For a team that loves advanced stats, why Bradley?

[CFAN38]

Im not big into the advanced stats but I would like to add that anyone who is down on AB needs to think about how young he still is and how fare he has come since his rookie year. I have felt for a long time he was destine to be a 3rd guard off the bench but I now think he may be better then that. I would like to see the Cs try using AB in a rip Hamilton type role, running off of screens to get him mid range jumpers. This is where I think his offense would excel.

[pokeKingCurtis]

Advanced statS.

More than one.

More than PER.

The problem with on/off is that it doesn't take in to account other players who are on thecourt at the same time.  I like using this stat too, but Bradley usually plays alongside Crawford, who is a pretty terrible defensive player.  Two seasons backhison/off was the best on the team after KG.

Yeah. A DRtg of 105 is decent when you consider the personnel he plays with. Last year the PnR defense was a problem, which also hurt AB's rating.

Teams also have many stats that only they track. I know teams track hockey assists, just as an example. I think rebounds attempted are tallied as well?

As others have said, PER is not comprehensive at all. Stats are impartial...but it's impossible to be 100% comprehensive when there are so many variables...especially when you are just a fan and don't have the time or access to resources.

It helps to explain why Lee has been cranky, however: he and Bradley have the same defensive rating of 105, but Lee's offensive rating is 13 points higher (110 to 97).

It makes perfect sense. Lee is scorching hot this season. 47.8% from three.

But, in my opinion, Brad Stevens playing him sparingly (16.8 MPG) has something to do with his efficiency. He comes off the bench very very fresh every game and excels at a very limited role.

What I see is when Lee's cold on the offensive end, he seems to turn the ball over more, then bad things seem to keep happening and the poop hits the fan and it's truly devastating.

Lee just seems to let things get to him and doesn't seem to have the thick skin that an above average NBA player needs (for example Doc's experiments with lineups last year really hurt him...but a good player should adapt).

I think him being in a limited role where he doesn't have to over think has helped a lot. Lee is a career 40% from 3.



There's no question Lee has been excellent. But increasing minutes could (and imo would likely) make his crazy numbers drop. I think AB being played over Lee is still justified.

[Fafnir]

PER doesn't factor defense in very well, only taking into account blocks, steals and fouls. Bradly is all NBA defense 2nd team(1st?) i would say add at least 5 to his PER for a accurate value

Looking at his defensive stats...

If you look at the advanced stats of when Bradley is on the court vs of when he's not... our opponents score 1 point less (per 100 possessions) when he's on the court.   Last year, there was no difference at all.

He's like 180th in defensive rating.

Am I looking at the wrong stats, or is he just overrated defensively as well?

Raw On/Off and DRTG aren't worth much. Both are pretty much entirely based on your teammates.

Ray Allen didn't become 6 points worse from Boston to Miami. (he was also elite via Synergy in Boston and cratered in Miami) Instead he was on a team with a trapping scheme that couldn't cover for him like the C's did for years.

[Fafnir]

We're tanking.  Does it really matter?

The team certainly isn't tanking, we're not a good basketball team but we're not tanking.

Tanking will be if we sell of some pieces at the deadline and stop trying to win games. They were busting their butts to win against Atlanta, but Steez was not kind in crunch time...

[Chris]

PER isn't an advanced stat.

[Boris Badenov]

To answer the OP's original question, here is some evidence from defensive stats (and the votes of coaches around the league) supporting the case that Bradley is an elite defender:

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4705067/bradley-lands-on-all-defensive-2nd-team

One question however is how AB is performing this year. As best I can tell, his defensive numbers per Synergy have slipped considerably:

http://www.celticslife.com/2013/12/an-advanced-stats-look-at-celtics.html

Is this because AB is expending more effort on offense? Guarding more 2-guards than PGs (as he did last year)? Missing his big brother KG? A blip? Curious to know what others think.

[wiley]

We're fifth in the league defending against the three.  Bradley's excellent perimeter defense is surely a big reason why.

[manl_lui]

We're tanking.  Does it really matter?

The team certainly isn't tanking, we're not a good basketball team but we're not tanking.

Tanking will be if we sell of some pieces at the deadline and stop trying to win games. They were busting their butts to win against Atlanta, but Steez was not kind in crunch time...

the tanking bandwagon still exists!

[Vox_Populi]

Is this because AB is expending more effort on offense? Guarding more 2-guards than PGs (as he did last year)? Missing his big brother KG? A blip? Curious to know what others think.

One issue may simply be sample size. Synergy also provides the number of defensive possessions the player participated in, but the author didn't include that. For example, Humphries has been involved in 91 defensive plays, Lee in 122, Sullinger 187, Bass 231, Crawford 271, and Green in 282. But Bradley? 322.

Incidentally, Green and Bradley also lead the team in minutes per game, which obviously makes sense. Why Bradley has participated in so many more overall though, is a bit tricky. Synergy defines a defensive play as one that ends with a FGA, TOs or FTs. Looking again at the team wide stats, Bradley is second in PFs (FTs) per game and second in steals by .1 (TOs). Which may explain the disparity between him and Green.

EDIT: Wait, I just realized you were asking why Bradley's defense has slipped from last year, not in comparison to the other players. Well....