What if Bradley doesnt pan out?

[Celtics4ever]

He already has panned out.  This post really doesn't merit discussion beyond that.  Will he recover from the shoulder injury is more legit question to ask.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34gviEcQCOA

[LarBrd33]

its all the people who called him a bust too early. still clinging on to that idea that hes a bust, even though when the entire world, including d wade, now know the name avery bradley.

+100.
He's already beaten the majority of Celtics fans expectations.
Now the bar has been raised again in hope of failure or something in some twisted kind of way. Kid plays out of skin and basically fires our team up with KG for a completely epic playoff run.
Even Pierce said his energy and attitude is infectious and spreads in the locker room and on the court. Combine that with his results and he's becoming a complete stud.

Can the 19th pick ever be a "bust"?  He looks like he'll be a solid role player.  We'll see what happens.  Hope you guys are right about him. 

[billysan]

its all the people who called him a bust too early. still clinging on to that idea that hes a bust, even though when the entire world, including d wade, now know the name avery bradley.

+100.
He's already beaten the majority of Celtics fans expectations.
Now the bar has been raised again in hope of failure or something in some twisted kind of way. Kid plays out of skin and basically fires our team up with KG for a completely epic playoff run.
Even Pierce said his energy and attitude is infectious and spreads in the locker room and on the court. Combine that with his results and he's becoming a complete stud.

Can the 19th pick ever be a "bust"?  He looks like he'll be a solid role player.  We'll see what happens.  Hope you guys are right about him. 

I'll take solid role player from him any day of the week. His defense on one's and most two's is consistently impressiveand an asset within our team defense. His occaisional double figures outburst in points with a few assists and steals will be welcome as a bonus but not expected nitely.

I will bet anyone a pair of tommy points he has less turnovers per minute his sophomore year than Tony Allen did and play excellent defense.

[jyyzzoel]

^are you kidding me? he was voted 9th (of all guards) in the all-nba defensive team voting, with 1 1st team vote. and this was mostly from sample of games of him coming off the bench, and playing with a bummed shoulder that needed surgery. and it was his SECOND year. if healthy, averys on the all nba defensive team next year. You realize that right? and you think a team wouldnt give up a mid 1st rounder for that? haha

this. i have no doubt a team would give up a 7-12 pick for avery.

[BballTim]

My current guesstimation on Bradley's ceiling is that he'll end up being a smaller version of Tony Allen, but without the frequent mental lapses.  I've yet to see anyone explain to me why I should think otherwise.

Bradley is already better on offense though.  Sure his overall shooting percenatges this season weren't great, but you can see he has good form.

Are we really sure that Bradley is better on offense than Tony Allen?  We are basing this off like 5 games where he scored double digits?  Look at the 14 game stretch Tony had in 2007 prior to his injury:  http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/allento01/gamelog/2007/ ...

I don't know.  Maybe you guys are right.  Bradley got 3 all-defense votes this year (FYI, Tony Allen finished 1st team ALL-Defense this year)... Bradley scored 28 points once.  Hopefully he's a future star.  Doubt it, though.

  First of all, much of that TA stretch came after PP went out with his stress fracture. Secondly, TA was 4 years older that year than Bradley was last year. Tony Allen's first team all-defense, but he's also 30. He wasn't in the league at Avery's age.

[KGs Knee]

Projection:  Poor man's midget Tony Allen with less offensive ability and less mental lapses.

Do you actually beleive this, or are you just intentionally trying to get a rise out of people?

Channeling your inner Skip Bayless, are you?

[cman88]

the thing is, bradley was always a good shooter in Highschool/College....Pierce/Doc said that Bradley dominated in practices.

tony allen never was...his only offensive ability was dunking the ball...so I dont think its much of a fluke/surprise that he can knock down jumpshots

what I saw was a player who finally gained confidence playing and it showed

plus, the kid has a good work-ethic...supposedly he was in the gym every day taking shots from everywhere on the floor...and it translated into him improving his 3-point shot.

[GreenFaith1819]

Just browsing some clips of him on youtube...he's got quite a nice portfolio already:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzErWqN2980

And:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHb51gmsDyI&feature=related

I think the absolutely most impressive thing about these two clips is that OKC was crushing BOS at the time of these plays, but AB was STILL playing as if we were down by only a basket or two.

A lot of fight in the young Celtic - no quit in him.

If my memory serves me right, it was his play and the play of the 2nd unit in this game that brought us back to a near upset.

This was also the same game that Rondo did NOT play.

In the clip below, the impressive thing about AB is that he is NEAR every single turnover by the other team...he is quite the pest. He may NOT be the cause of the turnover, but his presence alone leads up to the event.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrNNEUXMLw0&feature=related

That, IMO, is KG-Like...causing turnovers even when you are not directly involved.

