Is Avery Bradley destined to be a Bust?!

[Jon Niednagel]

He looks like he has the physical tools and talents to be a player, but he has looked shaky on both ends so far. I don't think he has been able to get into a rhythm offensively due to his unfamiliarity with the plays and teammate tendencies, as well as his lack of playing time, missed training camp, and ankle surgery. His defense, on the other hand, has looked shaky to me at times because he was thinking about not messing up the defensive scheme rather than naturally reacting to what was happening on the floor. He also seems to have a poor understanding of his opponent's tendencies. He guesses wrong a lot. If he is a hard worker then he will put in a lot of time studying film of opposing players and should be fine.

[Mencius]

...
Gerald Green has to rate number one, so many serviceable to good quality NBA players were drafted after him. I know the whole "swing for the fences" theory, but still David Lee, Nate Robinson, Hakim Warrick, Monta Ellis all went after him.

In a strange way, I give Danny a partial pass for Gerald.  Danny had only been on the job for a couple of months, and I don't even think he scouted Gerald, since Gerald was sort of a consensus mid lottery guy.  I'm guessing Danny probably had scouted other guys, but when Gerald dropped so far, he simply went with it.

Who knows, though.  Pure speculation on my part.

[Jon Niednagel]

I think you might be thinking about Marcus Banks. Banks and Perk were his first acquisitions. Gerald came a few drafts later. Regarding the Draft Green was in, I think Danny has said he wanted Granger, but Indy took him right before Danny's pick. Gerald was the clear pick at that point given what was left and Green's potential upside. I don't begrudge Danny for taking a chance, especially considering the team was in rebuild mode at that point. Can't win them all.

[ToppersBsktball10]

He's a rookie, give him a break.

[csfansince60s]

He looks like he has the physical tools and talents to be a player, but he has looked shaky on both ends so far. I don't think he has been able to get into a rhythm offensively due to his unfamiliarity with the plays and teammate tendencies, as well as his lack of playing time, missed training camp, and ankle surgery. His defense, on the other hand, has looked shaky to me at times because he was thinking about not messing up the defensive scheme rather than naturally reacting to what was happening on the floor. He also seems to have a poor understanding of his opponent's tendencies. He guesses wrong a lot. If he is a hard worker then he will put in a lot of time studying film of opposing players and should be fine.

TPs to Jon N and Brendan. I've read this whole thread, and you two guys are among the very few who are questioning AB's defense. I don't get it, but almost everyone else takes it as a given that he is a phenomenal defender. Against whom?

All I know is that both Teague and TJ Ford took him to school big-time and made him look slow, inexperienced and embarassed.

I have been one wanting to see the rook play and given chances. I too was psyched about another Danny steal (#1 ranked over Wall in one high school poll last year) even though he's undersized for a two and has no handle for a 1. But defense was his calling card, his claim to fame. Doc even said earlier on that he was "NBA ready" defensively. Ask Teague and TJ Ford (a fellow Longhorn, I believe) what they think. I think they would like to see him defending them every night.

[ToppersBsktball10]

I'm sure if he got consistent playing time (read: not just one or two minutes here and there) he'd get into rhythm and at least play okay.  

It's very difficult for a raw rookie to come in and play a couple minutes at a time and actually play well.  He needs to be given the opportunity to learn and make mistakes while actually playing.

All of the above is why he needs to be in the D-league right now.

That's always easy to say when you have a guy who looks terrible out there. What about John Wall who is also a rookie and averaging 16.7 pts and 8.9 assists a game against NBA starters vs. 2nd and 3rd stringers. What about Blake Griffin? What about Jennings last year?! I know they get more minutes, but if Bradley didn't look so bad he'd get more too.

Face it. When a guy "has it" he typically looks like it right from the start. When he doesn't he fades away and is a "potential" type guy like a Gerald Green.

First off, Blake Griffin is two years older. John Wall has more talent. And Jennings played decent last year. The thing they all have in common is they all play for bad teams, and they don't have anyone else to play those positions, so they have more time. They had a whole summer to prepare and they knew what their role was going to be as soon as they were drafted. Bradley has all the tools to be nasty, just needs the confidence.

[GreenEnvy]

18 months ago, he was still in high school. He shouldn't be playing right now but is forced to, at a position he probably won't play anyway.

