The Spotlight Series: Celtics Edition — Avery Bradley

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The Spotlight Series: Celtics Edition — Avery Bradley



ByNekias Duncan


Posted on August 18, 2016



Boston Celtics' Avery Bradley, right, shoots in front of Atlanta Hawks' Kent Bazemore in the first quarter in Game 1 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series Saturday, April 16, 2016, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/David Goldman) AP PHOTO/DAVID GOLDMAN


 
In “The Spotlight Series,” I’ll be looking at a player or two (depending on the team) from each team in the league that, in my opinion, doesn’t get attention at all from casual fans, or doesn’t get enough praise for what he brings to the table.

The Boston Celtics won’t be sneaking up on anyone next season. After a somewhat surprising 48-win season, and somewhat disappointing first-round exit, the Celtics went big-name hunting.

They whiffed on Kevin Durant, but ended up with arguably the best big man in free agency by signing Al Horford. Adding Horford gives Boston much-needed shooting, a post-up presence and another heady team defender to an already stout group.

Horford and All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas are projected to be one of the best pick-and-roll duos in the East, and the two All-Stars could help the Celtics battle (and ultimately lose to) the Cleveland Cavaliers for conference supremacy. While those two are the headliners, shooting guard Avery Bradley is important — and pretty darn good — in his own right, and will be needed if Boston hopes to make a deep playoff push for the first time in almost half a decade.


THE NUMBERS

Known as a defensive ace coming out of Texas, Bradley has quietly turned himself into one of the best two-way players at his position.

Bradley played 31 games — and 162 minutes — as a rookie in 2010-11, averaging 1.7 points in spot minutes. He became a rotational player the following year, playing in 64 games (28 starts) of a possible 66 games in the lockout season, averaging 7.6 points on 49.8 percent shooting from the field (6.3 attempts) and 40.7 percent from three (54 attempts, or 0.8 per game).

Bradley became a full-time starter in 2012-13. Over the next three seasons, he turned into more of a volume shooter from the perimeter, averaging a solid 13 points on 42.6 percent shooting from the floor and 35.8 percent from deep before breaking out in 2015-16. He averaged a career-high 15.2 points on 44.7 percent shooting from the field and 36.1 percent shooting from deep this past season.

Despite his reputation as a hound of an on-ball defender, opponents had generally shot well when guarded by Bradley. Via SportVU tracking data, http://stats.nba.com/player/#!/202340/tracking/defense/ , opponents shot 47 percent (2.9 percent above their average) in 2013-14 and 44.3 percent (1.2 percent above their average) in 2014-15 with Bradley as the closest defender. Last season, opponents only shot 41.6 percent when Bradley was the closest defender, 2.3 percent lower than their average, earning him an All-Defensive First Team berth.


THE EVIDENCE

Bradley’s game, on both ends of the floor, could be described in a few ways, but above all else, he does everything with a purpose and aggression.

Offensively, his crossovers are aggressive, his drives to the basket are violent, and his off-ball cuts are sudden and crisp. At 6’2, he’s already pretty difficult to keep track of when he’s running through screens, but his decisiveness makes him even harder to track.

He. Never. Stops. Moving.

Bradley has displayed his ability to find creases in the defense off the ball early in his career. Here are a few clips of him from the Big Three era taking advantage:




Here he is against Cleveland last season, running Iman Shumpert off a screen and freeing himself for an easy flush:




On the following play, Bradley ran J.J. Redick through a pair of screens and kept moving as Redick turned his back to survey the action on the other side of the floor. Bradley smartly reversed course as Redick rotated on the kickoff, giving Bradley an open three (as a brief aside, this breakdown was Jamal Crawford’s fault):




The Celtics also like to run some staggered screen action to get Bradley free for jumpers from mid-range or from deep:




Bradley’s ability to space the floor (77.8 percentile on spot-ups via Synergy), combined with his constant movement (92.3 percentile on cuts, 48.5 percentile on dribble hand-offs, 48th percentile off screens), generates gravity that helps free up the rest of Boston’s offense. His off-ball ability made him an ideal partner next to Rajon Rondo early in his career, and makes him a solid fit alongside Thomas in a lot of the same ways — though, ultimately to a lesser degree — that Redick takes pressure off Chris Paul.

