Avery Bradley is much less of a defensive stud than people think.
I agree.
Disagree.
I also disagree.
There's a reason why he got a starting spot over Ray Allen - the Celtics were better with AB on the court. That was two years ago, when he was practically still a rookie (he barely played his first season).
His advanced defensive stats were absolutely elite in his second and third seasons - points allowed, opponent FG%, you name it.
Last year Bradley faced a number of challenges:
1) Playing under a new coach - Steven's had a different gameplan for Bradley and asked him to play less aggresively on defense, and focus more on his offenisve game
2) A change of role - Lack of scorers forced Bradley to take on a much larger role in the offense. It's much harder to play full-court pressire defense on every possession when you are also the teams #2 scoring option.
Possibly as a result of this, Bradley's defensive numbers slipped dramatically last season when compared to his previous two seasons. I can only assume it's because of the above factors, because a 22 year old guy doesn't just "drop off" in one season like that for no apparent reason. It not like he just got in to his mid 30's and his body has given up on him lol
Anyways history shows that Bradley absolutely is one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA - easilly top 5, possibly above that. The only guard I can think of who challenges him in that regard is Tony Allen, who has no offensive game at all.