I am not pleased with what I have been seeing from him, but give him time. Next season, after a whole season watching and learning from this team, along with a healthy offseason, training camp, and preseason (assuming no lockout), he should look more like a promising NBA player.

[EJPLAYA]

He's a rookie, give him a break.

Did you make the same comment about Erden or Harangody in the threads questioning their abilities and NBA futures?

John Wall is a rookie. Don't give us this "he has more talent" excuse. Just recently the majority thought he didn't. I think you're right though. Wall DOES have more talent. That is the whole point of this. What he has shown so far on the court is ineptitude on the offensive side of the ball and very few flashes of the defensive ability that we hope he has. He is without the necessary ball handling skills needed to be a PG in this league which is the only position he has the size to play. It's one thing to say he just needs experience, but another to not have the dribbling skill to do anything with that court time. He is a bad ball handler. Show me a successful pg in this league who can't dribble well.

[Brendan]

He cannot shoot. He cannot run the offense, his handle is suspect too. He has the tools to defend, but I was at the game on Thursday and his defense was not inspiring, let's chalk it up to a lack of practice time due to injury and little opportunity. He lacks the size to play SG full time IMO.

I guess medium case scenario is Tony Allen with less size, but more brains and better handle?

These declarations are premature, to say the least. He's a rookie on a champ caliber team who got no training camp and no preseason.

If nba executives judged players so hastily -- and in such blanket, black and white terms -- they'd be gone about as quick as the body of work we've seen from this kid before pigeon-holing him here.

How is that black and white? The only absolute statements are he cannot shoot or run the offense (right now.) I'm not saying he won't ever. BTW - being as good as TA would be quite a feet, many players drafted in the low teens never get that good or hang around for that long (and play key roles on some very good teams.) And I said that's mid case scenario. As of right now he's not bringing much to the table, including defensively (while there may be very good reason as to why) no one has indicated that its not a true statement.

Yes no one can prove to you that he will be great because he hasn't been great.  Right on.   

That's not what I said - I said no one has refuted his badness in those specific areas. Nice try though.

[Chris]

I don't think there is any need to make excuses for the kid right now.  We are stuck with him for a while, and we will see what he really has.  At this point, all he has done is made sure he has zero trade value.  So, now the C's can sit back, and see if he progresses.

[Brendan]

BTW Rondo and Billups were both MUCH MUCH better over their first year in the league, its not even a comparison. AB has a -6 PER right now - that's terrible bad, not ready for the NBADL bad.

Again their may be valid reasons why, but at this point you to be worried he just sucks...

[Dwnflfan]

He's a rookie, give him a break.

Did you make the same comment about Erden or Harangody in the threads questioning their abilities and NBA futures?

John Wall is a rookie. Don't give us this "he has more talent" excuse. Just recently the majority thought he didn't. I think you're right though. Wall DOES have more talent. That is the whole point of this. What he has shown so far on the court is ineptitude on the offensive side of the ball and very few flashes of the defensive ability that we hope he has. He is without the necessary ball handling skills needed to be a PG in this league which is the only position he has the size to play. It's one thing to say he just needs experience, but another to not have the dribbling skill to do anything with that court time. He is a bad ball handler. Show me a successful pg in this league who can't dribble well.

You do realize that the Celtics didn't pass on John Wall to draft Bradley right?  There is a reason Bradley was drafted 18 picks after Wall.  Why use Wall as a comparison?  If you want to call Bradley a bad pick please give us a list of the players available at pick 19 you would have chosen instead...with the benefit of hindsight.

Did you know that Reggie Lewis averaged just 4.5 pts 1.3 Reb & 0.5 Assist a game as a rookie?  He was 2 1/2 years older than Bradley that year and had the same issue with trying to get playing time with a veteran NBA title contending team.

Give the kid some time to grow into his potential.  It's way too early to evaluate him.

