Happy Bradley panned out

[guava_wrench]

I was thinking about how screwed we would be if Bradley hadn't panned out. We have really needed his contributions, especially with Ray Allen's health problems late in the season.

Then I came to realize that Bradley is the only non-PF/C that the Celtics have drafted since Rondo who has made any significant contribution since KG and Ray came to town. Is walker the only non PF/C that we have drafted since then who has even managed to stay the entire time on an NBA roster? Moore is still on a roster, but not even a year has passed to the jury is still out there.

Powe, Baby, and Erden have all made meaningful contributions at PF/C. Pruitt, Giddens, Hudson and Walker have all been bad or borderline NBA quality at best. I suppose Walker has the most going for him now that he has a nice 3pt shot.

I excluded Foye and Green from this post since we drafted them for other teams. It is only a technicality that they were drafted by us.

[Smokeeye123]

Avery Bradley panned out and then some. The kid is only 21. Should mature into a NBA championship caliber PG/G in a few years. Maybe not an allstar, but a very good player.

[Jon]

Bradley really does change the rebuilding process.  Before we had Rondo, who were weren't quite sure was a #1 star and Green, who most people thought wasn't good enough to be a #2 star. 

So we really needed to get 2 mega stars to fully rebuild. 

Now we arguably only need one.  I have confidence that Green and Bradley can (at the very least) be our #3 and #4 guys on a title team. 

It's still gonna be tough to trade for, sign, or draft another mega star to go along with Rondo.  But it's a lot less daunting than trying to get two. 

[ManUp]

Very happy he panned out, but I'm still not sold on Bradley as Rondo's backcourt running mate.

If I'm Danny and I don't think Bradley can be a longterm solution at shooting guard he's trade bait.

Jeff Green is also trade bait, until proven otherwise.

[JSD]

Didn't the Knicks straight up cut Walker before the playoffs?

[Tr1boy]

Didn't the Knicks straight up cut Walker before the playoffs?

They did. And i would try to resign him in a heartbeat. No major injury issues in a long while. The guy has game, plays hard and has nice strength for a sf. Plus knows the celtics system i'm sure

Next years lineup

Stiesma Hollins
KG ? (maybe jeff green)
PP Pitrius
Bradley Walker
Rondo ? (dooling)

[Fafnir]

Didn't the Knicks straight up cut Walker before the playoffs?

They did. And i would try to resign him in a heartbeat. No major injury issues in a long while. The guy has game, plays hard and has nice strength for a sf. Plus knows the celtics system i'm sure

Next years lineup

Stiesma Hollins
KG ? (maybe jeff green)
PP Pitrius
Bradley Walker
Rondo ? (dooling)

Walker was perhaps the worst SF in the league. Rubish defender and inefficient offensive player who played without much basketball IQ.

[guava_wrench]

Didn't the Knicks straight up cut Walker before the playoffs?

So I guess makes our non-PF/C picks even more useless.

[guava_wrench]

Not sure why we should be so doubtful about the Rondo and Bradley combo going forward when they look fine this year and it will probably be a long time before we are at this level again. If they work together fine at our current high level, why would they be a problem when we are at a lesser level?

[CelticHooligan3]

Didn't the Knicks straight up cut Walker before the playoffs?

They did. And i would try to resign him in a heartbeat. No major injury issues in a long while. The guy has game, plays hard and has nice strength for a sf. Plus knows the celtics system i'm sure

Next years lineup

Stiesma Hollins
KG ? (maybe jeff green)
PP Pitrius
Bradley Walker
Rondo ? (dooling)

Walker was perhaps the worst SF in the league. Rubish defender and inefficient offensive player who played without much basketball IQ.

Didn't hold much back there faf, did ya? Lol 

[GreenNote]

Didn't the Knicks straight up cut Walker before the playoffs?

They did. And i would try to resign him in a heartbeat. No major injury issues in a long while. The guy has game, plays hard and has nice strength for a sf. Plus knows the celtics system i'm sure

Next years lineup

Stiesma Hollins
KG ? (maybe jeff green)
PP Pitrius
Bradley Walker
Rondo ? (dooling)

Walker had surgery on his elbow

[Tr1boy]

Ray Allens injury was a blessing in disguise. I would still bring back allen next year, actually even for the year after that too. But if he is willing to take a paycut (mid level exception) and stay coming off the bench with decreased 5 minutes that will be given to Bradley instead.

Can't believe Bradley is only 6'2? Kid looks taller out there. Maybe its bc of his awesome jumping ability. Love those highlight reel blocks. Not only is his defense one of his best attributes but he has a very underrated offensive game. Can finish acrobatically , surprisingly can shoot even past the three point line and best thing is, scores efficiently. Rarely makes mistakes.

Should of been a top ten pick at the 2010 nba draft. Bradley's injury coming off the year was another blessing in disguise

[arambone]

Yeah, Bradley's okay I guess

Sure, he was better than Ray Allen with two arms, but now he's only about the same as Allen with one arm.

I don't know why he doesn't just grow another arm.

Let's draft somebody who I didn't dump on for a year and a half

[LooseCannon]

Didn't the Knicks straight up cut Walker before the playoffs?

They did. And i would try to resign him in a heartbeat. No major injury issues in a long while. The guy has game, plays hard and has nice strength for a sf. Plus knows the celtics system i'm sure

Next years lineup

Stiesma Hollins
KG ? (maybe jeff green)
PP Pitrius
Bradley Walker
Rondo ? (dooling)

Walker was perhaps the worst SF in the league. Rubish defender and inefficient offensive player who played without much basketball IQ.

In his time with the Knicks, one could legitimately claim that Walker was the worst defender on the team.  That doesn't mean that much now that the Knicks have good defensive stats (5th fewest points per 100 possessions allowed), but it was also true when the Knicks were atrocious.

Given that the Celtics play a highly advanced style of defense that is very team-oriented, such that one could say that the system is really only as good as the weakest link, I could argue that a bad defender with low BBIQ is a bad fit for the team, no matter how nice his offense is, and Walker is not that nice, especially when he is not making threes at a high rate.

As for Bradley, I believe that if he can put together a full season as a starter, he has a good chance of being at least second team NBA All-Defensive.  With his mental orientation towards defense, I hope he can be a guy who is a useful contributor on offense but doesn't get cranky if he doesn't get enough touches and perhaps, like KG, needs to be coaxed into taking a bigger scoring role rather than a guy who shoots the team out of games sometimes because he wants to be a hero.

[EDWARDO]

Walker Powe Baby Semih Pruitt Giddens  Hudson.   All 2nd round picks except Giddens who was very very late first. Getting ANY contribution out of them is a huge win. What's your point?