Avery Bradley-o-Meter

[illestmcsgt]

I still can't get over the Marshon Brooks trade.. If he remained a Celtic, he'd be the perfect scorer-off-the-bench guy that this team needs, and we won't be even talking about Bradley anymore..

He's on the Nets lol they have a different system than ours. It would be nice to have him on our team BUT how do you know Doc would play him? Let's be realistic and say if Moore or JJJ was on the Nets, wouldn't they be good too? We need vets and proven players who can be trusted down the stretch that know our plays. They will take time to develop and who knows in a few years Brooks might be out of league and JJJ, Moore, and Bradley could still be on the Celtics or another team.

I hate the negativity towards players on this blog. It turns me off so much that I hardly come on unless I want to see news about the team.

Bradley has hardly shown what he is capable of because he got no chance last year. So counting him out at this stage is premature. Give him more time to gain Doc's trust and find his confidence on the floor. He could turn into a good player and all the doubters will wish they could take back their criticism of him.

[Celtics4ever]

Do you cringe when he comes into the game?   I do at this point but I like his D.   I cringe when he is the offensive end.   Almost every rendition of the team has had a cringer.  A guy that I dread seeing in some aspect of the game.  Every team has them though.

[ThaPreacher]

Just not getting the utter disdain shown to this kid or the absolute love shown Moore and Johnson based on what we have seen.

Ultimately, he will be best served, quite honestly, as will Johnson and Moore, getting playing time in the NBDL and waiting for the call up when the eventual injuries hit this team.

The Maine Red Claws certainly need a guard! Even the tatoos on the players spell turnover.

Why does Avery Bradley get the disdain?  It is primarily because he was touted as a top tier player by Danny Ainge.
So our expectations are higher than usual. 

[ChapelHillCeltic]

Just not getting the utter disdain shown to this kid or the absolute love shown Moore and Johnson based on what we have seen.

Ultimately, he will be best served, quite honestly, as will Johnson and Moore, getting playing time in the NBDL and waiting for the call up when the eventual injuries hit this team.

I agree with you Senor Escort!  He'll get better.  What did people expect?  He's a young kid with a lot of growing to do!

[Employee8]

I consider myself an avid Celtics watcher but to date, I have never seen Avery Bradley make a basket.  When shall the day come?

[Greenbean]

Ill be patient with the kid. This is his first shot in the rotation.

He hasn't shown me much though. Not even flashes really.

Ill check back in after 10-15 games if he is still getting his 8-10 minutes a night. Doc is giving him a shot though.

[JBcat]

I wouldn't be surprised if marshon brooks ends up like Chris Douglas Roberts.  Play well scoring wise his first year on a bad team then shortly out of the league.

[dtrader]

everytime bradley plays it's a negative, cuz it means minutes arent going where they should...to Moore or JJJ.  Bradley does not have a place on any decent NBA team in my eyes.

Once again, Moore was the 57th pick in one of the worst drafts of all time, looks terrible defensively and has yet to score in the NBA.

As for taking minutes away from Johnson, I'm thoroughly confused. Do you want to try JJJ at guard or something?

All the defense in the world wont change that unless he grows 4 inches so he can guard guys that actually play his position (off guard), or he gains the passing, dribbling, and leadership necessary to play point.

1) You don't need to be 6'6 to be a SG. Just ask Monta Ellis or Eric Gordon.

2) A weak link defensively is way more destructive than a weak link offensively. As long as he doesn't turn the ball over every time he touches the ball, he's not going to hurt the team too much offensively.

Where you were picked in the draft shouldnt influence your playing time...your skills should.  Moore showed through the preseason that he deserved minutes more than Bradley.  He also showed that he was a VERY GOOD defender.  I dont know when you watched him play, but he was never bad on defense.  You cant score in the NBA if you arent played.

As for JJJ, no...I dont suggest we play him at guard.  However, if we really arent capable of finding minutes for him at PF, I would suggest playing a big lineup.  We take Bradley out, shifting the positions, and have JJJ spend some time at SF.  That is where many projected him to play coming out of college.

You dont need to be 6'6" to be a shooting guard if your an ELITE SCORER like Monta or Gordon, but a 6'1" guard has no place in the NBA if all he does is play defense.  That means that he can only guard PGs, and he always will create a mismatch for the other team because our PG will then have to guard their SG.

On a squad like the celtics that is otherwise strong on defense and weak on bench scoring, a player coming off the bench whose weakness is scoring is WAY more destructive, as he amplifies our weaknesses.

[chambers]

He stopped Jordan Crawford in his tracks in the 2nd games against the Wizards. He pressured him so much that every time Crawford brought the ball down he had 12-15 seconds left on the shot clock.

Really disrupts the opposing teams flow and ability to get their sets flowing.

If you can't appreciate how good this kid is at on the ball defending then you have never watched Bruce Bowen play.
He took 3 years to get going in the NBA and he is no where near as good a defender as Bradley.

He's getting better every game to me.

[dtrader]

I wouldn't be surprised if marshon brooks ends up like Chris Douglas Roberts.  Play well scoring wise his first year on a bad team then shortly out of the league.

CDRs 1st year in the league he only averaged 5 pts a game.  Marshon is at 14 per and rising.  CDR also got better his 2nd year.  It would be scary if Brooks did the same, because (although Its early)  Marshon already has better fg%, 3pt%, and rebounding #s than CDR ever did.  

I dont think the Bruce Bowen comparison holds up, because Bowen used his superior size (6'7" and solid), as much as anything to disrupt players.  Plus he was deadly from 3.  If he didnt have the shot or size that he did, he wouldn't have had a place in the league.

