AB and Smart backcourt of the future?

[Tr1boy]

And if the answer is yes would you trade ET asap or keep him as a backup guard?

[BigAlTheFuture]

Smart and Young.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Still not sold on AB. His defense has fallen off as he's focused more on offense, and his offense is limited to mainly outside shooting—he doesn't cut much these days, and his dribbling and shot-creation skills are low.

[Who]

Bradley is NOT the future.

[Quetzalcoatl]

Bradley is fine.  He's not a superstar but with a defensive team around him, he's a great player to have.  I think all of these jump shots he's taking are good for him long term considering he's 24 - if we can get a defensive SF, PF and C to put next to him and Marcus, they could be a real problem for the league.  Granted, that's saying a lot, but Bradley is in another class from ET, Crowder, and Thorton.  He could absolutely be a starter on a championship team, although again, the rest of the team would have to be really good.

[KeepRondo]

And if the answer is yes would you trade ET asap or keep him as a backup guard?

Bradley bores me. I'm just thankful that we finally get to see James Young getting some minutes.

[clover]

Smart and Young.

Yep. Smart and AB for the near future. Smart and Young for the real future.

[CFAN38]

In my opinion AB is a long term player for this team. Turner is a buy low FA who DA will try to trade down the road.

[bballdog384]

Smart and AB will start for the rest of this year and half of next year... Until Young overtakes Bradley as a starter. A 3 guard lineup of Smart, Young, and Bradley could be very very good.

[oldtype]

I suppose I could tolerate Bradley being the fifth best player in our starting lineup. We're a long way from having to worry about that though.

[clover]

Smart and AB will start for the rest of this year and half of next year... Until Young overtakes Bradley as a starter. A 3 guard lineup of Smart, Young, and Bradley could be very very good.

Agreed!

[Vermont Green]

What makes some people so sure that Smart will improve but that Bradley is done improving?  Right now, based on current performance, Bradley is more of a player than Smart.  I agree that we can start to project Bradley's ceiling a little better.  I think both are keepers but there is no guarantee with either and still plenty of upside with both.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

What makes some people so sure that Smart will improve but that Bradley is done improving?  Right now, based on current performance, Bradley is more of a player than Smart.  I agree that we can start to project Bradley's ceiling a little better.  I think both are keepers but there is no guarantee with either and still plenty of upside with both.

I think Smart is better. His defense is better right now, and he seems to contribute in more ways all around than Bradley, who's pretty much restricted to being a jump shooter—and not a great one, at that: 43.5% this season, and 43.7% for his career. Not the numbers I want in a starting shooting guard.

[PickNRoll]

I love Bradley.  Hard worker, role model teammate, consummate pro on and off the court.  But I have to agree with what Mannix said last night: he's not starting on a contender.  He needs to be the 4th guard.  An energy guy off the bench who can knock down shots and help preserve leads.  You can also use him in "vice grips" lineups with Smart against teams who lack playmakers and ball-handlers as in the TWolves game -- sure, Lavine played well, but AB was giving him hell.

He has value, he's just not a savvy player.  He's never gonna be a guy who out-thinks his opponent.

[PickNRoll]

What makes some people so sure that Smart will improve but that Bradley is done improving?  Right now, based on current performance, Bradley is more of a player than Smart.  I agree that we can start to project Bradley's ceiling a little better.  I think both are keepers but there is no guarantee with either and still plenty of upside with both.

I think Smart is better. His defense is better right now, and he seems to contribute in more ways all around than Bradley, who's pretty much restricted to being a jump shooter—and not a great one, at that: 43.5% this season, and 43.7% for his career. Not the numbers I want in a starting shooting guard.

I don't even mind the numbers.  They're not bad.  But Bradley is a weird combination of a plus-defender with bad intangibles.