Bradley's Offensive Evolution

http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2013/11/avery_bradleys_offensive_evolu.html



Avery Bradley's offensive evolution: Where Boston Celtics guard has improved and what he needs to do next

Print Jay King, MassLive.com By Jay King, MassLive.com
on November 21, 2013 at 8:45 PM



BOSTON – Imagine you are 19-years-old and unsure about the one thing you do best.

You are drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft, an accomplishment that guarantees you millions of dollars. But your coach is notorious for having zero patience to tolerate rookie mistakes. Your team, expected to contend for an NBA championship, hardly needs you. You know you will rarely play, and when you do, one turnover could mean a substitute will replace you at the next whistle.

You are like an island surrounded not by water, but by Hall of Famers. You can look one way and see Paul Pierce, another and spot Ray Allen, a third and notice Kevin Garnett. And if you widen your view a little more, All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo will enter the picture.

Avery Bradley still occasionally looks around the now-youthful Boston Celtics locker room, glances at his teammates and thinks, Wow, I grew up watching some of these guys.

But now in his fourth season, he’s not that unsure kid anymore. During the latter half of the 2011-12 season, he started at shooting guard on the best five-man unit in basketball. Last season, in just 50 games, he earned recognition on the second team All-Defense. As a restricted free agent when this season ends, he will be due for a raise, but the pay day will not come until later. For now, he’s enjoying the comfort level that comes with experience.

“It’s changed a lot,” Bradley said. “Seeing what team I had my rookie year, there was little room for mistakes for a young player. I feel like anybody would have been scared. But I was definitely scared. And now, my confidence is a lot higher because I got a chance to not only learn from those guys, but play playoff games. I’ve been able to learn a lot. When you have that – I guess you can say resume, a little bit – you’ve got a chance to have a little more confidence in your game.”

Very little, if any, of that confidence came from last season. Bradley played his normal stingy defense, but his offensive game – which took such huge strides during his second season – just about completely fell apart during his third. Bradley finished as one of three players in the NBA to play more than 25 minutes per game while registering a player efficiency rating (PER) lower than 9; his company was Kendrick Perkins, a defensive-minded center, and Quentin Richardson, who played just one game.

Often playing out of position at point guard because of Rondo’s torn ACL, Bradley averaged 9.2 points on 40.2 percent shooting. Among players with at least 20 games played and 25 minutes per game, Bradley’s 46.1 percent true shooting (a measurement of shooting efficiency that weighs the relative value of free throws, 2s and 3s) was the NBA’s worst.

Before the season, Bradley was actually warned the struggles might pile up.

“I just wasn’t able to make shots. But I knew it,” Bradley said. “I remember when I was coming back from my injury, (then-Celtics assistant coach Tyronn Lue) took me to the side and he told me, ‘You know you’re going to go through a bad stretch, right?’ He said, ‘That injury is going to show.’ And it’s funny because I laughed. I didn’t disagree with him but I laughed, like, ‘Dang, I hope he’s not right.’ And I went through a bad stretch where I just couldn’t make anything. I remember he came back to the locker room and said, ‘I told you.’ He said, ‘You’ve just got to find other ways.’”

Bradley also needed time to remember how to shoot.

“Sometimes I even forget: sh--, I had double shoulder surgery. My shot kind of changed a lot,” he said. “It was just inconsistent, period. I didn’t even need to watch film to know how flat my shot was. Sometimes, the line drive shots that I was shooting – I knew that I just needed to get into the gym and get that confidence and I was going to make shots eventually.”

Over the summer, Bradley worked with trainer Chris Hyppa to develop an off-the-dribble game. When the two first met, Bradley had one request: turn me into an All-Star. He spent parts of the summer watching tape of the five Eastern Conference guards who made the All-Star team – Rondo, Kyrie Irving, Jrue Holiday, Paul George and Dwyane Wade. Together with Hyppa, Bradley noticed that all the players could create for themselves. He had not reached that level yet, a weakness that stood out more than ever when Rondo tore his ACL in January.

“I watched a lot of Rondo because he’s amazing, man. I wanted to do anything I could do to become a better player,” said Bradley. “(Striving to become an All-Star is) what kind of approach any basketball player should have, I feel like. Especially if you’ve never been one before. Because the sky’s the limit. And not only that, you should be that hungry every single time you step on the floor.”

