Report: Celtics turned down multiple offers for Avery Bradley

[Eddie20]

I liked the idea of dumping Bradley's contract and getting a 1st.  He's not that good and the money can probably be better spent on the free agent market.  But once we committed money to Thomas that cut into our cap space, it kinda put a damper on my hope of luring a couple max contract players here through free agency.  If we ever land a star here it's going to have to be through a trade package.

Apparently Danny liked Bradley more than a pick that may be in the 25-30 range.

And yet he took a very similar return for Rondo. Umm...

The difference is Rondo was gonna be a free agent, and had expressed already that he wanted out.

Bradley was signed on for a few more years.

Plus we got two first round picks, and two decent role players in Crowder/Wright, who was traded for another protected first round pick. So ultimately, for Rondo we got 3 first round picks.

Thanks for correcting me, TP.  There have been so many trades this year that I can't remember the details of all of them, lol.  I do wish that we could have gotten a 1st for Bradley, though.

Even in the 25-30 range? keep in mind AB is still getting better and isnt on an albatross of a contract. My question is could you do better at 25? I tend to doubt it, but that all depends on how you feel about Bradley.

Bradley is solid, but he still can't dribble or pass, and Smart looks like his replacement, anyway.  Now, could we get a comparable player to AB in the 25-30 range?  Absolutely.  KJ McDaniels and Markel Brown were both second round picks last year.

I dont know about you but I wouldnt trade AB for either of those guys and thats not even taking into account the risks of drafting a jajuan johnson

I would, so I guess that we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one, and that's okay. No big deal.

TP for civility! Naturally, I disagree.

In every draft there's good, useful players in both rounds. But the chance of finding another player as good as AB at #19 where we drafted him is really low. At #26 it's even lower. Is it possible? Sure, but unlikely. Even the best drafters in the league have more misses than hits in that area of the draft.

It's the same thing as saying. "Giannis is gonna be a star, Ainge is a fool for picking KO instead!" It's disingenuous. The draft is a crapshoot, especially after the top 5-10 picks. Getting Bradley at #19 is a great pick, and trading him at 23 years old after how much he's improved here for a new pick even later in the draft is just silly.

I love KJ too, but I'm not trading Bradley for him straight up. Need at least a conditional first to even consider that

Actually, it might not be as improbable as you think, because funnily enough, nbadraft.net has compared a guy to AB.  Where he'll be drafted is uncertain, but I can see him falling to the second round like KJ.  His name is Gary Payton II, lol! How about that?  Here's their assessment, which was written on February 28 of this year -

NBA Player Comparison: Avery Bradley

Strengths:Late bloomer with great athletic attributes… Payton is a jack of all trade player at Oregon State where he can play any position 1 through 4 … He has been a statistical monster on the defensive end: Averaging 3 steals 7.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game as a guard … Payton, like his dad, has his hands on nearly every entry pass, has an uncanny ability to shot block as a guard without fouling, and is a game changer defensive force that opponents must game plan for … On the offensive end Payton has a quick step and takes great angles when driving to the hoop leading to nearly a 50% field goal percentage … Getting to the hole is where he is most dangerous as he is very creative and skillful in absorbing contact and finishing strong to the hole … Explosive athlete at 6”3 he has the ability to catch and finish one handed and two handed alley oops … Payton has good form and rotation on his jump shot and has a developing mid range and long distance game. While he is an older prospect Paton’s biggest strength is his strong work ethic: his havoc causing intensity on defense and his development over the course of this season is remarkable ... He has made great strides in his development into a lead guard as early on this season he was viewed more as a 2 -3 and has become more into a 1-2 combo guard which would be required at the next level ... He is the star player on one of the surprise teams in the NCAAs as Oregon State was thought to be the doormat of the Pac 12 in preseason rankings and will be at worst NIT Bound ...

