Optimistic Bradley: Why not the Finals?

Chris Forsberg, ESPN Staff Writer
During his area youth basketball camp last summer, Boston Celtics' shooting guard Avery Bradley -- admittedly the team's Minister of Optimism -- boldly suggested the Celtics -- coming off a 27-win season -- had the potential to be a playoff team.

Bradley was (maybe understandably) mocked. Our friends at Red's Army playfully headlined an article about his comments, "Avery Bradley lost his mind this summer."

The Celtics, though maybe not the iteration Bradley quite expected, went on to win 40 games, placed in the top-half of the league in defensive rating (barely missing on Bradley's other bold prediction of a top-10 finish), and earned the No. 7 seed in the lowly Eastern Conference.

Bradley trekked to Cleveland for Game 4 of the NBA Finals Thursday night and upped his own ante a bit.

"I'm telling all of my friends and all of my teammates if we continue to work and prepare for next year, anything is possible for us," Bradley told the Boston Globe. "We made it to the playoffs this year and nobody expected us. Why not get to the championship? No one is expecting us to do it. Why not?"

This year, the reaction has been a bit more mixed. Some think Bradley is still crazy to expect a leap from a team swept out of the first round of the playoffs to potential NBA Finals' material. The Celtics remain hopeful that, with potential to chase top-tier free agents this summer, and plenty of assets that might aid trade pursuits, the team can add the sort of talent that could thrust Boston back towards being a legitimate contender.

Finals material?! Well, who are we to argue with Bradley?

The 24-year-old Bradley, the longest-tenured member of the Celtics with five seasons in green, remains a quiet leader. But he explained before the playoffs this season that staying optimistic is a big part of how he tries to motivate a young team.

"Just always keeping a positive attitude, that was the biggest thing for us," Bradley said of Boston's playoff push. "With a young team, you can have your ups and downs, some guys after a few losses can get down on each other. I was always the guy trying to come in positive every single day."

Bradley wrote:"Just always keeping a positive attitude, that was the biggest thing for us," Bradley said of Boston's playoff push. "With a young team, you can have your ups and downs, some guys after a few losses can get down on each other. I was always the guy trying to come in positive every single day."

We should draft guys like that.

Avery's as aware as the rest of us that there could be major roster changes over the summer.  Heck, he could even be one of them.  But he's also aware of the energetic work ethic that has become an identity for this team and is likely to do so regardless of who comes and who goes.  Avery may not be my idea of the perfect player, but Avery knows one thing—the value of energy.

I believe he's assuming (as a lot of us are hoping) that Danny will upgrade the skills, "go to" qualities, and star potential of the team.  But those things can exist without the presence of exceptional energy.  On this team, energy has been established as the price of membership.  That extra ingredient is unlikely to go away any time soon and represents a huge building block of its own to which will be added more building blocks in the form of impact players.

So, while I'm sure many people (probably even the majority about which I care not a whit) will look askance at Avery's pronouncement, the logic that underlies the pronouncement is substantial.

Sam

Yup. And he was way more accurate in his preseason playoff prediction than everybody who laughed at him, including most Celtics fans.

I think the Celtics can definitely get to the Conference Finals if we get the right bracket opposite Cleveland.

Rambone,

When you say, "Opposite Cleveland," do you mean you want to face Cleveland or you want to delay facing Cleveland?  I assume you mean the latter.  If Love exits the Cavs and a brute (like Cousins) is playing center for the Celtics, I'd even be happy to take my chances on Cleveland by (1) playing an uptempo game, (2) having someone like Crowder who can at least make Lebron work hard for what he gets and maybe can encourage Lebron to pass off instead of constantly taking it to the hoop, and (3) outworking Cleveland.

However, so much is likely to change over the summer that all we can legitimately do at this juncture is to hope for the best.  Predictions are even more questionable right now than usually.

Sam

yeah, I mean delay facing Cleveland.

Our great team and season got under-appreciated at the end because we got stuck playing Cleveland in the first round.