Bradley, Smart, Thomas Leading the Charge for C's

http://www.nba.com/celtics/news/sidebar/100215-bradley-rmart-thomas-leading-the-charge-for-cs



Bradley, Smart, Thomas Leading the Charge for C's

Posted: Oct 02, 2015









By Marc D'Amico |  @Marc_DAmico
Celtics.com
October 2, 2015




BOSTON – Boston’s backcourt is loaded with talent, and three amigos lead the charge.

There’s Avery Bradley, the cagey, longest-tenured Celtic who’s known best for his 3-and-D style of play.

There’s Marcus Smart, the young gun who’s regarded as the team’s energizer bunny.

And then there’s Isaiah Thomas, the little guy who does big things at the offensive end of the court.

Try to game plan against these guys and you may find yourself searching for ibuprofen.

“We each bring something different to the court,” Smart says of the trio. “It’s kind of tricky (for opponents) because you look at one player and you try to figure him out, but you’ve also got another player who’s hitting you with something different.

“It helps us on both ends of the court, especially when we’re getting ready to play other teams. We can mix it up in a variety of ways.”

Those varieties are typically Boston’s rebuttal to what another team brings to the table on the perimeter.

Say, for instance, Team A has two playmaking guards. Brad Stevens can rely on Bradley and Smart, both of whom received votes for the NBA All-Defensive team last season, to shadow them for the majority of the game.

Maybe Team B possesses an inconsistent defense, sparking Stevens to use a Bradley-Thomas combo that can drive, kick and stick a perimeter J.

And then there’s the possibility that Stevens may want to wear down Team C, in which case he could throw Thomas onto the court to exhaust the defense with his scoring, and use Smart’s bulky and bothersome defense to harass the other team’s scorers.

This situation is unique not only because Bradley, Smart and Thomas complement each other so well, but also because they are all team leaders at different stages of their careers.

“My thing on leadership is really simple,” says Stevens. “It’s: do you do your job reliably, and are you lifting everybody else up? There’s a lot of things that go into that. That’s where leadership has to start, and for us I feel like the guards do a good job of that.”

Bradley is at the forefront of that leadership, and as previously mentioned has been donning green longer than any other Celtic. He’s entering his sixth season with the team and has started 99 percent of the games he’s played in over the past three seasons. He’s a mainstay in this organization, and other players, including Smart, look up to him.

Bradley reveals that he is embracing his leadership role on this team in a different manner than he has in the past.

“I’m used to leading by example. Just going out there and playing as hard as I can,” Bradley tells Celtics.com. “I learned that I shouldn’t only lead by example. Sometimes I need to speak up and be that vocal leader.

“I know that I can help the younger guys and I can teach them how to be a professional on and off the court, like the leaders before me taught me.”

One of those young guys is Smart, who is entering his second NBA season. Stevens calls him an “energy giver” because of how hard he plays, particularly on defense. That’s how the young guy leads.

As Bradley says, “That helps our team out a lot and it energizes everybody else when you have guys out there playing as hard as they can.”

Thomas energizes his team as well, but in a much different way. He’s a highlight-reel player who is this team’s leader on offense. Thomas averaged 18.8 points per game during 25 contests with the C’s last season, and he too chimes in with vocal leadership on the court.

Mix these guys together and you’ve got a group that the Celtics love, and a group that Celtics opponents love to hate.



bob
MY NOTE:  My worries about this back court are that we don't have someone who can stay in front of the Kyrie Irvings and John Walls of the league.  I realize there aren't many who can, that's why they are who they are, but without Phil Pressey we don't have anybody.  Maybe Rozier can do it but he is, as yet, an unknown.  The bottom line though is, in an increasingly guard-oriented league, we've got ourselves the makings of a pretty damn good back court that will only get better as the young'uns like Rozier, Smart and Hunter gain experience.

We should come up with a nickname for the Bradley/Smart back court, after watching them for a bit together. "The Pitbulls" were taken by the Bradley/Lee back court. Bradley was asked about this on media day and he said that Smart should come up with something (he came up blank).


.

The Smother Brothers? Brothers of Smother? Smo-Bros?

Smother Brothers work for me. BTW, Dicky Smothers lives here in Sarasota. Pete may have seen him. I bump into him a lot. A very good guy.

Smothering Brothers ?? ... you got me started, gyso ! <s>

we don't have someone who can stay in front of the Kyrie Irvings and John Walls of the league. I realize there aren't many who can, that's why they are who they are, but without Phil Pressey we don't have anybody.

From what i got to see, from afar and in limited games, i didn't think of P Pressey as one of our top defending guards. i didn't get to hear what all you were saying for a long while there, but what i though on my own was, he's pretty dang quick, you bet !

i thought he had trouble staying in front of lots of guys who weren't as quick as he is. partly from limited NBA experience.
and short for his height <smile>.

plus and as you said bob, very Very few guys in the league can stay in front of those two anyway - Kyrie's so clever and shifty, and Wall's simply raw lightning on the court. some guys keep up some of the time, really good defenders seem to keep up maybe half the time - Nobody stays in front of those guys much past half the time.

of course others may see it differently and i'm totally good with that ... Love hearing other points of view ... love learning more about the game.

Michael, Denver