A Thread for Avery

[Sam]

Bradley has been busting a gut to maximize the effectiveness of his skills while minimizing his shortcomings (no pun intended). For that, it seems to me that he deserves his own thread.

I've been one of his most severe detractors because I've seen him as a tweener—a PG who can't orchestrate a team and/or a SG who can't shoot. But I'll be extremely happy to admit I was wrong if he continues to contribute as he did against the not-so-Magic.

In a sense, the Orlando game may have been a perfect storm for Avery. He had the good fortune to be matched against the smallest guy on the other team—the guy most usually charged with bringing the ball up. Both of those factors are right in Avery's wheelhouse. He also had the good fortune to be the beneficiary of Doc's strategy to run the offense through Pierce, so Avery didn't have to worry about being a playmaker (although I believe he did have three assists). And, because Pierce, KG, Quis and Bass mustered more than sufficient offense to beat a team they held to 56 points, Avery didn't have to worry about being a shooter (although he did score a few welcome points in transition and off ball movement).

Moreover, when he bring the ball upcourt, it's with a hard push every single time. I absolutely love that, coupled with the fact that he handles the ball quite well on the dribble. I wish Rondo would do that. Regardless of whether or not he's way ahead of his teammates, he forces the opponent to rush into defensive position, and he gives the Celtics the maximum time to run through multiple options in the halfcourt set—aside from frequently putting trailers in position for wide open shots.

I realize it's a natural tendency to be excited about the potential for turning a presumed liability into a unique weapon. But, looking toward the long term (especially when opponents are not so surprised by his antics), I have some remaining questions that do NOT relate to his lack of shooting prowess or playmaking ability. (Those two concerns are such easy fodder for gripes that they're in danger of becoming trite.)

The way I see it, Bradley's most effective skills are: committing full-court mayhem on the opponent who's bringing the ball up (with obvious resulting benefits in delaying and stagnating the enemy's offense) and pushing the ball upcourt on offense.

When Rondo and Ray come back, where will Bradley play?

1. If he's playing inn tandem with Rondo, Avery will presumably be matched with the SG of the other team. The SG generally doesn't bring the ball upcourt, so the value of Bradley's hard pressing skills could be reduced dramatically. Moreover, the opposing SG will invariably be substantially taller than Avery, presenting the opponent with great opportunities to post up against the kid.

2. If he's playing PG, Avery will almost have to be paired with Pierce so the offense can run through Paul, adding to his minutes and work load or reducing Pierce's time spent with the starters.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I understand the ersatz schemes that can be hatched. Avery and Rondo could switch defensive assignments if they're playing together. By being a ballhawk even in the opponent's half court set, Avery could still wreak havoc. But those are stopgap ideas requiring split second timing for all the switching and all too often leading to one problem or another by throwing the usual system out of whack. And I've dutifully stayed away from the obvious flaws in the Celtics' halfcourt offense caused by Bradley's presence.

As I suggested at the outset, I was astonished and mightily pleased by the way Avery stepped up (again, no pun intended) against Orlando. The Celtics already have one unconventional backcourt weapon in Rondo. If Doc can harness Bradley's talent and institute safeguards against his vulnerabilities, Avery and Rondo could become duals weapons of destruction very possibly unlike any seen on the parquet since the days of the Jones Boys. There's a lot to be said for well-placed mayhem and carnage.

Go Avery, and Go Celtics!

Sam

[bobheckler]

Players who can do it all well are starters.

Players who can do most of it well are rotation bench players.

Players who do one or two things extremely well but are limited in other things are specialists, aka "role players". They might be lights out gunners like JJ Redick or they could be lockdown defenders, like Avery is starting to look like. Avery is trying to broaden his talents, but who knows if and/or when that will happen. He's still barely only 21 years old (November 26, 1990).

Rotation bench players get nudged out by other good players, and there are lots of them, but specialists always have a place. Dikembe Mutombo, who couldn't score on anything further away than a dunk, played forever because he could block shots. Same with Ben Wallace (who also can't hit free throws). Ray Allen is a starter, but if he ever starts to lose his stamina and can't play 30+ minutes a game he'll still find someone who will take him as long as he can still shoot. I predict Steamer will have a long career in the NBA for this reason. Whatever else he can't do, he does one thing better than most.

Bradley did more to blow up Orlando's offense than any other single player by preventing them from getting into their halfcourt sets until there were only a dozen seconds left or so. Against a team that relies upon inside/outside passing, shortening their clock is critical. Bradley also did a very fine job against the sneaky little canadian too. Would he do well against bigger, stronger point guards like Jason Kidd (6'4"), Monta Ellis (6'3", who plays point when Curry isn't in) or Derrick Rose (6'3")? I can't wait to find out.

bob

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[mrkleen09]

Bradley has distinguished himself as the back up PG. When Dooling is back, Keyon plays the 2 - Bradley plays the 1. When Rondo needs a rest, Bradley plays the 1.

I dont see what he has to be paired with Pierce. He can easily play with Marquis and Pietrus and one other starter (which has been Doc's rotation all season - either Pierce or KG is on the court 99% of the time.)

