In defense of Avery Bradley

[ItStaysYang]

When considering Bradley and his value as a player, it's easy for me to brush this season off. I don't know if any of you have had a shoulder injury, but I had a minor one (slightly-torn rotator cuff), something that didn't require surgery - and it will NEVER be the same. Can only imagine AB's double-shoulder surgery was/is a huge burden for him. Also, it's clear that this season Avery felt an enormous amount of pressure - whether it was self-instilled or from Doc. Couple that with playing out of position, and the outcome is exactly what we saw with Bradley this season. Avery Bradley is not a point guard.

Ignoring this season, my biggest gripe about Bradley as a SG is that he's often undersized at the position. Despite that, his defensive tenacity and offensive efficiency behind Rondo far outweigh his size woes.

Playing good defense is important - especially with our younger team. It leads to transition scoring opportunities. Just like 2011-2012, when Bradley is back into position, his offense will come when he doesn't have to force it, and the haters will vanish just like they did with Rondo

[ianboyextreme]

At this point I can't defend anything Avery Bradley does.

haha wow dude. you really lost it.

[BleedGreen1989]

Like Roy said, I think the truth is somewhere in between the two sides as usual. While I don't think he will ever become a star and I would trade him for somebody of equal value that plays the 4 or the 5, he certainly is very good at one thing. He needs to expand his offensive game and bulk up a little I'd say. Felton absolutely abused him

All that being said, I think now is a very poor time to trade Bradley unless somebody blows you away with an offer which is unlikely. With Bradley's poor ending, you would be selling low on an asset which is simply bad business.

[LilRip]

Agreed, i don't think Bradley should be traded right now either because his playoff performance left his value low.

Bradley is a tricky talent to evaluate. I think he's a 'missing piece' type of player. By that i mean, he's likely not ever going to be good enough to be one of your core players, but on a contending team with an already established core, he will be the piece that will put the team over the top. He's a specialist that can change the flow or momentum of a game and he should be treated like one. He's the JR Smith or Jamal Crawford [or Jason Terry] of defense. Doesn't necessarily mean he has to come off the bench, but he should likely split the minutes with a gifted scoring 2-guard.

[Fafnir]

The only thing that I disagree with is that I felt that the end of last year was as good as he will get offensively.

Well, he shot 55% from three in April, and 52% overall that month.  I just don't think that's sustainable.  Yet, somewhere along the way, many fans got the idea that that's Bradley's baseline.

*Maybe* he can someday average 15ppg again, but he's not going to do it shooting those percentages.

His corner 3 percentage has stayed pretty high through most of his playing time.

The issue is can he make 3s from other spots at a reasonable percentage. So far we don't know.

[nostar]

I remember (vaguely) a bunch of very highly reputable NBA players talking up AB for his defensive tenacity (Lebron, Curry, Wall). He's humble, hardworking, efficient and maybe most importantly in this NBA, he's on a rookie deal.

This is all to say that AB needs no defending. Having him is a complete luxury and anyone that doesn't think that is unhinged. The fact that he's not a point-guard shouldn't count against him. He's an under-sized shooting guard who is lauded for his defense. I'll take it!

[LooseCannon]

Well, he shot 55% from three in April, and 52% overall that month.  I just don't think that's sustainable.  Yet, somewhere along the way, many fans got the idea that that's Bradley's baseline.

I have my doubts about him being a 40% three-point shooter like he was in 2011-2012.  I think he has a reasonable chance at shooting the 37.2% that both Terry and Lee shot this past season.  On two-pointers 15 feet or more, he actually improved from 42.1% to 44.2% (as determined at basketball-reference.com), so I think there is hope.

[WeMadeIt17]

Avery seemed like he stopped doing the things that made him a value in 2012. I saw less and less back door cuts that was helping our offense so much. And missing so many layups this year. I still give it to him, he is a hell of a defender, but think he is more suited for the bench role. He can come off the bench with fresh legs and really disturb a PG/SG that has been playing and is a little more tired.

I wouldn't be all that upset if he ended up in a trade that brought us something that can help in the post or a pure scorer. And end up signing TA.

[lightspeed5]

^no rondo. That's why. With rondo, the backdoor cuts are open like crazy.

[Geo123]

Avery is a good #3 guard.  He will pressure the ball extremly well and provide energy to the second unit.  If a team is counting on him being a lead guard, it's trouble.  He cold start for a team that has a Westbrook type scoring point (but how many of those are there?). 

[TripleOT]

Agreed on AB being a top defender, despite being undersized against big SGs.  My big problem with hims is Bradley clearly showing he's a head case in the series against the Knicks.  He waited until the team was facing eliminating before he finally truly challenged Pillsbury Doughboy Felton's dribble.  Considering that ball pressure is AB's trademark, maybe he should have been going after Felton from the first seconds of Game 1. 

Besides a decent offensive showing in game one, and manic, great play the last eight minutes of the series, Bradley was by far the worst player getting minutes in the entire playoffs, scoring only 18 points in 145 minutes from Game 2 until his awakening with the Cs down 25 in Game 6. In the same period of time, Felton scored 88 points.  He destroyed Bradley.     

[Atzar]

Agreed on AB being a top defender, despite being undersized against big SGs.  My big problem with hims is Bradley clearly showing he's a head case in the series against the Knicks.  He waited until the team was facing eliminating before he finally truly challenged Pillsbury Doughboy Felton's dribble.  Considering that ball pressure is AB's trademark, maybe he should have been going after Felton from the first seconds of Game 1. 

Besides a decent offensive showing in game one, and manic, great play the last eight minutes of the series, Bradley was by far the worst player getting minutes in the entire playoffs, scoring only 18 points in 145 minutes from Game 2 until his awakening with the Cs down 25 in Game 6. In the same period of time, Felton scored 88 points.  He destroyed Bradley.   

Felton's effectiveness had a lot to do with Tyson Chandler's quiet dominance in the pick-and-roll game and the inability of our bigs to hedge well enough to give Bradley enough time to reestablish position.  To his credit Felton did a very good job hitting his open shots, but he was getting open because none of our guards could get around Chandler quickly enough to contest his shot attempts.  Bradley struggled, but the blame isn't all on him.  It's also on our bigs, and it's also because Chandler was just that good.   

Tyson Chandler killed us.  Not Carmelo, not Smith, not even Felton.  Tyson Chandler.  The fact that nobody at ESPN talked about him during our series just reinforces the fact that they're more interested in showing pretty acrobatics and statistics than they are effective basketball. 

[syfy9]

He'd be kind of like Vinnie Johnson on Detroit, but opposite in the sense of emphasizing D. He'd come in an disrupt the other team's offense. We could call him "The Cooler."

Tp.