Little surprise, but Jared Sullinger is entering the NBA Draft

Donate To GopherHole


Once, in Columbus. Maybe Thomas will join Sullinger in the draft?
 

Losing Sullinger and Buford will certainly hurt OSU, but they will likely reload with 3-4 big time players.
 



OSU went as far as Sullinger was going to take them & he wasn't going to get much better if he stayed, so leaving is the right move. I'm not going to miss all his posing, antics about officiating, playing the "I have to avoid fouling" defense, or complaints about the national media doubting the team. Don't get me wrong, Sullinger could play good defense when he tried, but 95% of the time he wasn't playing tough defense this year, and every game he was letting the other team get shots close to the basket easier than they should've been, not contesting high-percentage shots very well - you don't win national championships with that kind of defense in the post.

I don't know if Thomas will leave or not. His defense was not very good against the better competition, and he lacks the ballhandling skills it takes to be a wing in the NBA, so I doubt he'd be a first round pick. He might leave, but I don't think he will stick in the NBA if he leaves now, but you can't sneeze at the paychecks players get in Europe and other countries. Either way he's going to make a good decision.

If they keep Thomas and land Tony Parker (F/C recruit from Georgia), they won't miss Sully as much as you might expect next season. Sullinger is a great rebounder, and very good at scoring against smaller defenders, but struggled against strong & long big men, and he let his frustration get the better of him when things weren't going his way sometimes. I think Sullinger will be a bench player in the NBA, but he should have a nice long career because he will find a way to get his share of points and rebounds & NBA teams need quality bench players like him.

I think Buford is going to be harder to replace than people think because he was the best shooter on the team and played good defense, and the guys they might replace him with all shot poorly from 3 this year ... I don't know how many (if any) of them will be able to both shoot 3s well as well as defend well.
 

OSUfan said:
OSU went as far as Sullinger was going to take them & he wasn't going to get much better if he stayed, so leaving is the right move. I'm not going to miss all his posing, antics about officiating, playing the "I have to avoid fouling" defense, or complaints about the national media doubting the team. Don't get me wrong, Sullinger could play good defense when he tried, but 95% of the time he wasn't playing tough defense this year, and every game he was letting the other team get shots close to the basket easier than they should've been, not contesting high-percentage shots very well - you don't win national championships with that kind of defense in the post.

I don't know if Thomas will leave or not. His defense was not very good against the better competition, and he lacks the ballhandling skills it takes to be a wing in the NBA, so I doubt he'd be a first round pick. He might leave, but I don't think he will stick in the NBA if he leaves now, but you can't sneeze at the paychecks players get in Europe and other countries. Either way he's going to make a good decision.

If they keep Thomas and land Tony Parker (F/C recruit from Georgia), they won't miss Sully as much as you might expect next season. Sullinger is a great rebounder, and very good at scoring against smaller defenders, but struggled against strong & long big men, and he let his frustration get the better of him when things weren't going his way sometimes. I think Sullinger will be a bench player in the NBA, but he should have a nice long career because he will find a way to get his share of points and rebounds & NBA teams need quality bench players like him.

I think Buford is going to be harder to replace than people think because he was the best shooter on the team and played good defense, and the guys they might replace him with all shot poorly from 3 this year ... I don't know how many (if any) of them will be able to both shoot 3s well as well as defend well.
Click to expand...

So is dboy's past thread about Sullinger being overrated accurate, or not?

http://www.forums.gopherhole.com/boards/showthread.php?23078-wow-is-Sullinger-overrated
 

OSUfan, I agree with your assessment on Sullinger's pro potential; do you see him fulfilling a Tyler Hansbrough-type role?
 

I believe what I was originally arguing with dboy about was he said Sullinger wouldn't be an All-American, so he was NOT right about that. I don't know if overrated is the right word, but I do think he is overvalued somewhat because he got high accolades but didn't have the right mindset in some regards, and that really had some bad ripple effects in how he played. I don't remember hearing many people in the media (really Dan Dakich is the only one I recall talking about it) discuss his bad body language, him forcing up bad shots, or his soft defense but they were real problems. He is a great player, but there are some chinks in the armor. For a coach like Thad Matta who has talent waiting in the wings and could get another 5* guy to come in to replace him, he might not be as big a loss as you might think.
 



Agree that Sullinger doesn't have a huge upside in the league. Almost all post players will be longer, taller, and more athletic. With that said, he was a great college player.
 

