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It’s easy to forget now, but when Bradley broke through during the 2011-12 season — essentially muscling aside Ray Allen for the starting shooting guard job — it was because he combined his calling-card defense with an offensive game that leaned heavily on cuts and corner 3-pointers.
In recent seasons, much of Bradley’s offense has moved further away from the basket. He’s taken more long 2s — the sort that make analytics folks cringe — and more above-the-break 3-pointers. Last season, he attempted a career-low 16.8 percent of his field attempts at the rim; this after 41 percent of his attempts came there during his breakout season.
More damning: Despite Bradley’s being second to only Isaiah Thomas in scoring last season at 13.9 points per game, Boston’s on/off-court advanced numbers suggested the team’s offense was actually 4.3 points per 100 possessions better without him on the floor (though an anemic offensive first unit didn’t help Bradley’s cause).
The early returns during Boston’s European vacation suggest Bradley has embraced returning to his roots. He’s quickly developed chemistry with slick-passing big man David Lee and that has generated layups off backdoor cuts. And Bradley is running to the corners again and waiting for open looks off ball movement.
ESPN Boston – Avery Bradley goes back to the future
Avery Bradley has been the forgotten man. While everyone’s been talking about who will start, who’ll be in the rotation, how to get down to 15 bodies, and so on, AB has been off the radar.
But as noted in this Forsberg piece, Bradley has gotten our attention again by going back to what he does best. Early in his career, his offense was mostly back cuts to get bounce passes from Rondo. Eventually, Bradley also began to hit from outside consistently, and now it’s a huge part of his game.
In the two European matches this week, he’s done both – make the cuts and, especially, hit the corner threes – to post solid numbers: 11-20 shooting, including 7-8 on threes, averaging 15.5 points in just 20 minutes per game. Bradley was +10 vs. Milano and +11 in Madrid. What’s not to like about that?
Brad Stevens has the money quote about Avery’s next steps and the growth we can watch for this season:
“I think a lot of it is consistency,” he said. “With young players, we’ve seen Avery have some spectacular games in his young career. I think that, going from having three to four out of 10 good games to six or seven out of 10 good games is the difference in great teams and great players. I anticipate that Avery is going to make a big jump this year and continue to progress and be more consistent.”
On Page 2: Smart moving up in the ranks
Up 72 spots from last season, @smart_MS3 is No. 85 in this year’s #NBArank. pic.twitter.com/r2p36waHcI
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) October 8, 2015
ESPN.com – #NBArank: The countdown continues with Nos. 81-90
One of the questions to be answered this season is: Will Marcus Smart have a breakout year? According to the ESPN rankings panel, he’s on his way. Smart jumped from no. 157 a year ago to number 85 in the segment of the list released Thursday. He stands between Taj Gibson and Monta Ellis. (Isaiah Thomas is still to come, and will be the highest-ranked Celtic.)
The ESPN scouting report on Smart is less than flattering about his offense, but loves his defense. See below for the full write-up.
And, finally: Everybody loves Brad
Darren Erman on Celtics coach Brad Stevens: “Brad’s a great, great, great person, great coach. He’s like the Steph Curry of coaches.”
— Rob Mahoney (@RobMahoney) October 8, 2015
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsDarren Erman knows Stevens and his work first-hand, after serving as a Boston assistant last season (he left to join the Pelicans staff). A comparison to Curry is one of the highest compliments an NBA player or coach can receive. Not only is Curry admired by one and all (except maybe in Cleveland), he’s the reigning MVP.
Kudos to Erman, too, for being savvy enough to compare Brad to Stephon and not LeBron, the man Boston loves to hate.
Related: MassLive – Is Brad Stevens the Stephen Curry of coaches? A former Boston Celtics assistant believes so
The Rest of the Links:
MassLive – Avery Bradley, David Lee impress as Boston Celtics down Real Madrid in preseason action, 111-96 | Boston Celtics takeaways: Avery Bradley focusing on corner 3s, team depth is real
CSNNE – Stars, studs & duds from Celtics win over Real Madrid
Celtics.com – Emphasis on Interior Scoring is Paying off for C’s
Globe – Evan Turner sits out against Real Madrid
Herald – Celts close trip on positive note
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