When did Bradley become a chucker?

[Celtics4ever]

That's interesting, because I consider a PF who can rebound, score inside, and hit a 18-foot jump shot pretty balanced.

I don't mind him taking the 18 footer, it's the 23 footer he should never take.  6 for 23 that means all the hard work this summer he said he did didn't plan out.   Maybe he should come to camp in more shape than shooting a shot he has no business taking.   

[BudweiserCeltic]

That's interesting, because I consider a PF who can rebound, score inside, and hit a 18-foot jump shot pretty balanced.

I don't mind him taking the 18 footer, it's the 23 footer he should never take.  6 for 23 that means all the hard work this summer he said he did didn't plan out.   Maybe he should come to camp in more shape than shooting a shot he has no business taking.

First of all, what "all the hard work this summer" are you talking about? And you're castigating him for his shape?

You do know that he had back surgery right?

[playdream]

Sully should be able to make the 3's when he is open

[green147]

I wish KO would take 3's when he's open. He needs to get confidence in his long range shots and the only way he's going to get it, is if he starts shooting.

[BASS_THUMPER]

I wish KO would take 3's when he's open. He needs to get confidence in his long range shots and the only way he's going to get it, is if he starts shooting.

dont know if your serious
or part of the "tank team"

[Celtics4ever]

Sully should be able to make the 3's when he is open

It's becoming obvious that he doesn't have the skillset.  he is 6-25 and I don't image it helps us or him on the board.  For a guy who worked on it all summer, he wasted his time.  He has real potential in the post folks.   That is his calling and what he excels at.

I wish KO would take 3's when he's open. He needs to get confidence in his long range shots and the only way he's going to get it, is if he starts shooting.

He is 4-22.   I agree it will help us get a better pick.

[LooseCannon]

Sully should be able to make the 3's when he is open

It's becoming obvious that he doesn't have the skillset.  he is 6-25 and I don't image it helps us or him on the board.  For a guy who worked on it all summer, he wasted his time.  He has real potential in the post folks.   That is his calling and what he excels at.

Dirk Nowitzki shot 20.6% on threes as a rookie (14-68 in 47 games).  Short-term results don't make anything obvious.  This is the sort of knee-jerk reaction that leads to decisions like trading Joe Johnson half-way through his rookie season.

[Celtics18]

I don't know how this turned into a discussion on whether or not the bigs should be shooting threes, but I'll add my two cents:

I'm all for it.  I think all three of them are capable of upping their percentages enough to make it worthwhile.  If we can get to a point where we often have two bigs on the floor at the same time who are a threat from deep, that could be a very dangerous weapon. 

My other thought is whether it works or not, now that we've started down that road, it seems too early to pull the plug on the experiment after just fourteen games.   At this point, I think Brad has to give it some more time to see if it can work. 

[Celtics4ever]

I'm all for it.  I think all three of them are capable of upping their percentages enough to make it worthwhile.  If we can get to a point where we often have two bigs on the floor at the same time who are a threat from deep, that could be a very dangerous weapon. 

Right now something called facts are pointing against this now.

Dirk Nowitzki shot 20.6% on threes as a rookie (14-68 in 47 games).  Short-term results don't make anything obvious.  This is the sort of knee-jerk reaction that leads to decisions like trading Joe Johnson half-way through his rookie season.

I am pretty sure Dirk had some rotation on the ball and doesn't shot as bad as a ball as Sully does.   At least with Oly it misses short and soft so you know it's matter of strength.   With Sully sometimes the rotation on his ball is really bad and he misses all over.  Watch the seams on the ball on his threes it doesn't rotate like it should. 

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/n/nowitdi01.html

Dirk shot .1.4 threes a game that year.  Right now Sully is shooting 2.1 per game.  I will go on record and gladly you bet you that he will not be shooting .37% from there next year.  Some guys have a finite range Sully seems 19 foot or so after that his shot goes down hill fast.

I love Sully down low.  He got 19 points and 17 boards the other night.   Why not have guys do what their good at?   Where I am from it's not a knee jerk thing it's called playing to your strengths and minimizing your weaknesses. It's also part of coaching trying to do what your good at and hide what your not.   But I agree your idea (having them shoot) is great for tanking and not trying to win games.  Not to mention how it hurts us on the boards with our best offensive rebounder out where he can't rebound that is brilliant but at least we have the floor spread so it's all good. 

