An argument for keeping AB longterm

[mahonedog88]

So with Avery Bradley finishing 6th in DPOY, and first among guards, he'll be making 1st team all defense.  Something that you have to credit Avery for is that he's clearly put the work in to improve as a shooter and becoming an all around good offensive player.  15ppg this year, and with the exception of 2013-2014 into 2014-15, he's improved his scoring every year over his 6 year career.

He's always been a great defender, and with him making 1st team all defense, he's finally getting his recognition.  I decided to look up players in the last 5 years that have made 1st team all defense while also scoring at least 15ppg, to see how it measures up to Avery.  Here's the list, pretty impressive if you ask me:

Chris Paul
Kawhi Leonard
Serge Ibaka
Paul George
Lebron James
Dwight Howard
Kobe Bryant
Kevin Garnett (...14.9ppg, figured I'd round up for this argument )

That's some pretty good company that Bradley has just injected himself into.  And he can get better too, at times he's flashed getting to the rim, but you can tell it can still be improved.  Plus his shooting hopefully is only improving, being on that upward trajectory now each year of his career.  I'm the type of person where my list changes all the time in terms of who I deem "untradeable" on this team, but I'm starting to think right now that Bradley should be on it.  He needs to be here for the next title run.

[dannyboy35]

Losing him now and not having someone we know is capable of staying in front of Teague has shined a HUGE light in Avery's value.

[Chris22]

AB is too small and too injury prone.
He's a backup at best.

[moiso]

AB is too small and too injury prone.
He's a backup at best.

He's no backup.  We are going to be much worse off in this series with whoever else we stick in there.

[loco_91]

AB is too small and too injury prone.
He's a backup at best.

Lol

[Celtic Fan Forever]

AB is too small and too injury prone.
He's a backup at best.

Did you watch any games this year?

[straightouttabahstun]

See, the Hawks are experienced, but they're also just as inconsistent as we are too. It actually got to the point where they considered trading a lot of that young core back in February if I remember correctly. No panic button pushing until potentially Game 4 IMO.

[jpotter33]

See, the Hawks are experienced, but they're also just as inconsistent as we are too. It actually got to the point where they considered trading a lot of that young core back in February if I remember correctly. No panic button pushing until potentially Game 4 IMO.

I agree. I think people are really overestimating this Atlanta team, in addition to Bradley's absence effect on us. Really, the only single player's absence that would absolutely doom us is IT due to his scoring/shooting, though I think you could make the case for Amir, too.

The defensive PG/SG spot is actually our strongest position, so as long as we play Celtics basketball we can still win this series. The margin of error is just smaller without Bradley. And for a lot of the game Bradley wasn't on Teague anyways - he was on Korver. So I don't get why people worried about Teague with Bradley being gone.

Let's just see how they play the next two games (have to see one in Atlanta and Boston to be sure) before making any sweeping proclamations. Let's not forget that we also tore it up when AB was coming off of the bench being the primary scorer, so it's not unprecedented that we'd be just as good or better with him on the bench.

[BitterJim]

So with Avery Bradley finishing 6th in DPOY, and first among guards, he'll be making 1st team all defense.  Something that you have to credit Avery for is that he's clearly put the work in to improve as a shooter and becoming an all around good offensive player.  15ppg this year, and with the exception of 2013-2014 into 2014-15, he's improved his scoring every year over his 6 year career.

He's always been a great defender, and with him making 1st team all defense, he's finally getting his recognition.  I decided to look up players in the last 5 years that have made 1st team all defense while also scoring at least 15ppg, to see how it measures up to Avery.  Here's the list, pretty impressive if you ask me:

Chris Paul
Kawhi Leonard
Serge Ibaka
Paul George
Lebron James
Dwight Howard
Kobe Bryant
Kevin Garnett (...14.9ppg, figured I'd round up for this argument )

That's some pretty good company that Bradley has just injected himself into.  And he can get better too, at times he's flashed getting to the rim, but you can tell it can still be improved.  Plus his shooting hopefully is only improving, being on that upward trajectory now each year of his career.  I'm the type of person where my list changes all the time in terms of who I deem "untradeable" on this team, but I'm starting to think right now that Bradley should be on it.  He needs to be here for the next title run.

This is far from a given.  I think he'll end up second team, with Tony Allen and Chris Paul (who doesn't deserve it) making first team over him

[alldaboston]

AB is too small and too injury prone.
He's a backup at best.

What the hell bro?

[crimson_stallion]

See, the Hawks are experienced, but they're also just as inconsistent as we are too. It actually got to the point where they considered trading a lot of that young core back in February if I remember correctly. No panic button pushing until potentially Game 4 IMO.

I agree. I think people are really overestimating this Atlanta team, in addition to Bradley's absence effect on us. Really, the only single player's absence that would absolutely doom us is IT due to his scoring/shooting, though I think you could make the case for Amir, too.

The defensive PG/SG spot is actually our strongest position, so as long as we play Celtics basketball we can still win this series. The margin of error is just smaller without Bradley. And for a lot of the game Bradley wasn't on Teague anyways - he was on Korver. So I don't get why people worried about Teague with Bradley being gone.

Let's just see how they play the next two games (have to see one in Atlanta and Boston to be sure) before making any sweeping proclamations. Let's not forget that we also tore it up when AB was coming off of the bench being the primary scorer, so it's not unprecedented that we'd be just as good or better with him on the bench.

Thank you!!!!

Been saying this for so long.

Honestly, the only teams in the entire league that have really been consistent this year have been Toronto, Golden State, San Antonio and I guess the Clippers and Thunder.

Even Cleveland has been all over the place - they have looked absolutely  dominant in phases, and in other phases they have lost to garbage teams and have looked like they are falling apart.  There have been all kinds of perceived issues in their locker room from the coaching down to the player body language.

Atlanta, Miami and Charlotte have all gone through phases (after the all star break) where they looked like they were struggling to hold on to a playoff spot, and it wasn't even sure if they were going to make the post season.  Those teams have all been up and down like a yo-yo.

If anything, crazy as it sounds, Boston has probably been the most consistent of those teams.  Since the All-Star break we have consistently remained in the top 3-6 spots and never really looked like we were at a significant risk of dropping out of the top 8.  Miami, Charlotte and Atlanta have all looked like they were in risk of that at various points in the season.

People dramatically underestimate this Celtics team just as much as they dramatically overestimate our competition.

At the start of this series, I predicted Boston to win in 6-7 games.  Losing Bradley does hurt though, and it makes the team's margin of error much, much smaller.

[Hemingway]

AB is too small and too injury prone.
He's a backup at best.

Disagree. Sure AB is a bit small but his D is great and he is scoring 15 a game so how is that a problem? Also, what does being injury prone have to do with being a starter. No one is suggesting to start him when he is injured. Remember this is the same player that beat out Ray for a starting job.