Especially his shooting
Earlier he has shown obvious improvement but now has been back to earth again so i guess that's just another hot streak
granted there are still some improvements from last year(pass/rebound/dribble)
But overall i feel it's not enough to justify keeping him as a long term starter
In 36 games this year, Bradley has:
* Scored in double figures 28 times (78% of all games)
* Has shot over 35% from three 25 times (69% of all games)
* Has committed 2 or less turnovers 31 times (86% of all games he's played in)
In other words, Avery Bradley is basically being Avery Bradley (consistently contributing on offense, stretching the floor with his shooting, playing elite perimeter defense, not turning the ball over) - he's just seems to be doing all of that with greater consistency this year than he has in the past.
From eye test, I feel that his defense this year has been as good as it's ever been - he is hounding guys will full court pressure more frequently than he has in the last couple of years and is causing a lot of grief in the process for opponents (cutting valuable time off the shot clock on each possession,forcing the occasional turnover).
Also, he seems to be developing a more solid 'all-round' games. For example, Bradley is averaging 12.3 points, 4.3 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and only 1.6 turnovers over his past 3 games. Even though he's struggled with his shooting over that stretch, he's made up for it in other areas of the game - something you didn't really see that often in prior seasons (basically if he wasn't scoring, then you were getting nothing from him on the offensive end).
Sure he still doesn't have the passing instincts of a pure PG, but he's getting to the point where he's solid enough to be able to function as a combo-guard for stretches, and that is critical for him as a player. If he can continue to improve as a passer and ball handler to the point where he is consistently good enough to function as a combo-guard, then Avery Bradley will become an exponentially more valuable player.
Bradley isn't suddenly merging into an all-star player, but he's definitely showing significant improvements in his game. Sadly I think the recent injury set him back a bit, but still very encouraged by what I've seen from him this year.
Topic: AB has been disappointing(again) (Read 2244 times)