Avery Bradley is the bridge between eras

http://www.celticsblog.com/2016/9/4/12788114/avery-bradley-is-the-bridge-between-eras-pierce-garnett-shaq-ainge

He’s a part of the past and potentially a foundational piece of the future.

By • Jeff Clark • @celticsblog   •Sep 4, 2016

Avery Bradley spent his first year buried on the bench and surrounded by intimidating future Hall of Famers. Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Shaquille O’Neal, and of course Kevin Garnett were each legends and carried themselves as such.

Bradley admits that he was terrified of those guys, and who could blame him? On the other hand, the experience taught Avery a lot, and now he’s not afraid of anyone.

Garnett in particular has prodigious wings, and he took Bradley under them in his own way. There were equal parts brimstone and affirmation, and the mix seems to have paid off for Avery.

In a story that emerged this week, KG cussed out the rookie Bradley for missing a layup. However, he later anointed Avery “ready” to play once he had dunked on Perkins and Shaq in practice.

Another great story is when Kevin sat down next to a dejected Bradley and told him how much he believed in him. Once Avery started playing regularly and contributing to the team, KG reminded him of that time, saying “I told you.”

Garnett and the rest of the Hall of Famers are gone now. In fact, now that Jared Sullinger has moved on, Bradley is the only player left that played for Doc Rivers. Now Bradley is the veteran leader, though I don’t think he has quite the same leadership style that KG does, and that’s fine.

Bradley is quiet but confident. He goes about his business, and he won’t back down from anybody. Younger players may not fear Bradley the way he did Garnett, but they surely respect him.

Marcus Smart is a budding defensive stud, but Bradley was the one that made the All-Defensive first team last year. Jaylen Brown was the third pick in the draft, but he has a steep learning curve ahead of him—one that Bradley can relate to and encourage him through.

Terry Rozier may be the closest approximation to Bradley’s skill set, and thus far he has followed Avery’s career path. He did a lot of sitting and learning his first year in the league, and he has a had a great example to look up to in Avery Bradley. He’s shown signs that he could be a big help this year, and he may eventually be Bradley’s replacement.

The Celtics locked up Bradley to a long-term contract just before the TV deal altered the tectonic plates of the salary market. Thus he’s on a team-friendly deal that lasts two more seasons. Of course that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s here for the long haul.

Like any player on a roster that Danny Ainge is in charge of, Bradley is perpetually and simultaneously a valuable foundation piece for the future and a very tradable asset. He’s a perfect fit as a glue guy and a support player in the shadow of superstars—which makes him ideal to keep around. He’s also a plug-in, value-adding player that could be a major chip in a trade for one of those star players.

So we don’t really know if Avery will be a career Celtic or if he’ll be gone by the weekend. Regardless, we do know that Avery Bradley is going to bring his metaphorical lunch pail to work, apply the lessons that those Hall of Famers taught him, and pass along what knowledge he can to the next generation of Celtics.

Love AB. All grit. Persistence. Determination and self-improvement, despite a shaky handle. Meanwhile i am here in Portugal nearing the Spanish border with Bob H. He's doing a remarkable imitation of both Red Auerbach and Vince Lombardi, urging and exhorting my aching 69 year old bag of bones, tendons and meager muscle along this path of enlightenment. Yesterday's trick after an 14 mile hike up and down up and down hills - I call them FL mountains (Bob from SF calls them hills) - was to tell me that today's hike was not the 19 miles he'd projected earlier but only 11.5 miles. That was enough to get me to rip up my imaginary bus ticket. That and 8 capsules of Curvumin to reduce that massive swelling in my left hip that left me walking like Quasimodo ( the 20 lb back pack was my facsimile of a hump). Anyways we made it today to Ancora. PORTUGAL, our only regret and deeply felt complaint being that Danny traded Perk, something we can never, ever get over, something that still keeps us up at night wracked with grief. But occaisionally we do ponder the Celts bright, shining future with stars like Avery, Jalen. Al. Marcus, et alia and that gives us some relief from the sense of loss.

One more thing. I did discover God along the way. On an 18 mile hike God shows as fresh water. Thank God for cool, wet, fresh water.

W -

I hope the swelling goes down and the water stays cool.  If your biggest complaint is that Perk got traded you may want to look into the side effects of the Curvumin!

Regards

Only joking about Perk. I just love the situation in which Danny has placed our Celts. We are getting better and better each year with 2 superb low fraft picks still to come from the Nets. Btw, curcumin has done wonders for my hip on this trek and slightly minimized my ongoing kvetching to Bob, poor guy.

Understood your humor W. Hope you guys are having fun!

Perk....??? you guys are sick true blue, I mean bleed green diehard Celtic fans....was fun seeing KG, Perk, Leon and Baby pound people in the paint.

....and my kinda guys