Avery Bradley is not a point guard

[Snakehead]

I'm fairly sure that Stevens realizes this, but he can only work with what he's given. He can't magically make a "true point guard" appear when he doesn't have a healthy, NBA starting caliber one on his roster.

We have a point guard on the active roster, give him a shot. Listen to Brad Stevens talk about Phil Pressey:

“I think at times that we’ve played our best basketball with him on the floor,”

He’s a young guy. But he comes in every day. I said this at the start: The guy works at his game. He wants to be good. It’s not an accident that he’s here.”

Give the kid a shot.

http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2013/10/phil_pressey_-_with_confidence.html

True, Phil's a "true point guard" and I'm super happy for him that he made the team, but I did qualify it with "NBA starting caliber"  which I don't think Phil is right now.  I don't think he's even rotation caliber yet.  Obviously, neither does coach Stevens, and I'm sure he has a little more first-hand information than either of us.

What's clear is that AB isn't an NBA caliber point guard. Call me naive, but I'm going to take Stevens at this word when he says we've played "our best basketball" with Pressey on the floor. Do you think Pressey is a better distributor/floor general than Bradley. Yes or no?

Yes.

Great, so Stevens has been "given" a true point guard who we all seem to agree is a better passer/floor general than the incumbent. What's the argument against playing him again?

Avery is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league?

Defense is half the game.  I agree the offense is ugly to watch but Avery is still an outstanding defender.

I'd like to see Pressey get some minutes soon here to see how he does but I think some here think he's better than he probably is.

[Shamrocker]

I'm fairly sure that Stevens realizes this, but he can only work with what he's given. He can't magically make a "true point guard" appear when he doesn't have a healthy, NBA starting caliber one on his roster.

We have a point guard on the active roster, give him a shot. Listen to Brad Stevens talk about Phil Pressey:

“I think at times that we’ve played our best basketball with him on the floor,”

He’s a young guy. But he comes in every day. I said this at the start: The guy works at his game. He wants to be good. It’s not an accident that he’s here.”

Give the kid a shot.

http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2013/10/phil_pressey_-_with_confidence.html

True, Phil's a "true point guard" and I'm super happy for him that he made the team, but I did qualify it with "NBA starting caliber"  which I don't think Phil is right now.  I don't think he's even rotation caliber yet.  Obviously, neither does coach Stevens, and I'm sure he has a little more first-hand information than either of us.

What's clear is that AB isn't an NBA caliber point guard. Call me naive, but I'm going to take Stevens at this word when he says we've played "our best basketball" with Pressey on the floor. Do you think Pressey is a better distributor/floor general than Bradley. Yes or no?

Yes.

Great, so Stevens has been "given" a true point guard who we all seem to agree is a better passer/floor general than the incumbent. What's the argument against playing him again?

Avery is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league?

Defense is half the game.  I agree the offense is ugly to watch but Avery is still an outstanding defender.

Ok, put him at off-guard. Just get him off the ball. Problem solved.

[Celtics18]

I'm fairly sure that Stevens realizes this, but he can only work with what he's given. He can't magically make a "true point guard" appear when he doesn't have a healthy, NBA starting caliber one on his roster.

We have a point guard on the active roster, give him a shot. Listen to Brad Stevens talk about Phil Pressey:

“I think at times that we’ve played our best basketball with him on the floor,”

He’s a young guy. But he comes in every day. I said this at the start: The guy works at his game. He wants to be good. It’s not an accident that he’s here.”

Give the kid a shot.

http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2013/10/phil_pressey_-_with_confidence.html

True, Phil's a "true point guard" and I'm super happy for him that he made the team, but I did qualify it with "NBA starting caliber"  which I don't think Phil is right now.  I don't think he's even rotation caliber yet.  Obviously, neither does coach Stevens, and I'm sure he has a little more first-hand information than either of us.

What's clear is that AB isn't an NBA caliber point guard. Call me naive, but I'm going to take Stevens at this word when he says we've played "our best basketball" with Pressey on the floor. Do you think Pressey is a better distributor/floor general than Bradley. Yes or no?

Yes.

Great, so Stevens has been "given" a true point guard who we all seem to agree is a better passer/floor general than the incumbent. What's the argument against playing him again?

Avery is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league?

