Jared Sullinger’s Stock is Plummeting
By Jeremy Karll
Jared Sullinger had a nice regular season but his play in the playoffs may lose him a lot of money this off-season
The fourth year big man out of Ohio State University, Jared Sullinger, is set to be a free agent this summer. Sullinger has already expressed the interest in getting near a max deal as his first contract following his rookie deal. There has been no point in his four-year career that suggests he’s worth anything near that type of money, but it’s not uncommon for desperate teams to overpay for an average starting power forward, especially with the cap space going up this summer.
In a contract year, Sullinger didn’t put up mind-boggling numbers. His usage percentage went down by nearly two percent from a year ago, which led to his points per game to fall to 10.3 this season. He did set a career-high, and led the team, with 8.3 rebounds per game, along with his career-best 18.7 total rebounding percentage – according to Basketball Reference.
His numbers don’t suggest that he’s a star caliber player, however, he has the ability to score inside and has an effective mid-range shot with an improving three-point stroke. That still doesn’t make him a star but the intrigue with Sullinger is there for teams looking for a young big man who can play either power forward or center.
Jared Sullinger put together a lot of good stretches of basketball this season, cementing him as the team’s starting power forward in the regular season. That switched in the playoffs once Sullinger proved to be at a very big disadvantage when put up against Paul Millsap and Al Horford. It forced Brad Stevens to move him to the bench and give him a minimal role.
Sullinger is seeing just 15 minutes per game this series and it makes sense considering how he’s played. His shot hasn’t been falling on offense (32.4 field-goal percentage) so he hasn’t been able to spread the floor and get Millsap or Horford outside of the paint.
His 5.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game isn’t enough to warrant major playing time when Jonas Jerebko is averaging 8.4 points and eight rebounds per game – including two double-doubles. Sullinger’s big body was supposed to help keep Millsap and Horford off the glass this series, however, his lack of boxing-out down low has led to a lot of offensive rebounds and second-chance point for the Hawks.
Jonas Jerebko has seemingly replaced Sullinger in the starting lineup and rotation this series. The Hawks have been able to exploit a lot of holes in Sullinger’s game, which will make some teams wary this summer.
Related Story: Jonas Jerebko is Everything Boston Needed From Sullinger
Jared Sullinger has faced this type of doubt throughout his whole career. After being a standout at Ohio State for two seasons, health issues caused him to drop in the draft. At the beginning of the season, Boston Celtics GM Danny Ainge, was concerned about his weight and whether that would affect his play.
He has proven to be a solid power forward in the NBA, however, he has also shown that he’s most likely not a starter on a championship-caliber team. He can put up solid numbers but he’s best suited to come off the bench as a scorer who is also able to grab a couple of rebounds. Jared Sullinger has the talent to play a big role off the bench somewhere. Maybe it’s the playoff stage, or maybe he’s just in a funk, but front offices around the league are seeing him as an ineffective piece to a Celtics’ team that was a well-oiled machine this season.
There will still be some team that will take a chance on him, if not the Celtics will, but his struggles have come at the wrong time. On the biggest stage, he has been ineffective when given significant playing time. It also speaks volume when Brad Stevens opted to remove him from the starting lineup after he started 73 of 81 games this season and turned to Jerebko, who didn’t make one regular season start.
Next: Boston Celtics Defense Fell Short in Game 5
There was no way Jared Sullinger was going to get near a max contract this off-season. He’ll latch on to a team as a backup power forward but the flaws in his game have been exemplified at the worst time as the off-season is just right around the corner.