Further Proof Brad Stevens and Danny Ainge Are Geniuses: Pistons Put Avery Bradley on the Market
By Jason McIntyre
When I went on Colin Cowherd’s radio show in December and wondered if Brad Stevens “made” Jae Crowder and Isaiah Thomas, Cavs fans freaked out, and suddenly I was a Celtics homer. (I’ve never rooted for Boston in anything in my life, unless gambling was involved.)
Crowder and Thomas are having bad seasons in Cleveland, though to be fair, Thomas is still less than a dozen games removed from hip surgery.
But this morning, it was reported that the Pistons have put Avery Bradley on the trading block. Bradley spent last season with the Celtics and thrived in the Brad Stevens system, have the best shooting season of his career from the field since he became a full-time starter (46 percent), 2nd best season shooting 3-pointers (39 percent), and averaged career-highs in points (16.3), rebounds (6.1) and assists (2.2).
According to Woj, Detroit is looking to unload Bradley, who is a free agent this summer and will command big bucks. There was talk last year that Bradley was a top five two-way shooting guard in the NBA. There’s Jimmy Butler and Klay Thompson, who are elite defenders and great on the offensive end. Bradley Beal and CJ McCollum are both efficient scorers and good defenders; DeMar DeRozan doesn’t defend.
But now the question has to be: Was Bradley a product of the Brad Stevens system the same way Jae Crowder (only 8.6 ppg and 3.3 rpg after two straight much better seasons in Boston) and Isaiah Thomas were?