Jared Sullinger improves body, mind

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/celtics_nba/boston_celtics/2015/10/jared_sullinger_improves_body_mind



Jared Sullinger improves body, mind






Photo by: AP photo
LIGHTER TOPIC: A slimmed-down Jared Sullinger puts up a shot during the Celtics’ win Thursday in Madrid.

Saturday, October 10, 2015

By:  Steve Bulpett



As Jared Sullinger works his way through the preseason, he is never really alone. As Julia Roberts says to Andy Garcia in “Ocean’s Eleven”: “In your hotel, there’s always someone watching.”

After a summer with a renewed attention to his conditioning and with a potential contract extension at stake, Sullinger’s body is under more scrutiny than any employee this side of a Hooters waitress.

Once upon a time, he would recoil when his weight was brought up for discussion. Now he is more accepting, though he still doesn’t necessarily love the topic.

“Yeah, but it is what it is,” said Sullinger, who went for 14 points and four rebounds in 15 minutes Tuesday in Milan and 7 and 6 in 11 minutes during Thursday’s completion of a 2-0 trip in Madrid. “This is always going to be a part of who I am. No matter how small I get or no matter how big I get, that’s always going to be a question and a topic of discussion. I just have to blank it out and keep playing basketball.”

What’s behind that paragraph is not just a change in physique, but an entirely different mindset.

“I have to go back to John this summer,” Sullinger said of John Lucas, the former NBA player who has become a mentor to those with issues both basketball-related and otherwise. “We had long talks, you know? I love John. He’s like my other dad, and he adopted me as his son damn near.

“He always told me. He said, ‘You don’t really need to care about what people think about you. Just go out there and do your job.’ And I think for the past two years I’ve been so worried about what everybody says.

“We had these long conversations, and I opened up to him. I realized that I’ve been so worried about what everybody says, and I wasn’t really worried about basketball. I think this year for the first time since my rookie year it’s all about basketball. I don’t care what anybody has to say. As long as I’m in my happy place, as long as I’m doing what I need to do and as long as I make strides to be the person I need to be for this basketball team to win, that’s the biggest thing.”

And that “thing” is unquestionably defense. For all his other points of contention — the need to improve in all areas of his game, in addition to his body — the main obstacle to Sullinger having a long and successful NBA career is guarding people. He will have to do that much better to be on the floor enough to have a true impact.

“I think that’s the biggest thing — defense,” Sullinger said. “And as I realize I’m in better shape, I’m doing more things on the defensive end than I’ve done in the past two years. I’m kind of finding my way. I was telling Walt (McCarty, assistant coach) the other day, I’ve blocked more shots in practice …”

At that point in the discussion, Kelly Olynyk came down the hallway and offered a drive-by comment.

“That’s a lie,” he said.

Sullinger smiled and said, “It was your shot, as a matter of fact.

“But I’ve been blocking more shots than I’ve ever blocked in the past two years,” he continued after Olynyk had turned the corner. “It was kind of funny. But that’s just from working every day to be the best basketball player I can be.

“What’s improved the most is that I can make the second and third efforts on the defensive end. And when my legs are feeling tired, I’m able to find the extra juice to be able to knock down that shot.

“When you’ve got guys like Tyler (Zeller) and Amir (Johnson) and (David Lee) and Kelly (Olynyk) — even Jordan (Mickey) — you’ve just got to play basketball. You can’t really (worry) about how many minutes you’re going to get. You’ve got to go out there and play like you’re only going to get a minute.”

The Celtics are well aware of Sullinger’s defensive questions, but Danny Ainge stopped short of appearing to single him out. The club’s issues are greater and more varied.

“I think Sully can be a better defender, sure,” Ainge said. “But I think all of our bigs can be better defenders, and they’re going to have to be better defenders if we’re going to have success this year. Because we don’t have a 7-footer that just protects the rim, we need Kelly and Sully and Tyler and David and Amir and Jonas (Jerebko) to all be better defenders. That’s a big focus for our team.

“But I wouldn’t single Sully out. Sully’s our best rebounder. I hate putting pressure on one person to get better on something when everyone on our team needs to.”




bob
MY NOTE:  He may not look fat but he sure as hell sure still looks like a load.  His body, and game, reminds me a lot of Danny Fortson.  Mid-range shot (who knows about where his 3pt fg% will be this year), not tall for his position and a below-the-rim player but built like a brick shithouse, takes up a lot of space in the paint and virtually unmovable off his spot.  Fortson didn't have the team around him Sully does.  Sully looks like the human wrecking ball on offense that Marcus Smart looks like on defense.


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good analogy bob, I think Sully has a better more diversified offensive game than Fortson, however Fortson was the more hard nosed physical defender....Sully could easily be an adequate serviceable defender if he had that Mr Intimadator next to him and didn't have to defend at the 5 for long stretches.

I am always interested in trying to compare younger players with other past or older current players myself, so reading this earlier had me wanting to compare Sully to some other players after his first thee years.

I used stats per 36 min for each player and compared Sully to

D. Fortson
Z. Randolph
C. Boozer
D. West


when I compared the stats for each year D. West is the closet in their first years

C. Boozer closest the second

Z. Randolph in the third year.

overall it appears the closet of these four players is David West statistically at least over their first three seasons.

Sullinger still has to prove that he is in better shape to me. Just saying that he is is not good enough. Playing 10-15 minutes in a couple of ex games does not yet show it either.

He has the talent to be an all star if he can actually conquer his conditioning problems. He can score at the hoop and rebounds better than probably everyone on the team except maybe Lee, but he needs to be able to play a much stronger 30-34 minutes each night to be that all star. I think that he can be a 20 and 10 guy if he can play longer minutes at a better pace than he did last year, but he still has not yet proven it to anyone.

Conquering substance addictions is one thing (not that he has one) and it is not an easy thing, but getting into shape to play a game that will pay him more than 4-5 M per year should not be such a tough task, in my opinion. i guarantee that even at 64 years old I would find a way to be the best ever conditioned 64 year older if I had the opportunity to get a multi million dollar contract next summer.

Does this guy have any clue as to how he is likely to make the money to live off in his lifetime? I am afraid that his one or two years at Ohio State has not qualified him in any special way to earn enough money to live off for the next 60 years of his life time if he is not playing basketball as a pro for the next 10-12 years.

Is he getting any guidance from his dad or family and now John Lucas? This is a simple thing and not too much brain tissue is needed to figure it out. Better eating and conditioning with a little will power EQUALS a longer and richer NBA career.