Defense is half the game.  I agree the offense is ugly to watch but Avery is still an outstanding defender.

Ok, but him at off-guard. Just get him off the ball. Problem solved.

Agreed.  I'd like to see coach Stevens move away from the one guard starting lineup and bring Crawford in to pair with Avery in the backcourt. 

[Snakehead]

I'm fairly sure that Stevens realizes this, but he can only work with what he's given. He can't magically make a "true point guard" appear when he doesn't have a healthy, NBA starting caliber one on his roster.

We have a point guard on the active roster, give him a shot. Listen to Brad Stevens talk about Phil Pressey:

“I think at times that we’ve played our best basketball with him on the floor,”

He’s a young guy. But he comes in every day. I said this at the start: The guy works at his game. He wants to be good. It’s not an accident that he’s here.”

Give the kid a shot.

http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2013/10/phil_pressey_-_with_confidence.html

True, Phil's a "true point guard" and I'm super happy for him that he made the team, but I did qualify it with "NBA starting caliber"  which I don't think Phil is right now.  I don't think he's even rotation caliber yet.  Obviously, neither does coach Stevens, and I'm sure he has a little more first-hand information than either of us.

What's clear is that AB isn't an NBA caliber point guard. Call me naive, but I'm going to take Stevens at this word when he says we've played "our best basketball" with Pressey on the floor. Do you think Pressey is a better distributor/floor general than Bradley. Yes or no?

Yes.

Great, so Stevens has been "given" a true point guard who we all seem to agree is a better passer/floor general than the incumbent. What's the argument against playing him again?

Avery is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league?

Defense is half the game.  I agree the offense is ugly to watch but Avery is still an outstanding defender.

Ok, but him at off-guard. Just get him off the ball. Problem solved.

Agreed.  I'd like to see coach Stevens move away from the one guard starting lineup and bring Crawford in to pair with Avery in the backcourt.

I agree with you guys on that.

I wish we would start Crawford at SG and let him handle the ball more and move Wallace to the bench.  Sure Wallace plays hard I guess but he sure isn't any good.

[RAcker]

Avery Bradley simply doesn't have the point guard instinct (see Rondo). He's a shooting guard who has great hustle to make up his lack of size more or less. I hope coach Stevens can soon accept this fact.

He's a shooting guard... who can't shoot or finish. And who seems progressively unable to make a simple lateral pass without turning the ball over. I hope people can soon accept this fact.

Watch out for the wind mills!

Awesome.

[Eja117]

Remember a long time ago because of an emergency they had to put Eric Williams in at center at the end of a game? I think he held his own against Alonzo Mourning or something and they miraculously got the win.

This is like if they then played him there for months.  It's like watching that.  They should just not be giving him lots of time there. He should be helping out there. They're stunting his growth and just playing an unnatural kind of basketball. 

They could put him at sg and they'd still lose tons of games.

[RJ87]

I've said it before - I think Avery's ceiling is being the first guard off the bench for a good team. And that's not a bad thing. His energy/hustle/defense can change a game. Offensively, his shortcomings may not be as glaring going up against second units.

He made sense when he was starting alongside Rondo, Pierce, and KG but that's not our team anymore. I think if we're going to move forward with Rondo at the PG and Green as the SF, we need an SG that can score at higher and much more consistent rate.

[kozlodoev]

I've said it before - I think Avery's ceiling is being the first guard off the bench for a good team. And that's not a bad thing. His energy/hustle/defense can change a game. Offensively, his shortcomings may not be as glaring going up against second units.

He made sense when he was starting alongside Rondo, Pierce, and KG but that's not our team anymore. I think if we're going to move forward with Rondo at the PG and Green as the SF, we need an SG that can score at higher and much more consistent rate.

Kevin Garnett played his entire rookie season at SF. Jeff Green spent multiple seasons at a PF with Seattle/OKC. Durant started off as a SG.

That whole "stunting his growth" premise is ridiculous. It's as valid as "giving him an opportunity to expand his skill set with nothing on the line". Except he's shown no progress of any sort for years now.

People should stop acting as if Bradley could somehow be something great, and it's the rest of the world's fault that they haven't tiptoed around him enough.

