Can someone explain to me why Bradley, Pavlovic, and JO are on this team?

[bbd24]

Bradley is on the team because he can play.  He's 21, with talent everywhere you look from a basketball standpoint.

Does he need development ?  Hells bells yeah.  Do you have time to develop him ?  Of course.  He's still 2-3 years away.

When players come out early, and don't get the experience they need in college, you have to spend the time to develop that player.  That's where you sit right now. 

It's a matter of patience, & most fans can't hack or deal with that word.  It's understandable, but you don't go throwing him to the wolves at 21.  That would be stupid & a dumb move.

The good I see in Avery is that he already can defend at a high level (most young players who come out early can't defend a chair), and he can get his shot off in the NBA.  He's still got a ways to go, and flaws all around his game, but you don't give up on him at 21 for that.  Instead, develop the talent that is there and be patient.

[theswitch]

Bradley is on the team because he can play.  He's 21, with talent everywhere you look from a basketball standpoint.

Does he need development ?  Hells bells yeah.  Do you have time to develop him ?  Of course.  He's still 2-3 years away.

When players come out early, and don't get the experience they need in college, you have to spend the time to develop that player.  That's where you sit right now. 

It's a matter of patience, & most fans can't hack or deal with that word.  It's understandable, but you don't go throwing him to the wolves at 21.  That would be stupid & a dumb move.

The good I see in Avery is that he already can defend at a high level (most young players who come out early can't defend a chair), and he can get his shot off in the NBA.  He's still got a ways to go, and flaws all around his game, but you don't give up on him at 21 for that.  Instead, develop the talent that is there and be patient.

Agreed. He makes that jump shot in the Knicks game and everyone on this board would be raving about his potential and how he needs more court time to realize it. AB will be fine, it's going to have some bumps and bruises on the way though.

[snively]

Avery played because Daniels got bumped from back-up 2 to playing starter's minutes at the 3 with Pierce injured, Green out for the season and the team waiting on Pietrus. 

The bench got so little out of Keyon Dooling as a primary ball-handler (couldn't get any separation off the bounce, had a hard time even getting to ball when they pressured our bigs) that Bradley got drafted into occasional ball-handling duty, which lead to predictably terrible results.

As for why Bradley played over Moore, I don't Doc expects fewer offensive mistakes from the rookie Moore.  He's expecting that the pressure defense of the Bradley-Dooling tandem will disrupt opposing offense's enough (and perhaps even create some turnovers) to offset any difference in Moore and Bradley's offensive abilities. 

Didn't work against the Knicks.

I'm sure Moore will get a shot in Bradley's minutes, especially if Pierce and Pietrus take awhile to take the floor.  The bench guards were such an offensive trainwreck (especially damaging when you consider how much of waste Wilcox is if the guards can't get him the ball), that Doc won't have much choice.

[BenHenry]

Is it worth an automatic loss of possession for B grade defense? Let's face it, every time AB dribbles for more than 1 sec, it's an automatic handing the ball over to the opponents. The last two times he touched the ball on offense, he "presented" the ball giftwrapped to a swat from NY's frontline that can be heard outside of MSG. The final time he touched the ball, he straight up ran out of bounds...literally.

An example of an A grade defensive player is Dwight Howard. edit: or Rondo, Dwight was a bad example, my apologies:
Avery Bradley on defense : scores 84 out of 100 - B grade
              on offense :       18 out of 100 - (49 is F-)

[hpantazo]

Is it worth an automatic loss of possession for B grade defense? Let's face it, every time AB dribbles for more than 1 sec, it's an automatic handing the ball over to the opponents. The last two times he touched the ball on offense, he "presented" the ball giftwrapped to a swat from NY's frontline that can be heard outside of MSG. The final time he touched the ball, he straight up ran out of bounds...literally.

An example of an A grade defensive player is Dwight Howard. Anyone who thinks Avery Bradley is an A on defense is out of touch with reality.
Avery Bradley on defense : scores 84 out of 100 - B grade
              on offense :       18 out of 100 - (49 is F-)

This is exactly my problem with Bradley. I have no problem with waiting for a young guy with potential to develop, like we did with Perkins, but man, Bradley looks like a guy who never played basketball before! Heck, I understand if a guy like Biyombo looks that way since he really just started playing not too long ago, but that's not the case with Bradley. He not only has zero basketball instincts, he has negative basketball instincts! He somehow always makes the wrong move, no matter what, and looks like he has no idea what is going on. I don't care how athletic he is, or how good his defense can be, he is a disaster and should be cut. Don't even waste time sending him to the NBDL, just cut him and move on.

[nickagneta]

I'm amazed at the lack of patience being shown a barely 21 year old guard who Celtic management pretty much figured was a 3 year project minimum and we have barely entered year 2.

He should be entering his junior year in college.

I think you have to give him until the end of this year to start showing flashes before giving up on him. Most Players selected where he was who are one and out players start showing something by the mid to end of their second year.

Give him more time.

[snively]

Is it worth an automatic loss of possession for B grade defense? Let's face it, every time AB dribbles for more than 1 sec, it's an automatic handing the ball over to the opponents. The last two times he touched the ball on offense, he "presented" the ball giftwrapped to a swat from NY's frontline that can be heard outside of MSG. The final time he touched the ball, he straight up ran out of bounds...literally.

