Nobody wanted to see IT traded. I get that. What a season he had for us. But many didn't want to sign him to a max (some did). Big contract pending, bad hip, chance to bring in a star, traded. OK
As for Bradley, we should "bump" a thread from when he signed his big deal. Many were outraged at what Ainge paid him. I love Bradley but he needs to be careful here. The Celtics and the fans were very good to him. He was essentially traded to make room for Hayward. I would be mad too if I got traded to Detroit. I think he will be fine. I will consider this his mulligan. He will settle down I believe and make peace with this.
Come on man...the fans were good to him?
Avery Bradley has been the hardest working player on this team for the past 5 years. He's been loyal to Boston, never complained about any roles he ever had, gave everything he had tot he franchise every minute he was here...and all I ever saw on CB was a bunch of whiners yelling "trade AB he's too short" or "trade AB I don't want to pay him", or "trade AB he'll never be a star".
I cannot think of a single Celtics player in the past 10 years who was more underappreciated then Avery Bradley was. He represented absolutely everything that it meant to be a Celtic, and I honestly am much sadder that we traded Bradley then I am that we traded Thomas. AB was the only guy left on this team who played with Pierce, KG, Rondo and Ray on all of those great teams in the Big 3 era. The last guy left who played under both Doc and Stevens. Every time I watched the Celtics play, through all the changes that happened, seeing AB out there hounding ball handlers wast he one thing that always reminded me that this is the Celtics.
We gave him away for scraps just to clear cap space to sign Hayward so that Brad Stevens could rekindle his little college flame when we could instead made far less costly moves to land guys like Cousins, Butler or George - who are all significantly better players then Hayward is.
I'm sure AB understands it's just a business and I'm sure he accepts that, but I'm sure a part of him is frustrated too, and I don't blame him.
As for those who say that Ainge took a big chance on him by offering him that bit $7m/year contract - that may be true, but who worked out better off for it? That contract very quickly turned in to one of the biggest bargains in the league, much like Crowder's is now. For the last couple of years AB has been dramatically underpaid, so the Celtics are the ones who got the sweet end of that deal.