After signing a one-year deal worth $6 million with the Toronto Raptors, Jared Sullinger knows he messed up.
Many of his peers, like former teammate Evan Turner (four years, $70 million) were being handed obscene sums of cash. But he ultimately settled on a modestly priced one-year pact, because the interest in his services, while widespread, was far from robust.
From the Boston Herald‘s Mark Murphy:
Last summer Jared Sullinger embarked on a personal improvement journey that turned out to be a waste of time.
He spent that time in intensive workouts with John Lucas, lost weight, improved his conditioning, and let it all unravel during the season. According to a league source, his weight soared over 300 pounds.
It amounted to self-destructive behavior in a contract year, and now that the Celtics power forward has joined Toronto on a one-year, $6 million contract, he’s back on the proving ground. To hear Sullinger’s agent tell it, the 24-year-old power forward admits to the error of his ways.
“Jared understands that if he had controlled his situation better, his options would have been better,” David Falk said Tuesday.
…
“What happened the last two weeks has been major wake-up call for him,” said Falk. “He’s in the gym twice a day. He knows what he has to do.”
Murphy notes that Sullinger fielded offers from other teams, some of them guaranteeing more money. But Sullinger chose the Raptors because, to him, they offer the best shot at redemption.
Plus, signing a one-year deal can actually help Sullinger. If he proves he can stay in shape through the entire season and performs up to snuff on the court, the salary cap will jump over $100 million in 2017. He will have an opportunity to get paid.
It’s slightly unclear, though, how the Raptors will use him. The Celtics slotted him at center for most of last season, according to Basketball-Reference, but they had the luxury of an impenetrable perimeter defense. Sully’s defensive splits are too topsy-turvy, good in some cases, bad in others, for Toronto to use him the same way.
But he’s shooting under 30 percent from three for his career, so he doesn’t yet provide enough spacing to operate as a heavily used 4. The Raptors also need a backup center after losing Bismack Biyombo to the Orlando Magic, and the fact that Sullinger shoots threes at all, even if inefficiently, will help them space the floor and stretch defenses wafer thin.
The fit matters here. It matters a whole lot. Sullinger must truly believe the Raptors can help him reinvent public perception. And for his sake, he better be right.
Tens of millions of dollars likely depend on it.