I'm not hyping him up, either, lol...check the clips out. They speak volumes about him.

and he STILL has about 2-3 yrs to reach his potential - right next to a pass-first PG that already seems to play well with him.

Ray Allen deserves MUCH thanks for giving this young man the opportunity to grow. What a class act.

[tonyto3690]

There are a few things that make Bradley great.

1. Defense.  Defense defense defense.  And just to make it clear.  Defense.  Kid is the best on ball defender in the NBA bar none.  It's actually a bit hysterical watching opposing guards bring the ball up the court against his full court press.  Unless they are very athletic and have an elite handle, they will routinely struggle to get to midcourt, let alone score.  Bradley is also a very underrated shot blocker, which is often not noticed because rarely do players even attempt  anything besides fadaways against him.  He's stuffed Wade, Johnson, and Westbrook (just off the top of my head) and all of those were multiple times.  The things that make his defense great - his length, and instincts, will not regress.  The only thing that could possibly regress is lateral quickness which won't happen for another 10 years or an injury.


2.  Off the ball movement.  He has a natural knack for getting open and moving off the ball.  He's very Ray Allen like in his hustle and off the ball movement.  If you turn his back to him for a moment, it's usually an uncontested layup or alley-oop dunk with Rondo.  This will not regress unless he suddenly has a personality shift and gets lazy.

3.  Explosiveness, burst, and ability to finish around the rim.  While he isn't Derrick Rose, he's definitely near elite in all of those categories.  The problem has always been he just doesn't have a great handle.  Again, barring a sudden personality shift, and sudden laziness, none of those will regress.  Shoulder has nothing to do with any of those as those are mostly legs and core.



Upside:
He's already a super elite defensive player with great athleticism.  I'm not ready to say he's a knock down shooter as he was just stupid hot as a starter (shot 52% from 3 for 8 weeks IIRC), but he's definitely got great upside as a shooter.  He also will be a great penetrator and offensive threat if he develops a better handle.

If he can keep his mid range shot consistent next season and keep knocking down corner 3s, along with improve his ball handling this offseason, he will be an elite SG.

Even if he tiers out and doesn't improve at all, he's already a very good starter.  His defense alone guarantees he will always be at least a decent starter.  I read somewhere that one game last year when Westbrook was guarded by him, Westbrook shot something like 2/15 and without him shot 4/8.

[Change]

What if some people wrote Bradley off way, way too soon, and want to see him gone to avoid the secret shame?

 

This deserves one of these

[LarBrd33]

What if some people wrote Bradley off way, way too soon, and want to see him gone to avoid the secret shame?

 

This deserves one of these

you're completely using that meme wrong.  You'd get downvoted on Reddit.

[Change]

What if some people wrote Bradley off way, way too soon, and want to see him gone to avoid the secret shame?

 

This deserves one of these

you're completely using that meme wrong

dam!! conspiracy keanu?

[LooseCannon]

Especially when taking contracts and money into account, if it were an option, for the SG of the future, I would rather gamble on Avery Bradley getting better and possibly reaching his potential of Joe Dumars level of production rather than signing Eric Gordon to a big contract and gambling on him staying healthy.

[LarBrd33]

What if some people wrote Bradley off way, way too soon, and want to see him gone to avoid the secret shame?

 

This deserves one of these

you're completely using that meme wrong

dam!! conspiracy keanu?

More or less the same thing.  That's Suddenly Clarity Clarence... it's supposed to exemplify a random moment of clarity... usually true... like "Donkey Kong... isn't even a Donkey".  or "Rolling Stones... Means Rock and Roll" or "OH MY GOD... Those WERE the Droids I was looking for"   ... but sometimes it's very conspiracy keanu-esque.. like: "What if Deja Vu meant you lost a life... and you're just starting back at your last checkpoint"...

Or in honor of you using it completely incorrectly... this:



I think you're lookin for Scumbag Steve with yours.

[Change]

What if some people wrote Bradley off way, way too soon, and want to see him gone to avoid the secret shame?

 

This deserves one of these

you're completely using that meme wrong

dam!! conspiracy keanu?

More or less the same thing.  That's Suddenly Clarity Clarence... it's supposed to exemplify a random moment of clarity... usually true... like "Donkey Kong... isn't even a Donkey".  or "Rolling Stones... Means Rock and Roll" or "OH MY GOD... Those WERE the Droids I was looking for"   ... but sometimes it's very conspiracy keanu-esque.. like: "What if Deja Vu meant you lost a life... and you're just starting back at your last checkpoint"...

Or in honor of you using it completely incorrectly... this:



I think you're lookin for Scumbag Steve with yours.

ah indeed scumbag steve. I would be downvoted to oblivious.