Watching him, I had the feeling he was marking time til the NBA. Its good for him to move on to the bigs and deal with the reality of the work he needs to do. He had the skills to dominate but did not and ddn't seem inclined to put out the effort. He reminds me a bit of Humphries who had to overcome his view of himself to excel.
 

Moonlight said:
Watching him, I had the feeling he was marking time til the NBA. Its good for him to move on to the bigs and deal with the reality of the work he needs to do. He had the skills to dominate but did not and ddn't seem inclined to put out the effort. He reminds me a bit of Humphries who had to overcome his view of himself to excel.
Click to expand...

Agree with this. He is good but thought he would be great - dominating.
 

I felt cheated that we didn't get to see a trevor/jared matchup this year and was hoping for one next year. Oh well.
 



KoolAid said:
I felt cheated that we didn't get to see a trevor/jared matchup this year and was hoping for one next year. Oh well.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I was really looking forward to that matchup, too bad we'll never see it again.
 

Dr.Don said:
So is dboy's past thread about Sullinger being overrated accurate, or not?

http://www.forums.gopherhole.com/boards/showthread.php?23078-wow-is-Sullinger-overrated
Click to expand...


don has my back??
what a trip down memory lane that thread was..
some other quotes that i still stand by from that magic carpet ride of 2010:

from Nov, 2010:

these three things i know:
1.) sullinger is not first team all-american.. he is a shorter kevin love with no range. he does not have the explosive jumping of Sir Charles as some here have compared him.
2.) if hoff averages 20+ minutes a game this year we are one/done in the dance.
3.) Theissen (sp?) from Osseo will not be one of the top 50 players in the nation when he is a senior.

one more:

4.) harrison barnes, like sullinger, is overrated and will not be first team all-am at the end of the year.

b4 you waste the 5th pick, make sure sullinger can:

1.) face the basket.
2.) take someone off the dribble.
3.) take someone off the dribble with a spin move.
4.) hit a mid-range jumper.
5.) hit a 3 (optional).
6.) play D against 4's or 5's.
7.) run the floor.

kevin love can do all these... sullinger cant do any of them yet.

Would you draft kevin love 5th if he was coming out of college with his current skill set? a fifth pick is a franchise building pick... would you build a franchise around this type of guy???

i didn't see sullinger do anything last night but catch and finish bunnies... throw up an ugly left handed jump-hook after being stuffed, and toss in a 10 foot jump hook.

i did see him, in the low block, turn to HIS right and try a little jumper, much like Colton does, to only have it rejected by the D w/o the D even jumping.

so with the skill set i have seen, and the lack of explosion off the floor ( he is not a 'quick' jumper.. he needs 1 or 2 steps to gather himself much like Kevin Love ), i deem him overrated.

now if sullinger goest for 26/15 against our bigs, i'll eat my words.

florida played some of the worst D i have ever seen in a D1 game. don't base all your opinions on ESPN highlights.

now will he be a 15/8 guy, sure. will he make the nba? sure.. is he one of the top 5 players in the nation right now, no way.
 

am i the new gh mvp for these call-outs back in nov 11? :clap:
 

Sullinger reminds me most of Tractor Traylor. Now Traylor was about 6'7" at the draft camp and closer to 300 lbs, so Sullinger isn't quite as wide. But Traylor had a tough time with the length of NBA players. In college, his strength just moved people out of the way. I think Sullinger is more skilled and he will probably develop a very nice mid range shot, but Traylor was an athlete at that size. Undersized and round pf's in the pro's: Sean May, Oliver Miller, S. williams, D. Blair, all ok role players. Sullinger is the most skilled but hard to see him dominating.

Lenzel Smith jr will be a go to player next year, with or without Thomas. He took a backseat to others this year. He shot 37% from three, better than Buford's 35%. Smith had two big games against Syracuse and Cinn, 18 and 17 pts, hitting 3 3pointers in both games in the tourney. I could see him going from 7 pts a game this year to 12-16 a game, depending on if Thomas leaves.


Next year:
pg craft jr
sg scott so
sf smith jr, thompson so
pf thomas jr, Ravenel sr, Ross so
c A. williams so

With thomas you have 3 mcdonalds all-americans, 2 without him. The cupboard isn't bare either way. But I think they will definitely miss Sullinger. They are still a top 4 team in the big ten.
 

Word out of Columbus that Thomas is returning for next season.
 


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom