Very quietly this season (since nobody is watching), second-year power forward/center Jared Sullinger has turned into the second best player on the Celtics. Today, he was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week. It is the second time that a Celtic has won it this year, joining Jordan Crawford (long gone and now on Golden State).
With the NBA trade deadline a week from Thursday, there have been plenty of trade rumors involving numerous players currently on Boston: Jeff Green, Rajon Rondo and Brandon Bass among others. I try not to pay too much attention to those until the top reporters (Woj!) are talking about it but I have to say that other than maybe Rondo, Sullinger is the one guy I want the Celtics to keep. Green is way too up and down, Avery Bradley is always hurt and still can't really shoot consistently while Bass is one-dimensional.
Sullinger has his own injury history with his bad back but if he's on the court, odds are that he's playing well. Unlike most young players in the NBA, he knows how to play the game. That's why he's made it this far since he's not athletic or particularly tall. His dad was a high school coach and you can tell he's been around the game forever.
In all three games last week (where the C's went 2-1, ugh), he posted double doubles: 19 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and four blocks at Philadelphia; 31 points and 16 rebounds vs. Sacramento; 11 points and 12 rebounds vs. Dallas. For the season, he's averaging 13.4 points per game and 8.2 rebounds per game as he's been starting at center with the other lack of big guy options on this lottery team.
I'm not going to lie to you and say that it's worth it to watch Celtics games this season just to see Sullinger but if you have no other options and you get stuck watching them, Sullinger is a nice piece and hopefully a part of the future when they'll be relevant again in another few years.
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