Brickowski said:
Jefferson in 2007 did two things well: low post scoring and defensive rebounding. But the 2014 Sullinger is a better defender, better offensive rebounder, better passer, better handles, more range on his shot, and a better free throw shooter (by about 10%). Sullinger is also a year younger than Jefferson was in 2007. In addition, the 2007 Celtics had Kendrick Perkins, who started 52 games at center, plus Olowokandi. Jefferson did not play out of position nearly as much as Sullinger has this year, or as much against the other team's first unit.
I'll say this about Big Al: if he hadn't gotten hurt in that first year in MN (when he was playing for McHale), he likely would have had a better career. That injury in his 4th year really set him back.
So going through these 1 by 1.
1. Defense- eye test versus 7 year old memories of Al make me agree slightly, but the data such as it is doesn't really back it up, I'd say the difference is marginal, Jared is probably a bit better on the perimeter vs PF, Al was better against centers. Al also appears to have cause more turnovers between steals and blocks (assuming a normal distribution of recovery of blocks by each team).
2. Better offensive rebounder- definitely, about 12.8% versus 12.3%.
3. One of the big differences, Al was not effective at setting up teammates his first two years, in 2007 he took a big step forward, but Sully is still significantly better.
4. Handles... I guess, but really neither should ever take more than 3 consecutive dribbles.
5. Range... Sullinger does have range, unfortunately even his 3 point attempts don't make up for the far superior scoring ability of Jefferson.
6. FT%, as I noted, a plus for Sully, unfortunately his FT rate is pretty abysmal compared to Jefferson, so Jefferson actually was more valuable at the line despite his lower conversion rate per shot.
7. Positioning- Jefferson played more minutes at C than PF that year by a slim margain, Olowakandi played a total of 234 minutes, and Kendrick only played 1500 or so. Jefferson played 2300 minutes total (more than Sully's entire career) more than half at C while Ryan Gomes played PF.