Avery Bradley - first points in NBA

[PosImpos]

One thing that stuck out to me yesterday when I was watching the game yesterday and Bradley came in - Mike and Tommy were talking about how Doc supposedly said that Bradley is already playing defense at an NBA level, and he has the chance to be a very good player on the defensive end of the floor.

That sounds nice, but I can't help but wonder...how many players out there do you see making a living, playing consistent rotation minutes, by merely being a really good defensive point guard?  There are defensive specialists at nearly every position except for point guard - mainly because a point guard needs to have at least passable (heh) ball handling skills, and some decent ability to score.  

In other words, it's nice that Avery has the chance to be great on defense, but unless he grows a few inches I don't see that being enough for him, because he's too small to be a defensive specialist at the 2-guard.  He needs to be at least average on offense in order to be a solid rotation player. 

Unless he has some potent offensive talent, he's not going to get more than a few minutes a game backing up Rondo, because as we've seen only scoring / shooting guards like Nate, Delonte, Cassell, and House have been able to carve a significant role on this team playing alongside Rondo.  TA is the one exception, but he's a lot bigger and stronger than Avery ever will be, so he could really guard 2's and even 3's, plus he could slash very effectively.

[moiso]

One thing that stuck out to me yesterday when I was watching the game yesterday and Bradley came in - Mike and Tommy were talking about how Doc supposedly said that Bradley is already playing defense at an NBA level, and he has the chance to be a very good player on the defensive end of the floor.

That sounds nice, but I can't help but wonder...how many players out there do you see making a living, playing consistent rotation minutes, by merely being a really good defensive point guard?  There are defensive specialists at nearly every position except for point guard - mainly because a point guard needs to have at least passable (heh) ball handling skills, and some decent ability to score.  

In other words, it's nice that Avery has the chance to be great on defense, but unless he grows a few inches I don't see that being enough for him, because he's too small to be a defensive specialist at the 2-guard.  He needs to be at least average on offense in order to be a solid rotation player. 

Unless he has some potent offensive talent, he's not going to get more than a few minutes a game backing up Rondo, because as we've seen only scoring / shooting guards like Nate, Delonte, Cassell, and House have been able to carve a significant role on this team playing alongside Rondo.  TA is the one exception, but he's a lot bigger and stronger than Avery ever will be, so he could really guard 2's and even 3's, plus he could slash very effectively.

Nice post.  It's true, I can't think of any point guards that are just defensive specialists these days.  He will have to become adequate at running an offense or be a small two guard.