Tremendous pressure on Avery Bradley

[CelticG1]

Pressure? What pressure?  All he has to do is be the primary distributor on defense, space the floor so that Paul isn't continually doubled, hit his shots at a high rate, stop the super quick Teague from penetrating yet run him off the 3 point line, and prevent Joe Johnson from scoring on him after posting him up down low.

Rookies struggle in playoffs and for the first time Avery's getting coaches targeting him directly in their game plans.  Tonight the Hawks are going to pressure him bringing up the ball.  I expect he'll struggle in the playoffs just as Rondo did in 2008.  Only the truly elite (Russell, MJ, Bird, Magic, etc) seem immune to growing pains.

How old were those great ones though? Rondo in his 3rd year was probably the same age as Magic + Birds rookie season and he averaged a triple double in round 1. Bradley is 21. Just saying its not exactly the same.

[alajet]

Just imagine how scary it would be if they didnt have to grab everybody elses leftovers.  And got to work with the elite of the elite talent from the beginning?

They did it once. Got someone named Timothy Theodore Duncan
But I disagree that Ginobili was an obscurity before he joined the Spurs. He was a key piece of silver medalist Argentina team in FIBA 2002 and made the All-Tournament team. He was a steal in the draft of 1999 and joined the team after 2002. And Parker, while a lot more unknown than Ginobili, was a steal himself.
While I agree that Spurs are doing a great job of maximizing one's potential, Parker and Ginobili were meant to be great players almost anywhere in the league.
That said, we can argue that they would have ended up without those rings and have a relatively undecorated career.

[colincb]

Pressure? What pressure?  All he has to do is be the primary distributor on defense, space the floor so that Paul isn't continually doubled, hit his shots at a high rate, stop the super quick Teague from penetrating yet run him off the 3 point line, and prevent Joe Johnson from scoring on him after posting him up down low.

Rookies struggle in playoffs and for the first time Avery's getting coaches targeting him directly in their game plans.  Tonight the Hawks are going to pressure him bringing up the ball.  I expect he'll struggle in the playoffs just as Rondo did in 2008.  Only the truly elite (Russell, MJ, Bird, Magic, etc) seem immune to growing pains.

How old were those great ones though? Rondo in his 3rd year was probably the same age as Magic + Birds rookie season and he averaged a triple double in round 1. Bradley is 21. Just saying its not exactly the same.

I don't think age is the issue. Experience is. Bradley last year and early this year was a pretty extreme example.  He was playing way too fast and it was difficult to believe that he was as bad as he looked offensively.  After a while, he settled into the flow and the game slowed down for him.  Being a year older wasn't what made the difference.  Experience did. Now Bradley has to go through the process of being in the Playoffs and I'd be surprised if he didn't struggle, particularly under these circumstances. It's a ridiculous amount of pressure.

OTOH, Gods like Bird and Magic were obviously going to be great, great players almost from the moment they stepped on the court in the NBA.  There was no doubt. Bradley's in his second year and there's still reasonable doubt about how good he'll be.

[LeoMoreno]

Pressure? What pressure?  All he has to do is be the primary distributor on defense, space the floor so that Paul isn't continually doubled, hit his shots at a high rate, stop the super quick Teague from penetrating yet run him off the 3 point line, and prevent Joe Johnson from scoring on him after posting him up down low.

Rookies struggle in playoffs and for the first time Avery's getting coaches targeting him directly in their game plans.  Tonight the Hawks are going to pressure him bringing up the ball.  I expect he'll struggle in the playoffs just as Rondo did in 2008.  Only the truly elite (Russell, MJ, Bird, Magic, etc) seem immune to growing pains.

How old were those great ones though? Rondo in his 3rd year was probably the same age as Magic + Birds rookie season and he averaged a triple double in round 1. Bradley is 21. Just saying its not exactly the same.

I don't think age is the issue. Experience is. Bradley last year and early this year was a pretty extreme example.  He was playing way too fast and it was difficult to believe that he was as bad as he looked offensively.  After a while, he settled into the flow and the game slowed down for him.  Being a year older wasn't what made the difference.  Experience did. Now Bradley has to go through the process of being in the Playoffs and I'd be surprised if he didn't struggle, particularly under these circumstances. It's a ridiculous amount of pressure.