[2short]

Avery Bradley is just another example of a kid who should have stayed in college to work on his game.  IMO he is a pro player, something I never saw in Giddens but I thought Pruitt had what it took to be a pg/sg sub. 
Remember at one pt in preseason when Luke couldn't hit the backboard much less a jump shot and was horrible at defense,deer in headlight syndrome.  Well as someone put it Avery hasn't had preseason, injured etc.  I wouldn't consider him this year at all.  I do think he should be getting minutes now with the injuries, unless he kills us, which he has been.  If he is going to be a pro player he needs to work through this.  Yes d league will do him well but we are going to need 5 minutes until delonte and rondo get back due to fouls.  Also our starting pg is nate and backup marquis, while both are doing nice jobs (and ray & paul w/ assists) neither is a pg.  So doc needs to play him in situations and its up to him and his teammates to work him through having no confidence.  Even if it works out to have daniels bring the ball up so bradley can defend the opposing pg only.
As far was #19 in draft...where were reggie lewis & rick fox? 

How is it your opinion that he is a pro player?  I'm not saying he's not, but I haven't seen any indication that he is.  Nor do I see any indication that he is a smarter player than Tony Allen, again not saying he's not, but there has been no indicators one way or the other.  Gabe Pruitt looked better than Bradley does now.  I do hope he develops into a player though.

Just my opinion, when I first saw him defensively he looked great (that has gone backwards), his shooting stroke looks real nice (again backwards) and his handle looked ok (backwards to bad) so this is more the glimpses of what I saw could happen.  Again I was wrong about Pruitt but when I saw Rondo play his 1st preseason game I was blown away.
Bradley many not be smarter than Tony but tony is in his 7th? year now and barring injury will play 10 years easy.  Pruitt never had the confindence to get it done.  I hope Bradley gets his back, he imo again has slipped below luke and wafer.  Anyone who knows how I feel about wafer knows this isn't good.  I hope that it is mainly confidence issues and he might just not be ready for the speed of the nba right now.  Next season is when we need to look harder at the kid.  ps-he has to learn pg skills, he at the least must become a combo guard.

[Vermont Green]

You never know how much someone is going to develop, no matter where they are drafted. I remember Billups looked like a bust for what  5 years?  I think people are temped to look at Rondo and figure that Bradley should be better already.  I still see plenty of potential and I would stick with Avery Bradley.

Lets be honest, Bradley has been a rare sort of bad in his minutes so far this season.  Its not that we are comparing him with Rondo, he looks bad when you compare him to just about any player to ever play rotation minutes in the NBA.

With that said, he has barely practiced, and been forced to play out of his comfort zone early.  While the early returns are not looking good, it is way too early to call him a bust...especially since I think if Doc had his druthers, he would not have seen a court south of Portland until at least February, and most likely next year.

I am not suggesting that Bradley hasn't been bad, he has, but I see athleticism, desire, and a smooth stroke.  These are things you can't teach but also these things alone won't make him an NBA player.

My comparison to Rondo was only that I feel Rondo made the jump from raw to player remarkably quickly but he did have the benefit of playing 2007-2008 including summer league, preseason, and a full season on a bad team with no pressure.

Bradley clearly would have benefited by more time in College but there is still plenty of opportunity.

[Chris]

You never know how much someone is going to develop, no matter where they are drafted. I remember Billups looked like a bust for what  5 years?  I think people are temped to look at Rondo and figure that Bradley should be better already.  I still see plenty of potential and I would stick with Avery Bradley.

Lets be honest, Bradley has been a rare sort of bad in his minutes so far this season.  Its not that we are comparing him with Rondo, he looks bad when you compare him to just about any player to ever play rotation minutes in the NBA.

With that said, he has barely practiced, and been forced to play out of his comfort zone early.  While the early returns are not looking good, it is way too early to call him a bust...especially since I think if Doc had his druthers, he would not have seen a court south of Portland until at least February, and most likely next year.

I am not suggesting that Bradley hasn't been bad, he has, but I see athleticism, desire, and a smooth stroke.  These are things you can't teach but also these things alone won't make him an NBA player.

My comparison to Rondo was only that I feel Rondo made the jump from raw to player remarkably quickly but he did have the benefit of playing 2007-2008 including summer league, preseason, and a full season on a bad team with no pressure.

Bradley clearly would have benefited by more time in College but there is still plenty of opportunity.

The difference with Rondo is that he was showing the exceptional ball handling and basketball IQ from the second he stepped on the court.  Avery has completely lacked both of those crucial parts of a PG's game.  He has looked like he has no instincts, and his dribbling has been in the Tony Allen range. 

Now, these things could change.  But as of right now, things look much more grim than it did for Rondo.