Avery Bradley shot over 40% from 3 last season?

[Prof. Clutch]

Not understanding all the skepticism with Bradley's outside shot.  Him shooting above 35% next season would not be a 'miracle' by any stretch.  Bradley shot 38% from 3 in college (42/112, which is a nice sample size) and draft.net had this to say about his outside shooting coming into the league:

Bradley's biggest asset offensively is his ability to shoot from the outside ... He can hit from a catch and shoot position, and looks beyond comfortable pulling up off the dribble

Plus sometimes you have to just go by what you see.  When Bradley found his shooting groove last season he looked smooth shooting the 3.  He never seemed to try to be forcing something that wasn't there, he picked his spots and ended up hitting the 3 at a high clip.  Nobody should be shocked if this becomes a reliable part of his arsenal going forward.  I'm not saying we should expect him to shoot 40% again, but I fully expect him to be above the 35% mark.

[cman88]

Im not sure why everyone is so surprised that Bradley can shoot the ball and doubts that he can shoot as effectively next year.

most of the scouting reports comign out of college was that he had one of the purest jump-shots in the draft....one of his offensive staples in Texas was his mid-range game.

even when bradley was shooting bricks in the beginning of the season, both Doc rivers AND Pierce attested that Bradley was a great shooter in practice, but lacked the confidence on the court...

its no coincidence that once bradley became more confident those shots began to fall...

forget about the playoffs, bradley was playing with 2 shoulders so bad he could barely lift them and is going to keep him out of commission through the beginning of the regular season.


I expect his FG% to stay high next year because frankly...he doesnt take bad shots. he is going to take what the deffense gives him and he rarely forces anything...he plays within the game.

i'm not sure why so many posters are soo negative towards bradley...its almost if they want him to be a 1hit wonder..but with his work ethic and talent I dont see that happening

i hope to come in this thread next year when bradley IS shooting a high fg% and laugh at some of the comments

[LooseCannon]

i'm not sure why so many posters are soo negative towards bradley

I chalk most of it up to people being overly skeptical of under-sized shooting guards.  I believe it is possible for a short SG to be a great player without being a 20ppg guy.

[billysan]

i'm not sure why so many posters are soo negative towards bradley

I chalk most of it up to people being overly skeptical of under-sized shooting guards.  I believe it is possible for a short SG to be a great player without being a 20ppg guy.

Could also be that many people dont take into account that Avery Bradley has been in the league for two years and hasnt had any summer league or significant training camp time due to injuries.

The result has been a short time the first year where he looked pretty lost and then last year he finally started to get it together and got hurt again. The guy obviously has some talent.

What I am trying to say is that it has made him look inconsistent.

[mmmmm]

I'm going to echo what a few others have said.  I've been following Bradley for a long time and it will definitely NOT be a 'miracle' for him to shoot above 35% from the 3PT line.

At every level where he's gotten significant minutes, he's been able to pour in shots from outside.

College:  29.5 mpg,   42 of 112 -> 37.5%
D-League:  32.2 mpg, 11 of 27 -> 37.0%
Celtics (2011):  5.2 mpg,  0 for 5  -> 0%
Celtics (2012):  21.4 mpg,  22 of 54 -> 40.7%

He was also an excellent shooter in H.S. and scouts frequently have cited his excellent catch-and-shoot form.

Taken all together (almost 200 attempts) that becomes a compelling sample size that suggests his 'true' percentage lies somewhere between 35 and 40%.   Of course, he's still young and likely to improve his shot.

He turns 22 this coming November.

[colincb]

I'm going to echo what a few others have said.  I've been following Bradley for a long time and it will definitely NOT be a 'miracle' for him to shoot above 35% from the 3PT line.

At every level where he's gotten significant minutes, he's been able to pour in shots from outside.

College:  29.5 mpg,   42 of 112 -> 37.5%
D-League:  32.2 mpg, 11 of 27 -> 37.0%
Celtics (2011):  5.2 mpg,  0 for 5  -> 0%
Celtics (2012):  21.4 mpg,  22 of 54 -> 40.7%

He was also an excellent shooter in H.S. and scouts frequently have cited his excellent catch-and-shoot form.

Taken all together (almost 200 attempts) that becomes a compelling sample size that suggests his 'true' percentage lies somewhere between 35 and 40%.   Of course, he's still young and likely to improve his shot.

He turns 22 this coming November.

He also shot 5 for 22 in the 2012 playoffs for 22.7%.  For his NBA career he's 27 for 81 or 33.3%.  I don't know what he'll shoot going forward from beyond the arc, but his mid-range, catch and shoot game, which is very good, has been his bread and butter and where he can better take advantage of his quickness and vertical ability.  It will be easier to defend him if he sticks in the corner, which I think hurt him in the playoffs, and playoff teams were defending him for the backdoor cut which was where he really making as killing in the regular season shooting over 70% on cuts overall.

[mmmmm]

I'm going to echo what a few others have said.  I've been following Bradley for a long time and it will definitely NOT be a 'miracle' for him to shoot above 35% from the 3PT line.

At every level where he's gotten significant minutes, he's been able to pour in shots from outside.

College:  29.5 mpg,   42 of 112 -> 37.5%
D-League:  32.2 mpg, 11 of 27 -> 37.0%
Celtics (2011):  5.2 mpg,  0 for 5  -> 0%
Celtics (2012):  21.4 mpg,  22 of 54 -> 40.7%

He was also an excellent shooter in H.S. and scouts frequently have cited his excellent catch-and-shoot form.

Taken all together (almost 200 attempts) that becomes a compelling sample size that suggests his 'true' percentage lies somewhere between 35 and 40%.   Of course, he's still young and likely to improve his shot.

