Avery Bradley-o-Meter

[guava_wrench]

Remember how TA was much better with starters and a strictly defined role? Avery seems to need that early on. If he can just play defense and have other people worry about generating offense, he will be more relaxed.

The form on the jumper has always looked smooth, but I will believe it when it falls regularly. Until then, I view him as a guy who has D good enough to hide his flaws on offense.

[raynman]

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

Chalmers? Really?
Seriously, though, I love Bradley's improvement but the fact remains that he's a 6'3 Shooting Guard! He's never going to be a PG, he's never going to grow 3 inches! He'd be a regular 6th man at best.. What we need for our future is a Ray/Pierce replacement - a 6'6 - 6'8 SG/SF go-to-guy.. I still believe he's being showcased to raise his trade stock..

[celticsleyte]

Is your meter broken?

[Snakehead]

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

Chalmers? Really?
Seriously, though, I love Bradley's improvement but the fact remains that he's a 6'3 Shooting Guard! He's never going to be a PG, he's never going to grow 3 inches! He'd be a regular 6th man at best.. What we need for our future is a Ray/Pierce replacement - a 6'6 - 6'8 SG/SF go-to-guy.. I still believe he's being showcased to raise his trade stock..

What's your point about Chalmers?

The best young SG in the league is 6'3"... Eric Gordon.  Fact is a lot of the upcoming SGs are small and are combo guards.  Avery's wingspan helps him make up for his lack of height as well.

Not saying he will definitely become a starter for us, who knows, but he could and if he was a 6th man as an elite stopper and high level athlete with a spot up 3 that would not be a bad thing.  Those type of players win you championships.

Is your meter broken?

Maybe he can make "Clown" mean what he makes the opposing players look like.  Otherwise he might need to add a few more symbols on there, maybe one is a padlock.

[GreenEnvy]

It's pretty evident his problem lies between the ears. Once he gets confident, he can be a useful role player.

Previously, the more time he had, the more prone he was to mistakes. Tonight he looked like he just reacted to the situation on both sides of the ball and he had mostly great results.

Let's not forget exactly how young he is and how bad of a fit he supposedly was at Texas in his one year there.

He'll get the hang of it.

[Evantime34]

Remember how TA was much better with starters and a strictly defined role? Avery seems to need that early on. If he can just play defense and have other people worry about generating offense, he will be more relaxed.

The form on the jumper has always looked smooth, but I will believe it when it falls regularly. Until then, I view him as a guy who has D good enough to hide his flaws on offense.

His jumper does look smooth although it is a little flat. He looks like a player who has been more athletic than pretty much everyone he played, then he got to the nba. recently he has gotten to the hole but had trouble finishing. In college and hs he could just rise up and finish over people. Once he gets better finishing around the hoop he'll be less reluctant to drive which will vastly improve his offense overall.

[TripleOT]

So this kid makes a couple of shots (finally) and ballhawks against a hastily thrown together team full of scrubs and that's supposed to be a "breakout game?"  

AB will need to have this kind of game against an actual NBA team or two before he can be looked at as a reliable rotation guy.

As a Bradley doubter, I was pleasantly surprised/totally stunned  watching his second half offensive play.  For the first time this season, his play wasn't offensive.  I'm eager to see if AB can build off this performance against a team like Indy Friday night.    

[bfrombleacher]

Is your meter broken?

Maybe he can make "Clown" mean what he makes the opposing players look like.  Otherwise he might need to add a few more symbols on there, maybe one is a padlock.

I think the meter was meant to be a joke...

[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

Chalmers? Really?
Seriously, though, I love Bradley's improvement but the fact remains that he's a 6'3 Shooting Guard! He's never going to be a PG, he's never going to grow 3 inches! He'd be a regular 6th man at best.. What we need for our future is a Ray/Pierce replacement - a 6'6 - 6'8 SG/SF go-to-guy.. I still believe he's being showcased to raise his trade stock..

I am talking about teams and guys in the playoffs we would see out east, well see a lot of Chalmers at the point running the Heat if we face them. If he continues improving he can get spot minutes on opposing ballhandlers harassing them even if just for defense, while Rondo catches a blow. Nobody is talking at least I'm not about him being a starter or a future Ray replacement

[raynman]

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

Chalmers? Really?
Seriously, though, I love Bradley's improvement but the fact remains that he's a 6'3 Shooting Guard! He's never going to be a PG, he's never going to grow 3 inches! He'd be a regular 6th man at best.. What we need for our future is a Ray/Pierce replacement - a 6'6 - 6'8 SG/SF go-to-guy.. I still believe he's being showcased to raise his trade stock..

I am talking about teams and guys in the playoffs we would see out east, well see a lot of Chalmers at the point running the Heat if we face them. If he continues improving he can get spot minutes on opposing ballhandlers harassing them even if just for defense, while Rondo catches a blow. Nobody is talking at least I'm not about him being a starter or a future Ray replacement

I just think you don't put Chalmers in the same sentence as wADE AND rOSE, even the rook Norris Cole is better than him! I'm just saying that we need more scoring SG's, not another TA.. We already have Quis and Pietrus as defensive stoppers. That's why I said that with all this exposure, he'd most likely be traded..

[guava_wrench]

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

Chalmers? Really?
Seriously, though, I love Bradley's improvement but the fact remains that he's a 6'3 Shooting Guard! He's never going to be a PG, he's never going to grow 3 inches! He'd be a regular 6th man at best.. What we need for our future is a Ray/Pierce replacement - a 6'6 - 6'8 SG/SF go-to-guy.. I still believe he's being showcased to raise his trade stock..

I am talking about teams and guys in the playoffs we would see out east, well see a lot of Chalmers at the point running the Heat if we face them. If he continues improving he can get spot minutes on opposing ballhandlers harassing them even if just for defense, while Rondo catches a blow. Nobody is talking at least I'm not about him being a starter or a future Ray replacement

You don't need a specialist to 'slow down' Chalmers. You slow down Wade and Rose. You completely shut down Chalmers and send him home crying.

How about Wade, Rose, and:
Joe Johnson
or Jameer Nelson

If only we could have picked up one of the free agents for 2012 to be like Dwight Howard, Christ Paul or George Hill.

[Celtics4ever]

I hope it was a breakout game for him.   For once, he shot ok aside from that hideous airball in the first half.  It was good to see him do well.  I am still not sold on him  as one game out of seven does not denote a trend.

[Eja117]

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

I saw that. The thing where he got called for a foul just because the refs were thinking "Nobody on Earth plays defense that good. Nobody".   Jordan must've thought he was being guarded by an agent from the Matrix. I couldn't believe what i was seeing

[Surferdad]

I'm not sold on AB yet either, but I'll raise my hand and admit I was one of those posters who said he stinks (see thread earlier this week).  That was probably a bit too harsh.  Like Tony Allen, his defense will keep him in the running.  In the post-game interview, Pierce also said the kid just needs to build his confidence.  That only comes from games like last night against the Nets.

Also, he looked better than E'Twan Moore against the same bad Nets team.  Moore is a better jump shooter, but Bradley has everything else on him.

[thirstyboots18]

They say "Games are won by offense, championships are won with defense."

I love defense, therefore I love Avery Bradley.  He defends full court.  His man can not move, can not breath.  I think I will call him  "Wet Blanket Bradley" because that is how his man must think of him. 

Last night showed that he can shoot, but has work on his shot and  integrate it into his game so that it is natural and not an afterthought.  But just as I don't think shooting and scoring is the most important part of Rondo's game, I really don't think it should be the most important part of Bradley's.  It will come.

Doc and Danny seem to like Bradley enough to give him time and that is huge.