Weaknesses:As mentioned, Payton is older than most of his competition at 22 years old having spent a prep season in Arizona limiting his potential upside for most analytics ... To complicate things as a late bloomer he has limited experience playing at the elite level. Furthermore his time spent in Utah Junior college has limited his exposure to scouts and to competition… Thus putting greater risk on an organization to see him perform at a consistent level…He needs to work on his ability to set teammates up and running a team averaging over 2 turnovers per game to only 3 assist per game ... Handles could be honed some in particular his left… His outside shooting is his biggest weakness… While rotation and release is clean on his shot his release speed and arc could use some refining… He has improved his free throw shooting from the JC by 15% but still is only at 67% for the season at Oregon State and is under 30% from 3 point range…

Notes: Son of NBA Hall of Famer Gary Payton… Attended Salt Lake City Community College ...

Check out his stats, too, btw -

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/3134903/gary-payton-ii

In fairness, I don't think I can give you the Giannis-KO argument, though, because, well, I've made it, lol. Taking Nolynyk was bad enough, but Ainge compounded his mistake by trading up to get him.  If he was going to trade up at all, it should have been for the Greek Freak.  Even if we'd stayed at 16, guys like Schrodinger's cat (sarcasm), Dieng, Hardaway Jr., and Rudy Gobert were all available, and on draft night, I'll admit it, I would have taken Hardaway Jr., who has actually turned out to be a much better player than I thought he'd be, lol.

I also don't think that the draft is a crap shoot.  Saying that sounds like a cop-out to me.  Look at it this way - if Ainge had still blown up the team and had done a couple of other moves, our frontline of the future could very well have been Giannis as our small forward, Julius Randle as our 4, and Hassan Whiteside as our center, in addition to also having guys like James Young, KJ McDaniels, Markel Brown, and perhaps even Mitch McGary.  Sure, we still would have missed out on Embiid , but that core looks promising.  Well, to me, at least, but I'm an idiot lol. I'm sure that you disagree, right?

I'll take the player that averages 14.1 PPG in 31.6 MPG in the NBA vs one that averages 13.4 PPG in 36.3 MPG in college. Especially when the latter is only 2 years older.

[Beat LA]

^

You don't think he could grow?  GP II's numbers are much better across the board than Bradley's when he came out of college.  Would you have had the same argument if the option in 2010-11 had been to keep TA or draft AB? 

Edit - never mind, I just read that Payton is staying in school to get his degree, so he wouldn't be available this year, anyway.

[Eddie20]

^

You don't think he could grow?  GP II's numbers are much better across the board than Bradley's when he came out of college.  Would you have had the same argument if the option in 2010-11 had been to keep TA or draft AB? 

Edit - never mind, I just read that Payton is staying in school to get his degree, so he wouldn't be available this year, anyway.

No, I wouldn't. Bradley was always ranked very high. Some publications had him as the best HS player in the nation ahead of Wall and Cousins. He went to Texas and didn't have the best freshman season from an offensive standpoint, but was always said to be special on the defensive side. The only reason he fell to us was because of ankle surgery that he needed during the whole draft process.

[mahcus smaht]

The hypothetical front court seems unfair to me,

The Greek Freek not only had never played in an elite league (college, spain) before coming into the draft, but after being drafted he grew 2 inches. But yes, Danny missed on him. Fair enough. Whiteside, everyone missed, he was out of the league for a year thats hard to blame Danny for that isnt it? Lastly Randle has done nothing in the NBA so I dont really want to blame Danny for him in fact I would have been quite frustrated if we took another PF with Kelly and Sully on the roster.

AB is 24, he is really coming on as a good shooter and is starting to learn how to get his shot consistently. Couple this with the fact that he has constantly improved throughout his career and from what Ive seen has lately(since the AS break) been getting back to the things he did well before his shot began to develop (cutting w/ out ball and great D) The steal he had on the fastbreak tonight was crazy.

the 3 you compare him to: Payton II from what I have heard was a projected late 2nd rounder due to the fact that his production as a 22 yr old against a nonpower conference is still just OK.
Markel Brown I like a lot, but I just think AB is better/ has better ceiling
McDaniels I havent seen a lot of but from what Ive heard from the Hinkiers is that he is really athletic and a good defender but his game isnt refined. This does sound a bit like Bradley but I havent seen enough to judge.

Lastly, when you draft in the 25-30 range it is really tough to find your KJ McDaniels. Even the best GMs miss. I mean if Ainge found an AB type guy in the 25-30 range I would be really happy and for that reason I wouldnt make that trade.