Stevens Challenges Sully On Conditioning

http://bostonherald.com/sports/celtics_nba/boston_celtics/2014/04/jared_sullinger_schooled_on_conditioning


Brad Stevens challenges Jared Sullinger to get into better shape
By Jeff Clark  @celticsblog on Apr 24 2014, 6:32a 12



Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
First get in shape, then the rest will come.



MANCHESTER, N.H. — The Celtics had just unveiled another school computer, this time at Manchester’s McLaughlin Middle School, and Jared Sullinger stopped at the desk of each student to autograph a picture of himself.

The Celtics’ 2008 championship trophy sat on a table at the front of the room, with the walls covered with Celtics-themed murals. A girl, perhaps moved by these hints of excellence, told Sullinger that her team had just completed a 19-0 season.

The Celtics forward had to pause after hearing that one.

“Can’t say the same about myself,” he said, forced to reflect on the C’s just-completed 25-57 season.

But for Sullinger, the new season started last week during his exit interview with Celtics coach Brad Stevens.

As Sullinger readily admits, Stevens went at him hard in the meeting, mapping out a work schedule for the summer designed to improve the forward’s conditioning.

At this time last summer, Sullinger was recovering from back surgery, and hadn’t regained his fitness by the start of training camp. Sullinger’s conditioning then became a season-long issue.

So Sullinger has a grueling summer with team fitness and strength coach Bryan Doo to contemplate.

“It went well,” Sullinger said of his exit meeting. “Coach told me what he saw. Coach told me what I could do better, and coach was really honest. Now I know what he’s looking for. Sometimes you can’t say stuff during the season. You don’t want to change what’s going on during the season. But once the season was over he came at me and told me what he wants, what he needs from me. Now is the time to change.

“He just said what he wants at the offensive and defensive end. He showed flashes of telling me that during the season, but not like he did during the exit interviews. Once my conditioning comes into (form), everything else will follow suit.”

Sullinger is already ahead of last year’s pace, when he wasn’t able to participate in summer league because of his recovery from surgery. But there is the small matter of a sprained right ankle that was severe enough to hold Sullinger out of the last two games of the season.

Suffice it to say there hasn’t been a lot of progress in his recovery.

“Look for yourself,” Sullinger said, pulling up his pant legs to reveal a right ankle still substantially more swollen than his left.

“I really haven’t been able to work out yet,” he said. “I’ve taken some time off trying to get my ankle right. I didn’t get an MRI. Everybody knows it’s just a bad sprained ankle. (But) I’m absolutely ahead of last year. I’m active. Last summer I was very limited with the things I can do.”

Ideally, Celtics management will be able to add a legitimate, rim-protecting center by the end of the summer via the draft, a trade or free agency. That would enable Sullinger to swing over to his natural position of power forward, a spot at which he saw only limited time this past season because of the Celtics’ lack of legitimate help in the paint.

Not that Sullinger is complaining.

“That’s definitely a goal, but I also had to do what was best for the team,” he said. “I had to play at the center position. I’m not arguing with that. I’m not upset. I do what’s good for the team. I’m used to it.”

But if Sullinger is to reach his potential, he’ll have to move to power forward soon. Celtics president Danny Ainge has said Sullinger doesn’t know good he can be, and the player agrees.

“The summer is really exciting. I can’t wait to start and see where it takes me,” he said. “It’s going to be huge for me. It’s true I don’t know how good I can be. I hear that from my father every day. I hear it from my mother every day. I hear it from my older brothers every day. Trust me, I hear that from a lot of different people.”



bob
MY NOTE:  Between surgery and playing out of position against land-based Leviathons, Sully had to carry the extra weight or he would have been bulldozed every night.  If Danny can shake a center lose from someone, then Sully can drop the weight and add quickness.  One thing about Sully you have to love (and Kelly and Phil too) is that, as a coach's son, you know he'll be receptive to coaching.

If you think about it, he's only 22 years old and only has 1 1/2 years of NBA experience under his belt.  He's going to be something else a few years from now because he's already really good, he just became inconsistent in the 2nd half of the season.  If you saw LaMarcus Aldridge last night against Houston, that's what Sully could become.  Aldridge is 28 years old and has been in the league 8 years.  Big difference.  Danny's right.  Give Sully 6 more years and who knows just how good he could be.


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"Stevens Challenges Sully On Conditioning."

Good. It's badly needed, and will pay huge dividends for Sully and the team.

If there's one person on this team that I'm not worried about finding the right path, it's Sully. I'm not wild about all the threes; and the way Kelly's shooting them makes me wish Sully (and Brad) would leave the long ball volume to Kelly. But I think Sully is going to be one of the league's leading PFs sooner rather than later.

Sam