An example of an A grade defensive player is Dwight Howard. Anyone who thinks Avery Bradley is an A on defense is out of touch with reality.
Avery Bradley on defense : scores 84 out of 100 - B grade
              on offense :       18 out of 100 - (49 is F-)

This is exactly my problem with Bradley. I have no problem with waiting for a young guy with potential to develop, like we did with Perkins, but man, Bradley looks like a guy who never played basketball before! Heck, I understand if a guy like Biyombo looks that way since he really just started playing not too long ago, but that's not the case with Bradley. He not only has zero basketball instincts, he has negative basketball instincts! He somehow always makes the wrong move, no matter what, and looks like he has no idea what is going on. I don't care how athletic he is, or how good his defense can be, he is a disaster and should be cut. Don't even waste time sending him to the NBDL, just cut him and move on.

The disturbing quality about Bradley is how far he is from NBA-level decision-making with the ball in his hands. He practically dove out of bounds last night.

That said, he can be a very valuable player on the right team if he just improves that jumper.  If his backcourt mate and the small forward can handle the ball, Avery Bradley will never have to run a pick and roll.  He can just shoot jumpers off screens and kick-outs and drive off of pump-fakes.

[clover]

I'm sure the C's would like a quick repeat of his one good game last year (against the Knicks), but that doesn't look close to happening.  So playing time at the NBA level isn't helping his value at this point and he might as well be stuffed 'Down Maine' for a while.  Time with the Claws helped him greatly last year.

Moore on the other hand, could probably be helped in both trade and team value with some immediate NBA minutes--and that's where I'd rather see the time going right now.

[guava_wrench]

The bad passes are a sign of a lack of confidence. Don't forget that Scal would sometimes do the same when he was out of the rotation and getting spot minutes. Defense knew he wanted to give up the ball and would get easy steals. I do not consider this a sign that either player was clueless.

Look at TA. When confident, TA could make some great passes on penetration. When he was playing spot minutes, he seemed even more clueless. Some fans wanted him starting because they felt TA seem more on his game when starting. Yet TA played more college ball and had a few NBA seasons under his belt. Avery is still very young.

Avery needs to get some minutes against bad teams where he won't feel as pressured. Avery does not need to be good on offense. Just comfortable so that he stops making panic passes that he doesn't need to make. Defense is where he will contribute for now.

[dtrader]

It's just one game, so I hope it doesnt mean much, but if we go the whole year sacrificing play time for Moore, so that we can try to develop Bradley, I'll be upset.

Some things will not change for him...

1. -Bradley is not an NBA level (never mind championship level) point guard.  He doesn't have the dribbling ability, crossover, or passing ability for the position.  That is a fact, and means he has to play 2 guard.

2. -Bradley is too small to guard shooting guards that attempt to post up, or play through contact (Wade, Ginobili, etc)

No amount of added time is going to make him grow, so he will ALWAYS be severely undersized for the 2 guard spot.  All the TA references just dont work because TA is substantially taller and uses STRENGTH which Bradley doesnt have, to compensate when he's outsized.  Scal might have made mental mistakes that led to turnovers, but his main advantage was his ability to stretch the floor shooting 3s from the 4. It's not like a guard whose going to have to handle the ball and be a decision maker every game.

[thirstyboots18]

I am not sold on Avery Bradley yet either, but IMO he is on the team because it takes longer to develop Centers and Point Guards, and because it is harder to teach defense than offense and he already has the defensive skills.

[KG_ended_Bias]

Avery Bradley is going to be a very good player in this league & he should be playing in front of E'Twann. With consistent minutes (gaining confidence) we'll find out we have a hidden gem....... On another note I'm sure had Dwayne Wade had played 1 year at Marquette & come into the NBA he would look awful & lost also. He stayed 4yrs. and became a finished product. Our product isn't finish yet & I'm willing to wait 2yrs. The equivalent of his Sr. Year in college. And in no way am I saying he is Wade, I'm just saying Wade would of had the same struggles as Avery is having. It took awhile for Wade (his JR. year) to be Wade in college.

[BballTim]

An example of an A grade defensive player is Dwight Howard. Anyone who thinks Avery Bradley is an A on defense is out of touch with reality.

  Ok, so we've established that Bradley isn't on the level of one of the best defensive centers of all time. That's something, I guess.

[UncleHick]

Bradley was never a ball-handler or a passer. Unlike most guys who are combos and undersized 2s in the NBA, he never played PG at any level - trying to make him a PG will be a waste of time. He was always a scorer, not a distributor or playmaker. He's not even able to run a pick'n'roll properly, if you hedge him hard he'll stop the play. Lacks the handling and the vision. Also lacks the advanced dribble moves to attack the rim.

Bradley is a PG defender who isn't a PG himself but has the potential to be a very good scorer of cuts (he should be drilled like he's Ray Allen, he has the motor and the smarts to be that type of cutter) + spot-up situations + pull-up jumpshots on isolations.

[UncleHick]

Bradley ideal situation would be in a team with LeBron James or Tyreke Evans or someone like that. Obviously he needs to start hitting his jumpshots but I think he will.