AMHERST, NY-We continue to preview the Boston Celtics roster for the 2012-2013 season and today we look at Avery Bradley’s outlook for this upcoming season. Originally drafted by the team in the 2010 NBA Draft out of Texas, Bradley was a promising prospect who many scouts and talent evaluators felt would benefit more by staying in college for his sophomore season. He decided to forego his remaining eligibility and the Celtics secured his services with the 19th overall pick. It was between Bradley and former Oklahoma State shooting guard James Anderson, who was drafted one pick later by the San Antonio Spurs. GM Danny Ainge liked Bradley’s upside at the age of 19, not to mention his stellar defense that we will get into shortly. It was an excellent low risk, high reward pick for the green and so far it has turned out to be a solid pick.
As I briefly just touched upon, Bradley is arguably one of the best defensive players in the NBA. His defense is truly a privilege to watch, very similar to former Celtic and currently Memphis Grizzlies’ shooting guard Tony Allen. Bradley always plays right into the offensive player and consistently shows excellent lateral movements. His hands are actively moving and as a result he causes a lot of deflections and tipped balls. His efforts were noticeably appreciated during the end of the regular season against the Miami Heat. Heat guard Dwayne Wade drove the ball along the baseline and appeared to beat Bradley to the hoop. As he made his way for an easy dunk, Bradley recovered to block the shot and cause a Heat turnover. It was one of the best defensive plays I witnessed all season and it truly showed that he could be counted on to defend the opposing team’s best player on a nightly basis. He is also a great cutter and he developed a great rapport with starting point guard Rajon Rondo last season once he was elevated to the starting lineup over Ray Allen. He developed a great relationship with the other members of the starting five and the team truly took off once he was inserted into the first unit. His offensive game also made nice improvements as his outside shooting became much more consistent.
The main aspect of Bradley’s game that could still use improvement is on the offensive end. His outside shot has become more reliable, but he still needs to improve his consistency to become a truly great player. Unfortunately, he has not been able to work on most of his basketball skills this off season as he has been recovering from shoulder surgery. Would it have been nice for Avery to spend the summer shooting 500-1,000 jumpers a day? Absolutely, but that obviously has not been able to happen. He will have to make the necessary improvements once the season starts and he is medically cleared to start playing again.
Bradley will play a huge role on this season’s team. Once he returns, he will most likely regain his starting spot and move Courtney Lee back to his bench role. This is certainly the preferred switch for head coach Doc Rivers because a starting lineup of Rondo, Bradley, Paul Pierce, Brandon Bass, and Kevin Garnett is this team’s best lineup. As he continues to work on his offensive game, Bradley will become a really good player in the NBA. I was trying to think of a player comparison for Bradley and the one that always seems to come up is the previously mentioned Tony Allen, however, Bradley has the potential to be a much better offensive player than Allen and is still only 21 years old. He should have a very bright career as he continues playing and will be a key cog for the team this season.
Rob Lunder covers the Boston Celtics for Rant Sports. For all Celtics news, check out the Boston Celtics homepage on Rant Sports.
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