After signing a huge offseason deal that caused much debate among CelticsNation, Avery Bradley is ready to try & start living up to (if that’s possible) the $30+ million dollarcontract the team shelled out for him. Speaking to the media at today’s practice/training camp session, Bradley says his main goal this year is to make the NBA’s All Defensive First Team. Bradley made the 2nd team back in 2012, but apparently, and thankfully, he’s not satisfied. From Chris Forsberg:
“I want to be on the first team all-defense,” Bradley said Thursday when asked about his individual goals for new season. “I made the second team two years ago. That’s my No. 1 goal this year, but obviously I want to improve in every part of my game.”
AB had his best year offensively last season, averaging a career-high 14.9 PPG, but Celtics fans came to love Bradley for his aggressive and pitbull like defense. His ability to guard some of the league’s elite has been his biggest and best attribute, and it’s very encouraging to hear that he only wants to improve. Injuries have obviously hampered his progress, and if I were him, I’d make staying healthy for 82 games just as big a goal. Yeah, I know-easy for me, the blogger to say.
When talking about being overlooked for the 1st all-defensive team two seasons ago, Bradley’s talk turned to motivation. Brad Stevens chimed in, mentioning a “long talk” the two had this morning about Bradley’s defense and how much of an impact it can make:
Asked about missing out on a first team spot two years ago, Bradley said: ““I wouldn’t say angered, but I felt like it just made me want to continue to get better at defense. I know that my team defense can continue to improve, so that’s what I’m going to try to do this year.”
While Bradley seeks a balance between his offensive and defensive contributions, he said his work must start on the defensive end.
“I’m a defensive player first,” he said. “I let everything else come. I know my team needs me to guard the best offensive player every single night and so that’s what I’m willing to do. That’s my main focus really. I don’t worry about the offensive end, that all will come.”
Celtics coach Brad Stevens said he had a long talk with Bradley on Thursday morning reminding him about his ability to impact the game on the defensive end.
“A lot of people can score, a lot of people can handle it, a lot of people can make plays with the ball. Very few people can do that and change the energy of the game with their intensity level,” said Stevens. “That’s a hard thing to do, day-to-day, practice-to-practice, you need him to do it 82 times. But, at the end of the day, I think he’s different because of that. One of the things we’re trying to emphasize with our guards, generally, is playing with that kind of energy and playing into the ball with more aggression because we need to do that, because we’re small otherwise.”
You can read up on other minor notes from today’s session, including Vitor’s progress, over at ESPN Boston.
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