What I like is his age. Ainge has taken low risk chances in Darko, Lee, Bradley, Sully and Melo. All or a few of these guys could turn into real players. Darko could be starter material for us, Lee could improve to that level or easily make us forget tony allen but add in 3 pt shooting, Bradley defensive team player and if his offense is as good as when it was good last year what a draft pick, sully a solid big off the bench
excuse the run on sentence!
What's your definition of "real player"? I don't know how Lee can't be considered as is as a "real player", and Bradley showed plenty last year to show that he can be an impact player on both sides of the floor.
they all are "real" players, each guy is still young enough to take their games up a notch
sort of like:
bradley all defensive 1st team, starter and 12 pts or so a game
darko solid plug in backup or even starter with good rebounding and defending
lee could be a starter, he seems to be to be missing concentration and consistency , again a tony allen replacement but guy can hit the corner 3
sully, could be steal of draft, solid starter for years
melo project but lots of room to improve with rough skills and not much time in basketball in general
so all of these guys have a contract to play in the nba, so they are obviously real players, my point (missed?) is that they are all young guys who show promise to make a step or leap in playing
this team has a youth core of:
rondo 6 years
green and lee 4 years
sully and melo rooks
bradley 3 ? years
darko is 27 i think
in ainge we trust!