Once he arrived back in Waltham over the summer, Bradley began working consistently with assistant coach Ron Adams. Adams tried the normal tactics shooting coaches use – form shooting and the heavy ball, to name a couple – but mostly, he stressed that great shooters always shoot the same way. Bradley could recall how inconsistent his release felt last season; sometimes he did not know which way he would shoot on a given night, or even on his next shot.

The work has paid off already, but Bradley’s next step might have more to do with the way he approaches the game mentally.

Surprisingly, in the early stages of the season, Bradley has been one of the NBA’s best mid-range shooters. He’s attempted more field goals from that range than all but six players in the league; and he’s shooting a higher percentage from that distance (47.1) than anyone with more attempts.

The guard’s success isn’t just because teams are leaving him wide open, either, or because he’s shooting stationary jumpers. Many of his attempts come after staggered down screens or dribble hand-offs, so he’s on the move with a defender trying to close out. Though teams don’t always go over the screens to contest him more closely, these aren’t easy shots he’s taking. He’s been very good from that range, no qualifier necessary.

“There’s a reason why (teams aren’t going over those screens), probably – because the rest of your defense doesn’t have to shift if you shoot the gap on that,” said head coach Brad Stevens. “People are shooting the gap on us generally a lot. And the reason is we’re not a moving and shooting 3-point team as much. So we’ve got to get better at playing against that, and we have gotten better. Avery’s really taken advantage of that in the last few games.”

“It’s (a struggle) for a lot of people (to find their way in an offense),” said Bradley, who sometimes felt like a robot during his rookie season. “It takes a while to get used to systems sometimes, scoring opportunities. That’s what I’ve been doing of late – I’m out there not thinking about anything but just playing, instead of premeditating everything.”

But still, Bradley’s true shooting percentage (47.1) paints him as a very inefficient scorer. Part of that is a 5-for-22 shooting performance against Houston which netted him only 11 points, skewing the data especially because of the small sample size.

A couple other details suggest his efficiency will rise, too. He’s shooting just 23.3 percent from the 3-point arc, which should probably improve with more time; even last year during his major struggles, Bradley hit 31.7 percent from long-distance. And whenever Rondo returns, Bradley should get some easier baskets closer to the hoop; he’s already improved as a finisher, and his talent for backdoor cuts should be more useful with a real point guard. During 2011-12 when he shared the backcourt with Rondo, Bradley finished pretty well near the hoop. He also took about half his shots from the restricted area, a percentage he has not come close to approaching since.

While there is hope better days are coming, Bradley’s shot profile is still troubling. Midrange shots are widely viewed as the most inefficient in basketball because they are difficult, only count as two points and rarely ever result in free throws. Just about half of Bradley’s shots have come from that distance. Though he has improved as a ball-handler – a year ago, he probably could not have tried some hesitation moves he has used this season – he’s obviously not comfortable enough with it yet to go all the way to the hoop. He seems to be better at floaters near the rim but those can be low-percentage shots. Plus, he rarely tries to finish with contact. An inability to draw free throws is one of Bradley’s big red flags on the offensive end.

“At times I’ve wondered why,” Stevens said, “because he is a driver that drives with a good pace and some physicality to him. But for whatever reason he doesn’t get to the line a lot. I think that he could do a better job of that, but at the same time don’t focus on that. If you’re able to get to the rim and beat your guy, focus on finishing rather than drawing contact. It’s hard to finish in this league if you’re thinking about drawing contact. And if you initiate the contact, often times it’s going to be a foul on you anyway.”

Bradley’s outing Wednesday in San Antonio was the quintessential Bradley performance. He hit a lot of midrange jumpers, missed a few closer to the hoop, did not draw a single free throw and, despite connecting on half of his shots, barely finished with more points (19) as field goal attempts (18). He needs to be guarded now, he’s much more of a threat on offense, and his improvements with the basketball in his hand are obvious. But that pesky shot profile could hinder him as long as he keeps taking inefficient shots.

“A lot of the older guys like Gerald (Wallace) and especially Keith (Bogans), he always tells me, ‘Take what they give you,’” said Bradley. “Don’t force anything, but always take what the defense gives you. That’s how I always think. If I get any opportunity to be able to help my team in any way I can. And that’s taking open shots and making open shots, that’s what I’m going to do.”

But in the future, Bradley will need to improve at dictating what types of shots he takes. A few tweaks could be a big help. We know very well he’s not a point guard, but once again he’s showing potential as an effective two-way player.



bob


.