I seriously question the idea of Lee is a 'vastly superior' scorer than Bradley...I haven't seen anything thus far to indicate that.
Looking at Lee's offensive skill set:
- He is a capable passer (in that he can connect on a pass without turning it over) but not a playmaker
- He shoots at an excellent rate on corner three's, but an average or below average rate on above break three's
- He's a solid (but not exceptional) midrange shooter
- He's capable of (but not fantastic at) creating his own shot
- He cut's well without the ball
- He's a decent (but not great) ball handler
All of the above is pretty much Avery Bradley in a nutshell. You can argue that Lee is a more polished version of Avery Bradley on offense, but 'vastly superior'? I don't think that is accurate at all.
Also small sample size or not is irrelevant - you can't just make up numbers out of thin air, so you need to go off the strongest sample size you have, and right now for Bradley that is last season.
Defensively though Bradley is FAR better. The impression I get so far is that Courtney Lee is quick enough to stick with opposing players and who has a pretty good eye for the ball. Bradley on the other hand is an Elite defensive player who gets right up in the face of opposing players, gets in their heads, takes them completely out of their game, forces errors and can completely dominate a game with his defensive pressure.
There are few players who you actually grab the spotlight when they are playing defense - when Bradley is defending somebody full court all of the attention is on him.
IMHO as long as Bradley's defense is at the same level it was at last season (and if I were the coach), he would be starting the instant he returns. First reason is his defensive pressure, second reason is that he already has good chemistry with the starting lineup and he's a perfect fit within that group.
Lee actually makes for a fantastic second tier SG because he can come off the bench and give Boston an advantage against most teams on both sides of the floor. He's good enough defensively to shut down second tier SGs, and he is good enough offensively that second tier SGs would have problems defending him.
To me the difficult decision is between Terry and Barbosa, and I believe Terry will usually get the edge there because of:
1. His championship experience
2. His consistent shooting (Barbosa has a reputation for being a streak shooter)
3. His ability to score in the clutch and close out games
Barbosa had me seriously thinking twice about that yesterday, but at the end of the day it was one game - Terry played solid (if not great) and Barbosa was simply beasting. If Barbosa does what he did yesterday consistently then it's going to be very difficult to deny him playing time - he pretty much single handedly put us back in that game.
With Bradley back though I honestly feel like Lee is the most expendable...simply because he is solid (like Bradley) but doesn't really excel at anything. I see him helping you through games, but I don't see him winning you games. Bradley (on Defense), Terry and Barbosa (on offense) all have the ability to dominate opposing teams in spurts, and that's what often wins games.
Completely unrelated, but Bass was phenomenal yesterday. I don't expect that we will see that type of shooting efficiency and rebounding aggression from him every day, but if we do I will forever eat my words about him being average. Maybe the extra competition from Sully has lit a firecracker under his behind!
Topic: Once Bradley comes back, how does this guard rotation play out? (Read 5022 times)