He turns 22 this coming November.

He also shot 5 for 22 in the 2012 playoffs for 22.7%.  For his NBA career he's 27 for 81 or 33.3%.  I don't know what he'll shoot going forward from beyond the arc, but his mid-range, catch and shoot game, which is very good, has been his bread and butter and where he can better take advantage of his quickness and vertical ability.  It will be easier to defend him if he sticks in the corner, which I think hurt him in the playoffs, and playoff teams were defending him for the backdoor cut which was where he really making as killing in the regular season shooting over 70% on cuts overall.

I'm going to go out on a wild and crazy limb and assume that the fact that by the time we got into the playoffs one of his shoulders was practically hanging out the socket (and the other wasn't far behind) just maybe, just maybe might have had an affect on his shooting.

Even ignoring that, and giving weight to how teams started to finally 'play' him in the corner, as I've said, he's only 22 and has yet to get a formal NBA training camp and has had limited practice time even.   Assuming future health and fewer lockouts going forward, it is not unreasonable to assume that he will further develop his game to be able to compensate when team's adjust their defense to him.

His raw fundamentals (physicals, form & extended minute shooting stats) are indicative of a player who can shoot.

[arambone]

I'm going to echo what a few others have said.  I've been following Bradley for a long time and it will definitely NOT be a 'miracle' for him to shoot above 35% from the 3PT line.

At every level where he's gotten significant minutes, he's been able to pour in shots from outside.

College:  29.5 mpg,   42 of 112 -> 37.5%
D-League:  32.2 mpg, 11 of 27 -> 37.0%
Celtics (2011):  5.2 mpg,  0 for 5  -> 0%
Celtics (2012):  21.4 mpg,  22 of 54 -> 40.7%

He was also an excellent shooter in H.S. and scouts frequently have cited his excellent catch-and-shoot form.

Taken all together (almost 200 attempts) that becomes a compelling sample size that suggests his 'true' percentage lies somewhere between 35 and 40%.   Of course, he's still young and likely to improve his shot.

He turns 22 this coming November.

He also shot 5 for 22 in the 2012 playoffs for 22.7%.  For his NBA career he's 27 for 81 or 33.3%.  I don't know what he'll shoot going forward from beyond the arc, but his mid-range, catch and shoot game, which is very good, has been his bread and butter and where he can better take advantage of his quickness and vertical ability.  It will be easier to defend him if he sticks in the corner, which I think hurt him in the playoffs, and playoff teams were defending him for the backdoor cut which was where he really making as killing in the regular season shooting over 70% on cuts overall.

I'm going to go out on a wild and crazy limb and assume that the fact that by the time we got into the playoffs one of his shoulders was practically hanging out the socket (and the other wasn't far behind) just maybe, just maybe might have had an affect on his shooting.

Even ignoring that, and giving weight to how teams started to finally 'play' him in the corner, as I've said, he's only 22 and has yet to get a formal NBA training camp and has had limited practice time even.   Assuming future health and fewer lockouts going forward, it is not unreasonable to assume that he will further develop his game to be able to compensate when team's adjust their defense to him.

His raw fundamentals (physicals, form & extended minute shooting stats) are indicative of a player who can shoot.

haters gone hate. If bradley had ten broken fingers and his % went down, it would just prove he stinks.

[colincb]

I'm going to echo what a few others have said.  I've been following Bradley for a long time and it will definitely NOT be a 'miracle' for him to shoot above 35% from the 3PT line.

At every level where he's gotten significant minutes, he's been able to pour in shots from outside.

College:  29.5 mpg,   42 of 112 -> 37.5%
D-League:  32.2 mpg, 11 of 27 -> 37.0%
Celtics (2011):  5.2 mpg,  0 for 5  -> 0%
Celtics (2012):  21.4 mpg,  22 of 54 -> 40.7%

He was also an excellent shooter in H.S. and scouts frequently have cited his excellent catch-and-shoot form.

Taken all together (almost 200 attempts) that becomes a compelling sample size that suggests his 'true' percentage lies somewhere between 35 and 40%.   Of course, he's still young and likely to improve his shot.

He turns 22 this coming November.

He also shot 5 for 22 in the 2012 playoffs for 22.7%.  For his NBA career he's 27 for 81 or 33.3%.  I don't know what he'll shoot going forward from beyond the arc, but his mid-range, catch and shoot game, which is very good, has been his bread and butter and where he can better take advantage of his quickness and vertical ability.  It will be easier to defend him if he sticks in the corner, which I think hurt him in the playoffs, and playoff teams were defending him for the backdoor cut which was where he really making as killing in the regular season shooting over 70% on cuts overall.

I'm going to go out on a wild and crazy limb and assume that the fact that by the time we got into the playoffs one of his shoulders was practically hanging out the socket (and the other wasn't far behind) just maybe, just maybe might have had an affect on his shooting.

Even ignoring that, and giving weight to how teams started to finally 'play' him in the corner, as I've said, he's only 22 and has yet to get a formal NBA training camp and has had limited practice time even.   Assuming future health and fewer lockouts going forward, it is not unreasonable to assume that he will further develop his game to be able to compensate when team's adjust their defense to him.

His raw fundamentals (physicals, form & extended minute shooting stats) are indicative of a player who can shoot.

haters gone hate. If bradley had ten broken fingers and his % went down, it would just prove he stinks.

What a ridiculous thing to say.  Don't hate him and he seems like a very nice young man.  As far as his shooting, it's been all over the place since AB's been in the NBA, from dreadful to the sublime.