Asked if he might be a draft sleeper, Jared Sullinger’s face broke into a sly smile. If the Ohio State forward was prepared for anything during the NBA draft combine, it was this question.
“I could be,” Sullinger said. “A lot of people have been sleeping on me, and it’s kind of fun. All my life I’ve kind of been known as the underdog.
“People said I wasn’t going to be able to play at the college level, and I did. Some people said I wasn’t going to be able to play at the high school level; some people said I was too overweight to play at the middle school level. I’m used to it.”
Doubts might recede now that Sullinger appears to measure up. He officially stood 6-foot-9 in shoes, and his wingspan of 7-1 1/4 and his standing reach of 8-11 were comparable to the centers in the combine pool. The latter number was just an inch shy of presumptive No. 1 pick Anthony Davis’ reach.
— Reported by Brian Hamilton of the Chicago Tribune