Bradley still isn’t much of a creator; 70.9 percent of his shot attempts came after one or fewer dribbles, 334 of his 456 made field goals (73.2 percent) were assisted, and he only ranked in the 27.1 percentile on isolations (13-40, 32.3 FG%) and the 44th percentile as the pick-and-roll ball handler (52-136, 38.2 FG%).

However, he has improved enough to where he can knock down one or two-dribble pull-up jumpers:




He’s also able to attack close-outs, like he did here against Kawhi Leonard:




And like he did here, against LeBron James (and his ankles):




Bradley has improved his ability to attack and convert at the basket. His combination of quickness, wiry strength and underrated body control has turned him into one of the most surprisingly good finishers in the league:




Via SportVU tracking at NBA.com, http://stats.nba.com/tracking/#!/player/drives/?CF=TEAM_ABBREVIATION*E*BOS , Bradley shot 45.2 percent on drives last season after shooting 40.5 percent in 2014-15 and 40.9 percent in 2013-14. Via Basketball-Reference, Bradley’s 68.4 percent shooting clip inside of six feet ranked second in the NBA behind DeAndre Jordan (71.2 percent) among the 173 players that attempted at least 200 shots in that range.

Then, there’s his defense.

If there is a player that is more fun to watch play on-ball defense, or one that induces more laughter at the expense of helpless ball handlers than Avery Bradley, I haven’t seen ’em yet.

Guys like Patrick Beverley and Matthew Dellavedova are very good and pesky defenders in their own right, and they don’t let ball handlers get comfortable.

Avery Bradley doesn’t let you breathe. Trying to break free from Bradley is basically this:




This is a clip of Damian Lillard — at the very worst, a top six point guard and top 20 player in the NBA — trying to set up a possession for the Portland Trail Blazers.

SPOILER: It did not go well for him:




Dwyane Wade — one of the four greatest shooting guards ever — has been a victim. Multiple times:







Gordon Hayward — a top six small forward and top 25 player in the NBA — has been a victim of Bradley:




Let’s put that play into perspective. Boston was up one late in the fourth quarter with Jae Crowder — a pretty darn good defender in his own right — in the game, and Bradley was purposely placed on Hayward — who has five or six inches (we don’t know anyone’s real height in the NBA) and, according to Basketball-Reference’s listings, 46 pounds on Bradley — and he stuffed him cold on a post fade.

Russell Westbrook isn’t exempt from Bradley’s list of victims:




Heck, Bradley even goes after other Bradleys:




Bradley is tenacious on the ball, consistently taking away the airspace of opposing ball handlers and stripping them when they get sloppy. He ranked in the 81.5 percentile as an isolation defender last season, per Synergy.

Off the ball, Bradley keeps his head on a swivel (more than he did early in his career) and rotates almost flawlessly, ranking in the 60.3 percentile when guarding/closing out on spot-up shooters. He digs and recovers quicker than most players dig:




Bradley does have his flaws, however. Though he’s strong and quick, he’s still small, leaving him susceptible to being washed out by hard screens. Bradley managed to rank in the 58.7 percentile defending pick-and-roll ball handlers, but ranked in the bottom third of the league when defending dribble hand-offs (19.6 percentile) and off-screen plays (26.5 percentile).

Overall, Bradley has turned himself into one of the most valuable players at his position thanks to his combination of shooting, finishing and defensive ability. While he won’t garner All-Star attention like Thomas or Horford, his two-way ability will be vital to Boston’s success this upcoming season.



bob


.

AB can be an 18-20 PPG scorer if he gets to the line more. His ball handling skills have improved and last year he drove the ball more.

He needs to do more of that which will help him get to the line more.

All of the high end scorers spend a lot of time at the charity strip.

dboss