue I see with what the Celtics did, is that people assumed that by letting Sullinger walk and adding Horford, we got a HUGE upgrade. In reality though, we added Horford, someone who could rebound slightly better than Sullinger, but also lost Sullinger, our BEST rebounder last season. (And I don't blame the C's at all for that. Even I thought it was okay letting Sullinger walk at the time, I'll admit)

So in essence, our rebounding really didn't improve at all, and sadly none of the other bigs are really helping consistently in that department (heck, even Bradley leads this team in rebounding...).

While Horford brings more to the table than Sullinger and overall has still been a great fit, the answer is YES, a healthy Sullinger would make this team better, and would help the rebounding a bit, although this team really needs someone who can terrorize the paint and rebound consistently (a Tristan Thompson or DeAndre Jordan type).

Hopefully Bogut or Nurkic is available at the right price.

What does surprise me though.. is that Sully went to Toronto for 1/6M.. but we're paying Zeller 8M/Year... we should have kept Sully not Zeller but I won't rant much about that. Sullinger could have also been that "Amir-like, or Zeller-like salary filler trade piece" as well.

um, Sullinger is a much better rebounder than Horford.  That was one of the biggest complaints about that "upgrade" you saw on this forum. 

[Celtics4ever]

Trouble is he is rarely healthy and TOR got burnt signing him thus far.  Sully has played in 171 of 258 which equals 66% of the game he could have played due to health.

I  think Sully  would play better next to Horford than Amir.  He can rebound.   He still would be taking ill-advised shots that he can't make.  But he is not a massively better rebounder folks and these are stats and not faulty memory.

Sully averaged 7.7 RPG for his career , last year he averaged 8.3 RPG, this year zero because he is hurt.

Horford 8.8 RPG.  last year he averaged 7.3 RPG , this year 6.3 RPG

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/sullija01.html

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/h/horfoal01.html

1 RPG last year, is all he got more than Horford.  Horford has a got a lot more than him this year and has better averages for his career.   He also he is a better passer, and much better shooter and scorer and defender.   

Of course, a healthy Sully would have helped with rebounding but I bet our Shooting % would take a bit hit.  Also, given his career he has missed 1/3 of the games he can play due to chronic injuriess.

[kozlodoev]

I think a healthy Bill Walton in his prime would have made this team better. Has about the same relevance, really.

[2short]

No.  If he were playing it would be floor time taken away from horford, amir, kelly, jj
Sully can rebound (when healthy and playing) but is an enigma.  So much skill, bbiq and talent and has not used it to his advantage at this point in his career.  I wish him luck but don't want lazy defensive players who don't move the ball and take ill advised shots anywhere near a brad stevens coached team

[celticsclay]

He is fairly irrelevant. I'm not convinced he will even be in the NBA after this year.

[mr. dee]

Trouble is he is rarely healthy and TOR got burnt signing him thus far.  Sully has played in 171 of 258 which equals 66% of the game he could have played due to health.

I  think Sully  would play better next to Horford than Amir.  He can rebound.   He still would be taking ill-advised shots that he can't make.  But he is not a massively better rebounder folks and these are stats and not faulty memory.

Sully averaged 7.7 RPG for his career , last year he averaged 8.3 RPG, this year zero because he is hurt.

Horford 8.8 RPG.  last year he averaged 7.3 RPG , this year 6.3 RPG

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/sullija01.html

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/h/horfoal01.html

1 RPG last year, is all he got more than Horford.  Horford has a got a lot more than him this year and has better averages for his career.   He also he is a better passer, and much better shooter and scorer and defender.   

Of course, a healthy Sully would have helped with rebounding but I bet our Shooting % would take a bit hit.  Also, given his career he has missed 1/3 of the games he can play due to chronic injuriess.

We were one of the best rebounding teams in the league last season with Sullinger (and arguably Turner) on the roster. This season, we are suddenly one of the worst rebounding team. Sullinger clearly effect's team rebounding due to his instincts and knows how to box out properly. Loose ball doesn't always go on his hands. But instead, it goes to his teammates.

[A Future of Stevens]

I think a healthy Bill Walton in his prime would have made this team better. Has about the same relevance, really.

Savage but fair.