[Meadowlark_Scal]

he shs way too much...this is part of the reason green never gets the ball 10feet from the hoop where he should get it..or KO never gets it in the post....joe-chucker is launching again.......23 shots a game.....anyone can dial it in by then......maybe he is trying to prove he can be a 2-guard....

[crimson_stallion]

It's worth at least pointing out that he's shooting 45% for the season. Kind of impossible that he's been aimlessly chucking all the time.

Exactly.

I think Bradley has actually been far better this season offensively than he has been in the past.  His midrange jumper is looking much more confident and he seems to be hitting it with greater consistency.  He's driving to the basket more often, and he seems to be scoring better around the basket and on the fast break. 

He is struggling from three, but I think he's actually much improved offensively.

As for the whole "11 turnovers and zero assists in 5 games" thing, what's the big deal?  11 turnovers over 5 games is only 2.2 Turnovers per game.  That really is not a high number of turnovers by any standards...it's not impressively low, but it's not high either given that he's playing big minutes and that he does still handle the ball quite a lot.

The zero assists in 5 games is also no big deal.  AB is not a natural PG - he doesn't have the court vision or the offensive knowledge to be one, and that's why everybody knows he's more effective as a SG.  He isn't on the roster for his ability to set up plays, he's on the roster because of his ability to play elite defense while still contributing on the offensive and of the floor.  People criticise his lack of assists as if it indicates he is a ball hog and never passes the ball.  That's not true - he's often moving the ball around, he just very rarely makes the last pass which leads to a score...and that's just beause he's not a very good passer.   The whole thing is making a big deal over nothing.

It's also worth noting that he's been rebounding pretty well this season for a 6'3" guard.  He's been up around the 4 rpg range all season, which is good for a small guard. 

Right now Bradley is averaging about 13 points and 4 rebounds per night, while shooting 43% from the field (not great, but decent) and playing truly elite level defense.   You could do a lot worse...

[crimson_stallion]

P.s.

Just for the record you guys should check out Paul Pierce's stats for last season...let me help you, he shot 43% from the field.

It was not at all out of the ordinary last season to see Pierce have a game where he shot similarly poorly to what AB did the other day.  There were so many 3-18 type nights from Pierce last year that it made me cringe.

Fact is somebody needs to take the shots, and the coaches probably want AB to because they want to test him and see if he can, with more shooting practice, become  a better shooter.  They know the games mean nothing right now - if Boston loses, they really have nothing to lose. Developing their players is more important, so they probably WANT to let AB take a large volume of shots so he can get more comfortable with shooting through more repititions and hopefully improve his shot.

[mmmmm]

P.s.

Just for the record you guys should check out Paul Pierce's stats for last season...let me help you, he shot 43% from the field.

It was not at all out of the ordinary last season to see Pierce have a game where he shot similarly poorly to what AB did the other day.  There were so many 3-18 type nights from Pierce last year that it made me cringe.

Fact is somebody needs to take the shots, and the coaches probably want AB to because they want to test him and see if he can, with more shooting practice, become  a better shooter.  They know the games mean nothing right now - if Boston loses, they really have nothing to lose. Developing their players is more important, so they probably WANT to let AB take a large volume of shots so he can get more comfortable with shooting through more repititions and hopefully improve his shot.

Not all "43%" field goal percentages are created equal ...

Paul Pierce shot 43.6% FG% last year ... but also shot 38% from 3PT land and took .35 3PT shots per FGA --> thus, his eFG% was a very solid 50.2%

Bradley is shooting 42.6% FG% this year, but is only taking .158 3PT shots per FGA, and only making them at a 21.9% clip --> thus his eFG% is a pretty ugh-ly 44.3% right now.

Wing players need to be up around 48-49% eFG% at least or they should be taking fewer shots.

I am a big Bradley fan, but he needs to defer on some of his shots or increase his range out to the 3PT line to improve his efficiency.    I would be more comfortable with Bradley taking about 12 shots per 36.  Not the current 16 per 36 rate he is currently at.