Sull’ session
Nets scout ex-Celtics forward
The Nets have a history with reclamation projects and a willingness to turn over every rock looking for talent. Could Jared Sullinger be the next calculated gamble general manager Sean Marks takes a flier on?
The former first-round pick is looking to salvage his career, and the Nets were watching him do it, playing at the The Basketball Tournament in Brooklyn over the weekend. Nets assistant general manager Trajan Langdon attended Sullinger’s game Saturday as ESPN broadcaster Fran Fraschilla said the Nets were scouting the 25-year-old big man.
It doesn’t mean the Nets are committing to Sullinger or even bringing him to camp. But considering his career averages of 10.8 points and 7.5 rebounds, he’s worth keeping an eye on. And the power forward — represented by agent David Falk — is clearly hungry for another opportunity, considering he wore a shirt at the tourney advertising his unemployed status.
“Literally wanted to cry today. Thought i was never playing basketball again!!! THANK YOU LORD!!!” Sullinger tweeted last weekend.
Sullinger logged four solid seasons with the Celtics before having surgery on his broken foot, Nets orthopedic specialist Dr. Martin O’Malley inserting a screw into the fifth metatarsal of his left foot back on Oct. 24. After missing the first 41 games of last season with the Raptors, Sullinger spent a pair of stints with the Raptors’ developmental league team, was traded to the Suns in February and waived the next day.
Just 24 at the time, his weight was heading up and his career was heading down. He estimated he topped out at 320 pounds during his final season in Boston and knew his career was in jeopardy.
“Honestly, it was embarrassing,” Sullinger told the Columbus Dispatch.
But since then he has worked to get back into shape — or at least some sem- blance of it — and make a comeback. The former Ohio State star played for the Scarlet and Gray squad in the The Basketball Tournament at LIU Brooklyn’s gym.
Sullinger followed a 21-point, nine-rebound, four-assist performance Saturday with a 15-point, eight-board encore Sunday to lead the Scarlet and Gray to an 81-56 win over the Golden Eagles, and a berth in the semifinals.
It should be noted that the Nets scout dozens and dozens of players. Marks personally flew to Germany, Russia, Turkey and Spain (twice) during a European tour back in March, and Langdon saw 10 different teams during a whirlwind trek the next month. Sullinger is just one of many players the Nets will see — albeit possibly one of the more intriguing ones to be had on the cheap.