Boston Celtics guard Avery Bradley has improved dramatically as a passer this season

Boston Celtics guard Avery Bradley has improved dramatically as a passer this season
By Kevin O'Connor  @KevinOConnorNBA on Mar 16, 2015, 1:48a 56






David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
It's time to give credit where credit is due.



It's the Boston Celtics' favorite play to run in the half court: Avery Bradley sprints from the baseline, rips through a down screen, and receives a dribble handoff. As he turns the corner, he dribbles twice to his sweet spot, and elevates for a jumper. Everyone in the stadium knows that Bradley is going shoot, except for when he doesn't.

Bradley is a shoot-first player in Brad Stevens' system, as demonstrated by his 13.2 field goal attempts to 1.6 assists per game. But that doesn't mean he isn't a competent passer, which seems to be a commonly held belief among the Celtics faithful.

"I'M JUST NOT THINKING. I'M GOING OUT THERE AND PLAYING. EVERYTHING IS INSTINCT FOR ME."
-AVERY BRADLEY

With all of the improvements the Celtics have undergone this season, Bradley's progression as an efficient passer and playmaker has gone somewhat unnoticed. This is probably due to his history of lazy turnovers and his reputation for being a non-playmaker, but the reality is that he has taken his passing to the next level.

"I think Avery has had his moments passing the ball. He's not trying to hit homeruns as much," Stevens said before a recent game. "Earlier in the year he was trying to make passes that were extremely high risk and I just don't see that as much. He's very sound with the ball, for the most part."

Last season was Bradley's first true season as a go-to threat and he struggled with a 0.89 assist-turnover ratio. But this season that ratio has jumped to 1.19. It's certainly not a world-beating number, but it's a significant improvement for a 24-year-old without much experiencing handling a heavy load of the offense.

 


Bradley is also averaging a career-best 8.2 turnover ratio, which is the number of turnovers a player has per 100 possessions. This ranks him 42nd of 228 qualifying players, or the 82nd percentile.

"Avery's greatest strength on offense, other than his ability to stop on a dime, is how quickly he can explode on a cut," Stevens said when asked how Bradley has developed. "Sometimes that speed makes it hard to deliver a pass on the money. And he's done a much better job at learning his strengths and applying some more efficient passing to his game."

Stevens is proving to be one of the best coaches in the league at putting all of his players into situations that maximize on their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. When Bradley has the ball in his hands, that involves dribble handoffs, off screens, and pick-and-roll.



This video compilation of plays details some of Bradley's passing out of his "pet plays," including the dribble handoff, a down screen action, and the high pick-and-roll. All three play types are intended to get Bradley into space, which typically leads to mid-range shot attempts, but it can also open up passing lanes.

The film shows that Bradley has improved the accuracy of his passing this season. His pocket passes (a bounce pass to the rolling screener) generally land right in the receiving player's stomach, which allows them to go right up into their shot. And on passes that don't touch the floor, Bradley uses the necessary velocity or touch.


 

Synergy Sports Technology doesn't measure the assists a player derives out of "handoff" or "off screen" play types, which is where a bulk of Bradley's dimes come from, but it does look at pick-and-roll.

When Bradley passes as the pick-and-roll ball handler, his teammates receiving the ball score 1.031 points per possession, per Synergy, which ranks in the 67th percentile of qualifying NBA players. This is an enormous improvement over last season, when they scored only 0.804 points per possession, ranking him in the mere 4th percentile.

But how has Avery Bradley progressed so quickly? Hard work? Film study? No, Bradley says he's just simplifying things.

"I'm just not thinking. I'm going out there and playing. Everything is instinct for me," Bradley said when asked about his passing evolution. "That's really helping me out a lot, especially being able to make plays for my teammates. I'm just going out there and reacting to how the defense is guarding me."

Avery Bradley will need to score a lot of buckets over the final stretch of the season for the Boston Celtics to make the playoffs, but he'll need also need to pass the ball as well as he has all season. Thankfully, he has developed into a player that can be relied on in that situation, which bodes well for both his future and the team's postseason dreams.



bob
MY NOTE:  Hmmf.  I'm glad Bradley has improved, less of a weak link, but I still don't want him running the offense.  I'm very happy with him being a better SG with his improved shooting.  This is gravy, but I don't want to live on gravy.  Give up the ball, Avery, and do what you do best:  move without it.  Having said all this, though, we should keep in mind Bradley is only 24 years old, played only one year of college ball, is playing in his 5th season and the 1st season he barely pulled off his warmups (unless he was in Portland).  He's still learning.


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I am not sure that Bradley has really improved that much as a passer, but the fewer turnovers is a big plus for the team.

It is my belief that there are more plays designed to help minimize Bradley's ball handling weaknesses. It seems that he gets the ball much more this year in position to make only one decision. If he has a clear shot he is to take it when he catches it and if he does not have the clear shot he has ONE place to pass the ball. Of course, if he shoots he does not get a turnover and if he cannot shoot there is another offensive guy coming right towards him to get the ball away from him as quickly as possible.

This is not a new coaching ploy, but it is good strategy by Stevens and it is making Bradley a better and more productive offensive play. I do no think that the coaching staff had as much faith in Bradley's shooting last year to use this strategy then, and Rondo hogged the ball a lot last year as well which would have made this concept less likely to succeed.

bob, I agree that I do not want to see Bradley doing any running of the offense now or at any time in the future. His offensive stats are better and the team is winning with what he is doing right now. Trying to become a true point guard is never going to work for him. If Smart, Turner, Pressey and Thomas cannot get it done on any given night as the team's point guard we are just going to lose that game.

Again, something that Stevens is doing to help his players make his team better.

Clyde,

You stole my opening sentence.  An assist-to-turnover ratio involves two components: assists and turnovers.  If the ratio goes up, it could be because of an increase in assists or a decrease in turnovers (or both).

On a per minute basis, Avery's assists this year and last are fewer in number than during his first three years in the league, when most of us were roasting his inability as a ballhandler.

I think it is true that Avery can come up with good passes and even, on occasion, great passes.  So does Jae Crowder.  So does Even Turner.  So does Brandon Bass, for Pete's sake.  But that doesn't mean that passing is anywhere near their respective major strengths.

I don't expect Avery to be a very good passer.  I'm happy if he can continue to be a lights-out sniper (most of the time) and above-average defender.  Those are his roles.  Passing is just a nice occasional bonus.

Sam