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.
He got a starting spot over Ray Allen because he was better than Ray Allen... a 36-year old Ray Allen who hasn't started since then.
Bradley's defensive "excellence" is based on his full court pressure. Unfortunately for him, that's something that's fairly easy to deal with by setting a simple back pick -- which is the reason not many people do it other than as a change of tempo. Take this out of the equation, and you've got an undersized guard that may be decent but decidedly not extraordinary defensively.
And that's before we start discussing his mental fragility and skills.
A Ray Allen who hasn't started since then because he was moved to a Miami team who had two top 5 players (at the time) in Wade and Lebron already starting at SG/SF.
In just about ANY other team that didn't already have an All-Star SG + SF, Ray Allen would have still started.
When Boston had a healthy Rondo and Bradley on the court together during that season, they were VERY difficult to beat. Remember this was back before Rondo's defense dropped off in a dramatic way, and when we still had KG in the front court. The addition of Bradley as a third defensive 'beast' improved Boston more dramatically on the defensive end then the addition of Ray Allen did on the offensive end.
Boston got deep in the playoffs that year as an underdog, and Bradley had a lot to do with it. In the playoffs he gave the first two teams a ton of problems, and Boston's defense was absolutely suffocating in those two series. We lost him just before the Miami series and the Celtics Defense while still solid) had dropped off noticably when we faced the Heat.
Plus please remember once again that this was second year AB - this was back when he well an truly was a liablity on offense, and yet was still able to have such an overwhelmingly positive impact on the team based purely on how dominant he was on the defensive end.
You don't make two consecutive All-Defensive teams by being anything less than an elite defensive player.
As for the idea of setting a 'simple' back pick, there is one other talent Bradley has - he's incredibly good at getting through and around screens. In fact he (along with Pressey) are probably two of the best in the league at that. He often managed to slip straight between the offensive player and the pick-setter, and when he can't do that he tends to easilly get around the pick-setter. When he does the latter heis very good at using his exceptional quickness to recover and catch up to the defensive player before they can do any damage.
Oh and for the record, it wasn't ONLY Bradley's Isolation defense that was statistially elite in his first 2-3 seasons...that's just the part everybody saw. His team defense stats were also in the upper echelon of the league up until last season.
Plus, it's not only full court pressure - he has played with similarly suffocating pressure in the half court as well. Just look at what AB did to Jameer Nelson, a highly experienced guy who has started at PG on many playoff teams, yet after having Bradley on him for half a game he was scared to so much as touch the ball. He's not the only guy Bradley has had that impact on either. I can't think of many NBA players who have ever had that type of defensive impact on a starting PG on another team.