I like his growth. Might be one good thing to come out of this early rash of injuries.

[Outside]

Although this is Avery's second season, it's his first real shot at cracking the rotation. He'll have his ups and downs, and he'll likely go extended stretches of games with relatively little playing time. But if he can gain Doc's trust to be a consistent performer, he can become a difference maker on this team.

Obviously, the cornerstone for him is defense. If he shows the dedication and temperament to play effective defense consistently, then he's laid the foundation for a role on this team. If he shows he can contribute in other areas, especially offensively, then his impact will go up dramatically.

So far, he hasn't been that effective running the offense, but Doc's strategy of using Pierce as a point forward helped solve that problem, so look for the two of them to be paired up on the floor a lot going forward. (Besides helping Bradley, it also seemed to kick-start Pierce's game, so it was a double bonus.)

Something else that I think would help Avery a ton is to establish himself as a finisher on the fast break. Rondo's solo forays on fast breaks have been fairly effective, but if Avery could join Rondo down the court, be in position and ready for Rondo's passes, and finish at the hoop -- well, that would be a weapon this team sorely needs, easy baskets. And if Rondo and Avery can be a tag team defensively, stealing passes and then heading off to the races, that could alleviate pressure on the big 3 to carry so much of the scoring load.

It's not like they can afford to play Rondo and Bradley together a lot during the game, but for a stretch each half, that's something I'd like to see. But I could see Bradley essentially being two players and playing two different ways -- one way paired with Rondo, and another way paired with Pierce when Rondo is out.

I figured KG and Pierce, despite their age issues, would come around, and we've seen what the other subs, particularly Bass and Pietrus, can do, but if Bradley can do some of these things on a regular basis, that could be an absolutely huge boost for this team. It makes the C's younger and more athletic, it allows Doc to minimize minutes on Rondo and Ray, and it takes pressure off the post players at both ends of the court.

That's a lot to put on the young man's shoulders, but he can have that effect while playing 12-15 minutes a game. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Outside

[beat]

He is young and in looking at his college stats he did pretty well for the ONE year he went. Shot 37% from 3 and had 71 assists in 34 games (29MPG)

Don't think he'll ever be a big scorer nor play maker but there has to be minutes for him. As outside said 10-15 or a few more when need be.

And as Sam mentioned he always pushes the ball up the floor and seems to have a good handle. I can live with the offensive limitations. Giving RR meaningful rest is important too.

beat

[beat]

Went back again and looked at some clips of the year in Texas, biggest think I noticed is the arc. His jumpers now have very little in college they had much more. A higher arc equates to a bigger target as you look at the rim from above, form is not great but with RA on the team it's time for school Avery. If he wants to expand his game and be more than a 1 trick pony, he needs to hit close to 50% of open mid-range jumpers. We were down on Rondo for this also and he has come a ways.

beat

[bobheckler]

Avery Bradley's outside game is still unreliable, but he's getting a lot of backdoor passes for layups and short jumpers. What happened? Why did he change his game? Well, this quote by Doc, after the Raptors demolition, might explain it:

“I told Avery he has to be Andre Miller, who I think is the best cutter without the ball in the league,’’ Rivers said. “Instead of looking at the ball, we told him, just look at your man. Right when he turns his head, cut behind him, he’ll never know you’re gone. And it’s been good for him.’’

Are there still any people out there who think Doc doesn't know how to develop young talent?

bob

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[rickdavisakaspike]

While Doc unarguably knows how to develop young talent, the questions revolve around how he goes about it: specifically, does he work them into the rotation where they can perform valuable roles or does he let them waste away on the bench until injuries force him to use them?

We'd all have to be crazy not to hope that this will be the year Doc shows everyone how a great coach goes about it.

This season, given the nature of the challenges, so much is on Doc's shoulders: all the new players, the lack of training camp, the poor physical condition of the players who participated in negotiations, the need to introduce veterans Bass, Wilcox, Dooling, Pav and Pietrus to the system, the problem of creating a style of play built on teamwork and defense while dealing with critical injuries, while teaching young players like Bradley, Steamer, Moore and JJJ the ropes, . . .

While finding the young players the minutes they need to grow . . . while resting the aging legs of the star players, one of whom anyway actually thinks he should be playing more . . .

Hopefully, this will be the year Doc shows unequivocably that he can integrate young players into the lineup as the season goes along, particularly Bradley, who in one respect is a typical Celtic: a role player who thrives on defense.

Bradley's becoming Doc's creation, in some ways. The kid's raw and unschooled, yet he has a short amount of time to find a bunch of different ways to use his skills to help the team. Teaching him to be an Andre Miller-style cutter is a beautiful idea. It's psychological, a debilitating play to the opponent, so fast and effortless.

Bradley's obviously coachable. So it's up Doc to figure out unique ways to use him. While he does all the other coaching stuff.

Regarding Bradley's height, KC Jones routinely guarded taller players such as Oscar and Jerry West, so it can be done.

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