Sullinger uses D-League to get in playing shape

Tough to find minutes since return to action

As a member in good standing of the NBA Players Association and a veteran of four full years in the league, Jared Sullinger didn’t have to consider even the possibility of a D-League stint.

Sullinger, who was admittedly struggling to get back into the flow of the NBA game after sitting out the first three months of the season, instead took the rare step of asking to go down and join the Mississauga 905, the Raptors’ D-League affiliate, on Saturday night to get some game play in.

NBA teams can assign any player with less than three years experience to the DLeague an unlimited number of times but have no such power over anyone with more NBA experience than that.

Sullinger would have been well within his rights to just work his way back into game shape in whatever minutes he got playing with the Raptors. The problem was he was getting frustrated with the process.

Sullinger made his Raptors’ regular season debut Jan. 18 in Philadelphia.

He had a screw surgically inserted into his left foot before the start of the regular season after playing just one pre-season game with his new team.

Since making his return, Sullinger played in five games but was scratched from the lineup in Friday’s win over Milwaukee.

In those five games, Sullinger averaged 14 minutes a night, but after a solid start in that debut in Philly in which he had eight points and three rebounds, things started to tail off.

In his final two games before watching from the bench Friday, Sullinger played a total of 27 minutes, was 0-for-10 from the field and contributed a total of five rebounds and two steals.

Sullinger’s return has come at a point in the schedule when practice time is not plentiful. Teams at this stage are more or less fighting the schedule and any energy spent in practice is energy not conserved for a game.

Sullinger has said time and again since his return that he just needs time on the court and that was hard to come by in games and almost as hard when the team did practice.

Delon Wright is in a similar situation coming back from off-season surgery, but as a second-year player, the Raptors have been able to assign him to the 905 and get him some work in.

Midway through last week, Raptors head coach Dwane Casey was lamenting the same could not be done for Sullinger.

“There’s nothing that simulates game conditions and that’s what’s great for him, to be able to go down there,” Casey said, speaking of Wright going down before moving on to Sullinger.

“You wish that Sully would have that situation but veteran players, it’s a tough situation for them to go down and come back up. He’s getting his game legs back in competition.”

Sullinger solved everything by asking to go down on Saturday and helped lead the Mississauga 905 to a 9790 win over the Delaware 87ers.

Sullinger had 18 points and 15 rebounds in just under 28 minutes. He went 6-for-19 from the field, including 2-for-7 from threepoint range.

Sullinger was recalled from Mississauga and was available to play Sunday night for the Raptors as they hosted Orlando.

When he was a young player in San Antonio, Raptors guard Cory Joseph asked to go down to the DLeague to get some work in, so it’s not like Sullinger is the first NBA player to ever offer to go down.

But it is a rare occurrence, and speaks to Sullinger’s determination to be as effective as he possibly can be for the Raptors.