[Snakehead]

He stopped Jordan Crawford in his tracks in the 2nd games against the Wizards. He pressured him so much that every time Crawford brought the ball down he had 12-15 seconds left on the shot clock.

Really disrupts the opposing teams flow and ability to get their sets flowing.

If you can't appreciate how good this kid is at on the ball defending then you have never watched Bruce Bowen play.
He took 3 years to get going in the NBA and he is no where near as good a defender as Bradley.

He's getting better every game to me.

TP!  Seriously, I am so happy someone else seems to recognize how badly Avery Bradley disrupts the opposing PGs he covers man to man.  Not only is he making them use 1/2 to 2/3 of the shot clock just trying to get an offense going, notice how he makes them constantly have to turn around to protect the basketball with their back.  That's a tactical move many times but how you see opposing players do it when Bradley is covering them it's being totally uncomfortable facing up with an unprotected dribble.


Seriously, go figure fans of a defensive basketball team could be so dense.  There are two sides to the floor!

[Greenbean]

He stopped Jordan Crawford in his tracks in the 2nd games against the Wizards. He pressured him so much that every time Crawford brought the ball down he had 12-15 seconds left on the shot clock.

Really disrupts the opposing teams flow and ability to get their sets flowing.

If you can't appreciate how good this kid is at on the ball defending then you have never watched Bruce Bowen play.
He took 3 years to get going in the NBA and he is no where near as good a defender as Bradley.

He's getting better every game to me.

TP!  Seriously, I am so happy someone else seems to recognize how badly Avery Bradley disrupts the opposing PGs he covers man to man.  Not only is he making them use 1/2 to 2/3 of the shot clock just trying to get an offense going, notice how he makes them constantly have to turn around to protect the basketball with their back.  That's a tactical move many times but how you see opposing players do it when Bradley is covering them it's being totally uncomfortable facing up with an unprotected dribble.


Seriously, go figure fans of a defensive basketball team could be so dense.  There are two sides to the floor!

Defensively, yes he is getting better. He needs to show he has at least one weapon on offense. For Bowen, it was sopt up shooting.

I will give him time but not how long it took Bowen. We need more immediate returns than waiting 3 full seasons. If he is on the Bowen path, he will be on his 3rd team in his 4th season.

Bowen went undrafted. Bradley is a first rounder making first round $$.

 

[SHAQATTACK]

I'm going to agree he has shown improvement on "D" , but definelty has a lot of work to do nailing jump shots. That said  , we need somebody to put a body and bang and chase Wade and Rose when the time comes, Ray has too many miles on him.  If AB can disrupt their games enough to make them play below their average or not let them go off with 40 points then he plays a huge role against the HEAT and Bulls, gives us a fighting chance in a close game . I suspect that is a large part of why they keep him.

[Snakehead]

He stopped Jordan Crawford in his tracks in the 2nd games against the Wizards. He pressured him so much that every time Crawford brought the ball down he had 12-15 seconds left on the shot clock.

Really disrupts the opposing teams flow and ability to get their sets flowing.

If you can't appreciate how good this kid is at on the ball defending then you have never watched Bruce Bowen play.
He took 3 years to get going in the NBA and he is no where near as good a defender as Bradley.

He's getting better every game to me.

TP!  Seriously, I am so happy someone else seems to recognize how badly Avery Bradley disrupts the opposing PGs he covers man to man.  Not only is he making them use 1/2 to 2/3 of the shot clock just trying to get an offense going, notice how he makes them constantly have to turn around to protect the basketball with their back.  That's a tactical move many times but how you see opposing players do it when Bradley is covering them it's being totally uncomfortable facing up with an unprotected dribble.


Seriously, go figure fans of a defensive basketball team could be so dense.  There are two sides to the floor!

Defensively, yes he is getting better. He needs to show he has at least one weapon on offense. For Bowen, it was sopt up shooting.

I will give him time but not how long it took Bowen. We need more immediate returns than waiting 3 full seasons. If he is on the Bowen path, he will be on his 3rd team in his 4th season.

Bowen went undrafted. Bradley is a first rounder making first round $$.

 

I'm sure many teams would go back and take Bowen to be fair, it's using some hindsight to say what you are comparing Avery to Bowen from a money perspective, but your position is totally valid and I agree.  If he can just become a spot up shooter too that'd be fine, though I do think there is potential for more, especially slashing with the quickness he has.

After the lottery, especially in a draft that wasn't too strong, I'll take a Bruce Bowen type player with the 18th pick.  If you get a rotation player that's a win.

Hopefully it doesn't take Avery that long to develop as a shooter or slasher, but I'm a little more lenient on it because we will not need him to player a bigger offensive role til next year, depending on what happens, and I really haven't seen many players defend like this so early in their career.  There is a lot to like.

[Tai]

A year ago people were wondering why he wasn't on the court.

Now, people wonder why he's on it.

Why I should I believe it will be any different with Moore and JJJ? Now I don't tell anyone what to say, but don't be mad if I don't reply to "cause I said so", cause that's what I assume I'll get, and I assume that's why people feel Bradley shouldn't play now.

Apart from that, I'm amazed that a player who can actually stop the opposing team's offense at times apparently has no place on a defensive-minded team like the Celtics, of all teams. It's one thing to say you don't trust Doc, but if your eyes don't tell you that Wall couldn't get Bradley off of him at times when he was in, you either probably don't trust them or you simply didn't see the game.

I've said it before already, but if Bradley finds his shot, he helps this team NOW. Not "hopefully later" like Moore or JJJ.