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Jared Sullinger medically red flagged by NBA doctors


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Ohio State Buckeyes big man Jared Sullinger has been medically red flagged by NBA doctors, multiple league sources told ESPN.com on Monday.

 

Sullinger's agent, David Falk, when reached via phone by ESPN.com said that he was not in a position to comment on the story.

 

Sullinger, who is projected to be a lottery pick in the 2012 NBA draft, underwent a series of medical tests at the NBA draft combine a week ago. According to sources, the doctors who looked at Sullinger were concerned with Sullinger's back.

 

A number of NBA team doctors have reviewed the information from the NBA and have told their front office staff that Sullinger's back issues could shorten his NBA career and some have advised their teams not to draft him in the first round.

 

Sullinger missed two games for Ohio State in early December with back spasms.

 

ESPN.com currently has Sullinger slated to go No. 10 in Mock Draft 7.0. However, such news could cause Sullinger to free fall in next week's draft.

 

In 2009, Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair was also red flagged by the NBA when medical tests at the NBA combine revealed he didn't have ACL's in either knee. At the time Blair was projected as a late lottery pick. He slid all the way out of the first round.

 

http://espn.go.com/nba/draft2012/story/_/id/8069495/2012-nba-draft-docs-medically-red-flag-jared-sullinger-sources-say

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I don't see him falling out of the first round, but this seems like it will almost surely make him fall out of the lottery. I think Miami would probably take a risk on him if he happened to fall to them at 27 or whatever.

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Apparently its not going to hurt his stock too much but who knows how teams feel in another week?

 

Sam Amick ‏@sam_amick

Teams that were showing interesting in Sullinger were made aware of the issues. Not a secret, in that regard.

 

Jonathan Givony ‏@DraftExpress

This Sullinger thing isn't a new thing. Its been floating around since Treviso. He's not the only lottery prospect that was red-flagged.

 

Jonathan Givony ‏@DraftExpress

I'm sure the team that put that out there is hoping so. RT @masha_potatoes: do you see him taking a DeJuan Blair-like tumble on draft day?

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I'm pretty sure that a lot of people aren't really surprised by this. I remember there were concerns about his back as far back as last year when he had some problems with it.

 

It may scare off some teams, but I think a lot of people who were really in on Sullinger were already aware of this anyways, so I doubt he falls too much. I don't think he falls past the Sixers or Rockets at 15 or 16. The absolute latest I see him dropping would be to the Magic at 19, but that would honestly shock me if he fell that far.

 

At the end of the day, I still think he is a lottery pick or taken with one of the first two post-lottery picks.

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Steve Kyler ‏@stevekylerNBA

Source said Sullinger back will likely require surgery, but it totally fixable... have to weigh his value if he misses a year

 

Steve Kyler ‏@stevekylerNBA

OK some draft notes for you… Jared Sullinger’s back is “not that bad” according to team source that’s considering him

 

Steve Kyler ‏@stevekylerNBA

The source said if you evaluated all the players in the NBA, more than not would have something similar.. bulging discs are common

 

If it is actually something that is fixable with surgery and isn't a degenerative condition that will shorten his career (like Brandon Roy's knees) then I really don't see why people think he will free fall down the draft board. Sure, he would likely be out for a large portion of next season, but is that really enough to make a guy who has been considered a lottery pick for the past 2 years now fall into the 20's? It sure as hell isn't enough to me.

 

The only thing that would scare me about Sully's back is if it will be something that will potentially shorten his career. If it is something that is fixable with surgery, this is honestly a complete non-issue to me.

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