OTOH, Gods like Bird and Magic were obviously going to be great, great players almost from the moment they stepped on the court in the NBA.  There was no doubt. Bradley's in his second year and there's still reasonable doubt about how good he'll be.

The question is how much of his talent are we wasting with our slow play? The only team that slows the game more than us is Indiana and they don't have anything even remotely close to Bradley. Their most athletic player is only a bit faster/quicker than Pierce.

[Celtics4ever]

I think Rondo and Bradley would both play better with a running game.

[colincb]

Pressure? What pressure?  All he has to do is be the primary distributor on defense, space the floor so that Paul isn't continually doubled, hit his shots at a high rate, stop the super quick Teague from penetrating yet run him off the 3 point line, and prevent Joe Johnson from scoring on him after posting him up down low.

Rookies struggle in playoffs and for the first time Avery's getting coaches targeting him directly in their game plans.  Tonight the Hawks are going to pressure him bringing up the ball.  I expect he'll struggle in the playoffs just as Rondo did in 2008.  Only the truly elite (Russell, MJ, Bird, Magic, etc) seem immune to growing pains.

How old were those great ones though? Rondo in his 3rd year was probably the same age as Magic + Birds rookie season and he averaged a triple double in round 1. Bradley is 21. Just saying its not exactly the same.

I don't think age is the issue. Experience is. Bradley last year and early this year was a pretty extreme example.  He was playing way too fast and it was difficult to believe that he was as bad as he looked offensively.  After a while, he settled into the flow and the game slowed down for him.  Being a year older wasn't what made the difference.  Experience did. Now Bradley has to go through the process of being in the Playoffs and I'd be surprised if he didn't struggle, particularly under these circumstances. It's a ridiculous amount of pressure.

OTOH, Gods like Bird and Magic were obviously going to be great, great players almost from the moment they stepped on the court in the NBA.  There was no doubt. Bradley's in his second year and there's still reasonable doubt about how good he'll be.

The question is how much of his talent are we wasting with our slow play? The only team that slows the game more than us is Indiana and they don't have anything even remotely close to Bradley. Their most athletic player is only a bit faster/quicker than Pierce.

You're going in a different direction on this thread than I was.  The thread is about the pressure AB's under.

Rondo and Bradley would both benefit form a faster pace, but after we get rid of these old guys, we're going to suck for a while if Danny's smart.  That's the way the NBA cap works.

[CelticG1]

Pressure? What pressure?  All he has to do is be the primary distributor on defense, space the floor so that Paul isn't continually doubled, hit his shots at a high rate, stop the super quick Teague from penetrating yet run him off the 3 point line, and prevent Joe Johnson from scoring on him after posting him up down low.

Rookies struggle in playoffs and for the first time Avery's getting coaches targeting him directly in their game plans.  Tonight the Hawks are going to pressure him bringing up the ball.  I expect he'll struggle in the playoffs just as Rondo did in 2008.  Only the truly elite (Russell, MJ, Bird, Magic, etc) seem immune to growing pains.

How old were those great ones though? Rondo in his 3rd year was probably the same age as Magic + Birds rookie season and he averaged a triple double in round 1. Bradley is 21. Just saying its not exactly the same.

I don't think age is the issue. Experience is. Bradley last year and early this year was a pretty extreme example.  He was playing way too fast and it was difficult to believe that he was as bad as he looked offensively.  After a while, he settled into the flow and the game slowed down for him.  Being a year older wasn't what made the difference.  Experience did. Now Bradley has to go through the process of being in the Playoffs and I'd be surprised if he didn't struggle, particularly under these circumstances. It's a ridiculous amount of pressure.

OTOH, Gods like Bird and Magic were obviously going to be great, great players almost from the moment they stepped on the court in the NBA.  There was no doubt. Bradley's in his second year and there's still reasonable doubt about how good he'll be.

I'm just saying if you take Bird or Magic and throw them in the NBA at 18-19-20 it's probably not not the same result immediately.

Age, experience it's the same thing. Bradley was 2 years out of high school during his rookie season in the NBA. If he he went to college for 4 years and then came to the NBA I guarantee he would be a much more polished player and would be able to adapt to the NBA much quicker.