Avery Bradley-o-Meter

[33_Larry Legend_33]

He should change his last name to Moiso...

[the_Bird]

The bottom line, to me, is that with both he and Stiemroller on the floor, we have a defensive presence up front and with our guards - from the bench.

Throw in Wilcox, Keyon, Marquis and Bass and we have the makings of a potent bench that will only get better with time.

It's not a bad start to a bench, but I still think they need a shooter; a guy who can do for the second unit what Eddie House did a few years back, and what they tried to get from NateRob; someone in the backcourt that can just light the place up.  

Bass is a good scorer, but you're not really looking at him as a guy who's going to create his own offense; you'd like to get him some of those open jumpers in the flow of the offense.  

The other guys, though...  they aren't necessarily terrible, but there isn't a guy out there that you're really ALL that worried about shooting the ball or spreading the floor out.

Dooling's a career 35% shooter from deep; not bad, not especially noteworthy.  Never really shot a lot, or been a big-time scorer.  He's kept his place in the league mostly on the strength of his D.

Steimsma; it's way too early to know really what we have, especially on the offense end.  Best-case, he's a fourth or fifth offensive option, not someone you're looking to run the offense through.

Wilcox isn't much of an offensive threat.

Quis, love Quis, but again, he's more of a complementary-type.  I always thought that he and Delonte West would have made good running mates, one shooter, one slasher, both who can handle the ball a little and split the "PG" duties.  Quis' job is harder when he's not out there with guys who are spreading the floor (maybe Stiemsma and Bass help keep the paint clear a little, if they can keep hitting their outside shots).

I know there must have been some good reasons for letting Delonte walk, but it still seems to me like the bench could use a guy with that kind of skillset.  It's all well and good that AB is showing disruptive defense, but it'd be real nice to have another pure shooter on the bench, even if for just end-of-quarter situations.

Maybe Pietrus can be that guy for us?  I was kind of hoping that Jeff Green could settle into that role this year, as being the go-to guy on the second unit.  Let's hope that there's enough life left in Pietrus' legs to do that.

[Celtics4ever]

Delonte wasn't ever healthy and unreliable.  I think Pietrus should he be healthy will help.


The way to guard MIA is a zone PosIpos.

[anthony83]

He should play in the D-League, I don´t understand as this player play in the NBA and the Celtics.

 Pavlovic the same, they are not valid for the Celtics.

[nickagneta]

Are any of the very very great many bloggers who have posted so far this year that Avery Bradley is inept, has no handle, can't shoot and/or is just not a player going to post that there's a chance they might be completely wrong.

Sure, the competition over the last four games hasn't been the best but Bradley's defense has been getting better and better to the point where Doc used him to shut down the hottest player on the competition tonight during the last couple of minutes before the end of the half. His defense is getting to be outstanding.

And as for his offense, he showed he actually does have a fairly nice cross over from the top of the key and is lightening fast going to the basket with the ball. He hit a three and seemed to be gaining some confidence in his shot.

Its probably still too early to declare that he has arrived but I think it is pretty certain that his defense, at the very least, is going to keep him in this league for some years to come. That speed, wingspan, and defensive athletic tenacity are just not something you see very much of in the NBA anymore. Especially not in 21 year old guards.

[GreenFaith1819]

Could not see the game unfortunately, but from the box score looks like the kid did some things tonight.

Happy for him.

So was AB responsible for MB's scoreless 2nd half? Did he spend any time guarding MB?

[SHAQATTACK]

AB...gets a nod on tonights game, there was a ton of slop out there, but it was great training and you could see a actual bit of decent team play the by the bench the last 5 minutes .  They were satrting to get a comfortable and play with in themselves.

[cman88]

avery bradley really is a great defender..you dont see many players able to pressure defensively like him.

offensively, I think he'll eventually find his shot. hes abit like nate robinson where I think hes going to be a streaky shooter...we saw it tonight. at times hes cold, then everythings going in

but, with Mikael Pietrus in the wings and brandon bass...im not too worried about bench scoring...if he can lock down the opposing teams pg/sg and create extra posessions thats good enough.

[bfrombleacher]

Are any of the very very great many bloggers who have posted so far this year that Avery Bradley is inept, has no handle, can't shoot and/or is just not a player going to post that there's a chance they might be completely wrong.

Sure, the competition over the last four games hasn't been the best but Bradley's defense has been getting better and better to the point where Doc used him to shut down the hottest player on the competition tonight during the last couple of minutes before the end of the half. His defense is getting to be outstanding.

And as for his offense, he showed he actually does have a fairly nice cross over from the top of the key and is lightening fast going to the basket with the ball. He hit a three and seemed to be gaining some confidence in his shot.

Its probably still too early to declare that he has arrived but I think it is pretty certain that his defense, at the very least, is going to keep him in this league for some years to come. That speed, wingspan, and defensive athletic tenacity are just not something you see very much of in the NBA anymore. Especially not in 21 year old guards.

TP. His defense was Tony Allen-esque. Penetrating rather than settling for the outside J would also do him good.

[chambers]

TP for Avery Bradley tonight.

Really awesome as a C's fan who's seen him picking splinters for the last 2 years to finally get a shot while Ray was out.
His hustle is inspiring to his teammates and fans.

His defensive pressure was stellar as usual.
He just needs to keep penetrating and drawing fouls with his quickness and his shot will eventually come.

[manl_lui]

that defense he played on Farmar was great, he moves his feet really well

[Snakehead]

Great to see some love for Avery for a change.

He continued the great D tonight.  Did anyone notice how frustrated Farmar and Gaines were?  He did foul, but on the play where he tripped up Gaines trying to get the steal you could see it on his face that Avery was REALLY getting to him.  Love the hustle and the tenacity, dude is just a pest out there.

With more minutes, he seemed more relaxed on offense and in the flow of things.  I liked his speed in the open court and shot selection plus a few nice assists off ball movement.

Very happy to see Avery play well and I hope it's just the start of more to come.





BTW OP, was his performance tonight "Clown" or "Garbage"? 

[green7]

AB played great tonight gave farmar a whole lot of problems and what i like about him is he allows no crossovers he suffocates  you on defense that you can barley dribble i think doc should put him on rose from time to time see how it works out and hopefully pietrus is ready before that bulls game

[j804]

Game ball goes to Avery this was his breakout game hopefully even though it might not show in the boxscore.

[j804]

If Bradley can continue to give good defense like this and has confidence by the playoffs I could see him contributing in small stretches slowing down Chalmers, Wade, Rose

I don't mean stopping them but making them work just a lil harder than normal