Does trading Bradley solve the guard problem?

[BraxVitto]

In one of the replies I made to a thread I made a comment about the possibility of Avery Bradley being traded as a result of this draft. I thought about it more today and I think that getting rid of Bradley may be in our better interests if we really want to move forward. Realistically what Bradley is for the Celtics is a strong defender with a very streaky jump shot who is undersized for the position of SG. But Ainge did say that around the trade deadline he refused offers for Bradley, which means there is some league wide interest in the guy, so trading him is not an impossible task.

But what does trading Bradley do for the Celtics you say? Well let me give you an idea of what could happen with those minutes.

Marcus Smart slides over to the SG position, (which in my mind he is better suited for) and Thomas Starts at PG, with Rozier as our backup PG off the bench and RJ Hunter serving as our backup SG. This gives us a whole lot of flexibility at the guard positions, if Stevens sees a need for offense Hunter and IT are on the floor, if the opponents guards are lighting us up, put Smart and Rozier in the game to stop them. Or Stevens gets the option to pick and chose because he can always have a strong offensive option and a strong defensive option on the floor at the same time at either guard position. Lineups like Rozier and Hunter or IT and Smart. James Young moves over to the SF position and gets the chance to prove himself, Thornton heads to the D-League but serves as the next man up should an Injury happen to either guard.

Of course it is a slippery slope, and I'm sure that there are other possibilities but I could see this being a solution, what do you think?

[PhoSita]

I've said it elsewhere -- trade Bradley and Turner. I don't care what the return is as long as it doesn't perpetuate the guard logjam.  Then give Young, Hunter, and Crowder every opportunity to compete for and earn playing time on the wing alongside Thomas, Smart, and Rozier in the backcourt.

[BlackCeltic]

I've said it elsewhere -- trade Bradley and Turner. I don't care what the return is as long as it doesn't perpetuate the guard logjam.  Then give Young, Hunter, and Crowder every opportunity to compete for and earn playing time on the wing alongside Thomas, Smart, and Rozier in the backcourt.

TP

[Irish Stew]

I've said it elsewhere -- trade Bradley and Turner. I don't care what the return is as long as it doesn't perpetuate the guard logjam.  Then give Young, Hunter, and Crowder every opportunity to compete for and earn playing time on the wing alongside Thomas, Smart, and Rozier in the backcourt.

  Turner I don't care about one way or the other and if some team would take him for a future conditional 2nd round pick that will never materialize, that's fine with me and we gain cap space. Bradley is different, he has real value as a two-way player. For example, maybe some kind of sign and trade with Bradley for Omer Asik if we can't get a higher value center like Noel in a trade that might involve Smart and Young and a future 1st.

[PhoSita]

I've said it elsewhere -- trade Bradley and Turner. I don't care what the return is as long as it doesn't perpetuate the guard logjam.  Then give Young, Hunter, and Crowder every opportunity to compete for and earn playing time on the wing alongside Thomas, Smart, and Rozier in the backcourt.

  Turner I don't care about one way or the other and if some team would take him for a future conditional 2nd round pick that will never materialize, that's fine with me and we gain cap space. Bradley is different, he has real value as a two-way player. For example, maybe some kind of sign and trade for Omer Asik if we can't get a higher value center like Noel in a trade that might involve Smart and Young and a future 1st.

I think Bradley has more or less hit his ceiling and that ceiling is as a shorter Courtney Lee with a better pull-up jumper.

He's being paid a fair amount of money.  Not a bad contract, but also not one the Celts need to keep.  I'd try to get value for him, but right now I think he'd be addition by subtraction even if not much comes back.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Where do we have a guard problem?

[ekosins3]

Would it make sense if we proposed a package that includes bradley and KO for Sign and Trade Tristan Thompson.

Cavs are likely to offer Love the max and I can't  see them being able to afford thompson. I think KO would actually fit really well with the Cavs and Bradley would be a great 6th man for them.

[D.o.s.]

I've said it elsewhere -- trade Bradley and Turner. I don't care what the return is as long as it doesn't perpetuate the guard logjam.  Then give Young, Hunter, and Crowder every opportunity to compete for and earn playing time on the wing alongside Thomas, Smart, and Rozier in the backcourt.

  Turner I don't care about one way or the other and if some team would take him for a future conditional 2nd round pick that will never materialize, that's fine with me and we gain cap space. Bradley is different, he has real value as a two-way player. For example, maybe some kind of sign and trade for Omer Asik if we can't get a higher value center like Noel in a trade that might involve Smart and Young and a future 1st.

I think Bradley has more or less hit his ceiling and that ceiling is as a shorter Courtney Lee with a better pull-up jumper.

He's being paid a fair amount of money.  Not a bad contract, but also not one the Celts need to keep.  I'd try to get value for him, but right now I think he'd be addition by subtraction even if not much comes back.

This I agree with.

[Irish Stew]

While the guard glut issue is a real one and must be addressed, the only way that I would give Bradley away for a future conditional 2nd round pick is if we don't take any salary back and Ainge is confident that he can get multiple max contact guys to sign, Love and Harris for example plus a cheaper rim defender like Koufos or Biyombo. At that point, moving Bradley for essentially nothing probably makes sense because we would need all the cap space that we could get.

[hodgy03038]

Would it make sense if we proposed a package that includes bradley and KO for Sign and Trade Tristan Thompson.

Cavs are likely to offer Love the max and I can't  see them being able to afford thompson. I think KO would actually fit really well with the Cavs and Bradley would be a great 6th man for them.

I doubt they would go for that - outside of LeBron Thompson was the most valuable player on that team in the playoffs. I would LOVE to have him even more so that Love.

[Evantime34]

I don't think we have a guard problem until Young, Hunter and Rozier prove that they are ready to play.

That being said if we can get really good value for Bradley now, it is a good idea. Trading him just because there is a log jam is a bad idea, unless it returns good value.

[Csfan1984]

No it doesn't help to trade AB unless you want to tank. These rookie PGs should be moved with Sully for a player.