Avery Bradley, Boston Celtics guard: Kyrie Irving, top point guards, 'none of them scare me'

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Avery Bradley, Boston Celtics guard: Kyrie Irving, top point guards, 'none of them scare me'




Boston Celtics guard Avery Bradley said none of the league's top point guards scare him as a defender. (Michael Conroy / Associated Press)



Tom Westerholm | twesterh@masslive.com By Tom Westerholm | twesterh@masslive.com



on August 26, 2016 at 3:16 PM, updated August 26, 2016 at 3:17 PM




Boston Celtics guard Avery Bradley has long been considered one of the league's best on-ball defenders.

It's a reputation he began building in his early years playing with the trio of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen and harassing opponents the entire way up the floor, and it's one he cultivated enough to earn All-Defense First Team honors this past season.

One of his secrets? Bradley said he isn't afraid of getting embarrassed.

"I love the challenge," Bradley said on Friday, making an appearance at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. "I love going up against the best players. I don't care who it is. I don't care about getting embarrassed. I don't care. Kyrie Irving, none of those guys scare me. I know some players in the NBA probably get butterflies before the game, but not me. I'm licking my lips. I come excited. They need to prepare for me at the end of the day. That's how I think."

Bradley recalled an instance in one of his first games, facing Jason Kidd. His teammates, including Kevin Garnett, warned Bradley not to play his trademark full-court defense, saying that Kidd might embarrass him. Bradley, however, didn't listen.

"I picked him up full court twice and ripped him twice in a row," Bradley said. "Their coach called timeout, and he started cussing me out like, 'You don't ever pick me up like that, young boy.' I'm like 'Man, what did I do?'"

The Celtics will have a highly skilled defensive unit to throw at teams, including Marcus Smart, Jae Crowder, Bradley and Al Horford. Asked about that group, Bradley expressed high hopes.

"We could have a top one, two or three defensive unit," he said.

That would be ideal for Brad Stevens and Danny Ainge, who have once again put together a hard-nosed group capable of slowing down teams that appear to be more talented. Bradley, who is an early favorite to once again make an All-Defense First Team postseason squad, has no plans to change his game.

"I'm going to play rough," Bradley said. "I'm going to pick up the entire game. I'm not going to back down. You can cross me, I can fall, I don't care. That's just me, that's who I am."

One of the tougher point guards to pick up defensively in the league plays on Bradley's team — Isaiah Thomas, who made the All-Star team last year. Barring an enormously surprising trade, Bradley won't face Thomas in an actual game this year, but he was approached by a young fan and asked who would win a game of one-on-one between the two.

"That's a good question," Bradley said, as the crowd in attendance laughed. "I know I would win. First off, because when people play me one-on-one, I don't think there's a lot of people who can score on me. And then they have to stop me from scoring."

The Celtics are hoping a lot of teams run into that exact problem this season.



bob
MY NOTE:  Not only is he the top defensive guard in the league (only two players got more votes for All-Defense 1st Team, Kawhi Leonard and Draymond Green, and neither of them are guards) but his offense has come along quite well.  Remember when we all cringed every time he shot in his rookie year?  No more.  As far as having a top two or three defense goes, why not?  We were top, what, 5 last year until the last couple of weeks and we slid down to 13th or something like that, and who were our baseline defenders?  Amir. That's it. We now have Horford and Amir.  We also have a more seasoned and confident Rozier.  We might get beat up on beef now that fatso Sullinger is gone, but there aren't that many woolly mammoths left in the league to worry about anyway, everybody is a greyhound now.  This is where Zeller can earn his paycheck.  He doesn't have to do much besides run and be our beef on defense in the games where we are playing an Okafor or Jordan or Howard.  Once you get past those three, though, who else do we have to worry about?  On the other hand we might be able to find some minutes for Jordan Mickey.  He's not very beefy but he is a rim protector and that will help our interior defense.  The game has moved to the perimeter.  The dinosaurs down low have to get their shots off more quickly because if they don't the greyhounds will drop down and double them, and still be able to get back to their assignment if they pass out.  The days of The Diesel just pounding defenders into paste with 3-4 (or more!) dribbles are gone.  You don't get that many dribbles down there anymore before you have to pick it up and shoot or pass.  Defense has moved to the arc, and we have some of the best perimeter defenders in the league and we got better with the addition of uber-athletic Jaylen Brown. I'm not saying we don't have weaknesses, holes, but we're better than last year and we weren't too bad last year.


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