[pearljammer10]

I've said it before - I think Avery's ceiling is being the first guard off the bench for a good team. And that's not a bad thing. His energy/hustle/defense can change a game. Offensively, his shortcomings may not be as glaring going up against second units.

He made sense when he was starting alongside Rondo, Pierce, and KG but that's not our team anymore. I think if we're going to move forward with Rondo at the PG and Green as the SF, we need an SG that can score at higher and much more consistent rate.

This makes a lot of sense. I would be minimally happy with Bradley off the bench for about 15 minutes a game if we could net a better scorer to start in his place.

[kozlodoev]

I've said it before - I think Avery's ceiling is being the first guard off the bench for a good team. And that's not a bad thing. His energy/hustle/defense can change a game. Offensively, his shortcomings may not be as glaring going up against second units.

He made sense when he was starting alongside Rondo, Pierce, and KG but that's not our team anymore. I think if we're going to move forward with Rondo at the PG and Green as the SF, we need an SG that can score at higher and much more consistent rate.

This makes a lot of sense. I would be minimally happy with Bradley off the bench for about 15 minutes a game if we could net a better scorer to start in his place.

I don't see a player who's so sensitive to a specific role excel in as a combo guard off the bench. This means he may have to come it at any time, back up either of the guards, and be subject to volatile playing time. Oh, and possibly have an expanded role since the quality of the players around him will drop dramatically.

I'm really not sure what to do with him.

[MBunge]

Kevin Garnett played his entire rookie season at SF. Jeff Green spent multiple seasons at a PF with Seattle/OKC. Durant started off as a SG.

That whole "stunting his growth" premise is ridiculous.

Except Jeff Green is pretty much a great example of how playing an unnatural position can hurt a player.  And there's been about a thousand undersized 2 guards who waste years of their careers as coaches try to make them into point guards.

Mike

[kozlodoev]

Kevin Garnett played his entire rookie season at SF. Jeff Green spent multiple seasons at a PF with Seattle/OKC. Durant started off as a SG.

That whole "stunting his growth" premise is ridiculous.

Except Jeff Green is pretty much a great example of how playing an unnatural position can hurt a player.  And there's been about a thousand undersized 2 guards who waste years of their careers as coaches try to make them into point guards.

Mike

I'm not sure how Jeff Green is any sort of an example for this. As it has been pointed out many times, he's been exactly the same player for the majority of his career -- and that included a rookie year as a SF followed by two years as a PF.

I would also like to see some examples of undersized 2 guards who have been "stunted", as well as how their NBA careers turned out.

[timobusa]

and in other news, the sky is blue.

[RJ87]

I've said it before - I think Avery's ceiling is being the first guard off the bench for a good team. And that's not a bad thing. His energy/hustle/defense can change a game. Offensively, his shortcomings may not be as glaring going up against second units.

He made sense when he was starting alongside Rondo, Pierce, and KG but that's not our team anymore. I think if we're going to move forward with Rondo at the PG and Green as the SF, we need an SG that can score at higher and much more consistent rate.

This makes a lot of sense. I would be minimally happy with Bradley off the bench for about 15 minutes a game if we could net a better scorer to start in his place.

I don't see a player who's so sensitive to a specific role excel in as a combo guard off the bench. This means he may have to come it at any time, back up either of the guards, and be subject to volatile playing time. Oh, and possibly have an expanded role since the quality of the players around him will drop dramatically.

I'm really not sure what to do with him.

My thinking is that if we can bring in a 2 guard that's a threat to score in the half - a guy that can get to the rim and be a competent enough passer to kick it out to open teammates - then you can absolutely play Avery at the PG spot for short stints. On the flipside, Avery can also play SG next to Rondo for short stints because Rondo can create offense for him.

It's when you ask him to be a primary playmaker and ballhandler that you're going to run into serious roadblocks.

[kozlodoev]

It's when you ask him to be a primary playmaker and ballhandler that you're going to run into serious roadblocks.

No-one has, or is asking him to do this. At least not in the sense I understand the role of a basketball playmaker (call plays, control the tempo, manufacture shots when plays break down).

I've seen him asked to do two things:

1. Bring the ball across half-court.
2. Participate in offense-by-committee.

The problem is that every time he has to do anything else than sit in the corner or cut to the basket for open layups, he's been exposed for his lack of reliable fundamental basketball skills.