Avery Bradley making a difference for the Pistons

[Snakehead]

You do not pay Avery Bradley max money if you want to be a top level basketball team.  Horford plays great defense and is probably the best passing big man in the league (adding great 3 point shooting as well).  He is a game changer.  AB is a good player but is not a game changer.

[td450]

Its too bad this devolved into a debate about money. He deserves credit for what he's done for both Boston and Detroit. He doesn't fit the standard models about what constitutes a great player, but he is a winner and a leader, and the teams he plays on seem to overachieve.

It should also be noted that in a league with one nearly invincible team, he might be the best matchup against Steph Curry in the entire NBA.

[Granath]

Good heavens. Giving  a max contract to a guy like Avery is a dead end. He's the 4th guy, at best, on a championship caliber squad. Where would he fit if we still had him? He wouldn't even be one of our 5 most valued players, after Al, KI, GH, and the young guys.

Agree with everything you said.

Still think Detroit should offer him the max, under certain conditions...

We paid big Al Max just for the culture change and bringing in a pros pro so I can see your logic in this. Detriot isn't a championship caliber team they are in transition much like we were when we brought in Al. Just can't see AB getting max money. Overpay by Detriot sure but max money would be more than an overpay.

Still see your point here and you make a good one.

Al Horford has made 4 All Star games. How many has Avery Bradley made?

You might as well be comparing Bradley to Charles Barkey. It's about as valid as comparing him to Al Horford.

[SHAQATTACK]

 was so  bad , the other night the game was unwatchable.  i turned it off He played trash defense and clanged threes like a machine . 

[Stig]

They are now 7-3. Beat the lowly Kings tonight. AB  shot 10-14 and 25 pts

I been following him casually.... and he has been the difference imo. Same team as last season except now they have AB

Good for AB.  At the end of the day, this is likely going to be a beneficial trade for both teams.

At this rate I can see the Pistons shelling out max or near max for AB to stay long term

I started to watch Pistons highlights because AB is there now. Don't think Pistons will stay on top of the standing charts very long though. Hopefully Bradley gets the big contract he deserves the coming summer.

[ChillyWilly]

Good heavens. Giving  a max contract to a guy like Avery is a dead end. He's the 4th guy, at best, on a championship caliber squad. Where would he fit if we still had him? He wouldn't even be one of our 5 most valued players, after Al, KI, GH, and the young guys.

Agree with everything you said.

Still think Detroit should offer him the max, under certain conditions...

We paid big Al Max just for the culture change and bringing in a pros pro so I can see your logic in this. Detriot isn't a championship caliber team they are in transition much like we were when we brought in Al. Just can't see AB getting max money. Overpay by Detriot sure but max money would be more than an overpay.

Still see your point here and you make a good one.

Al Horford has made 4 All Star games. How many has Avery Bradley made?

You might as well be comparing Bradley to Charles Barkey. It's about as valid as comparing him to Al Horford.

Because Al is a big and the East lacks bigs. I'm not comparing AB to AL I'm comparing the situations. Plus the All-star game is a popularity contest.
 
Whoever Barkey is I couldn't find anything on him so your comment is just as valid as mine 

[vjcsmoke]

AB is Detroit's best player right?  So why isn't he a max guy for them?  It's not like he's going to get paid super-max.

[liam]

AB is Detroit's best player right?  So why isn't he a max guy for them?  It's not like he's going to get paid super-max.

I think Bradley is worth the max. He's there best player and they already have two max guys, is that right?

[Monkhouse]

Are people seriously okay with giving Bradley, a max contract? 

Bradley is an complimentary piece, nothing more, and nothing less. He has stepped it up in playoffs, and he has also been inconsistent in the playoffs.

He is one of the best on-ball defender in the league, but he still needs to prove himself before anyone can even utter the word, "max," and AB in the same sentence...

If he drops like 20+ PPG, 5-7 RPG, and 2 APG, then yes... I could consider him getting close to the near max, but wow lol. Max contract for AB...

I've seen it all.

Good heavens. Giving  a max contract to a guy like Avery is a dead end. He's the 4th guy, at best, on a championship caliber squad. Where would he fit if we still had him? He wouldn't even be one of our 5 most valued players, after Al, KI, GH, and the young guys.

Agree with everything you said.

Still think Detroit should offer him the max, under certain conditions...

We paid big Al Max just for the culture change and bringing in a pros pro so I can see your logic in this. Detriot isn't a championship caliber team they are in transition much like we were when we brought in Al. Just can't see AB getting max money. Overpay by Detriot sure but max money would be more than an overpay.

Still see your point here and you make a good one.

Al Horford has made 4 All Star games. How many has Avery Bradley made?

You might as well be comparing Bradley to Charles Barkey. It's about as valid as comparing him to Al Horford.

The amount of respect Horford gets on this board is just appalling... Its like they think someone with Horford's skillset grows on trees or something...

He's putting up decent numbers, but the advanced stats still don't like his contribution. He has a lowly 98 offensive rating and a below average 107 defensive rating. In other words, at that rate, if he was on the court for a whole game and the Pistons had 100 possessions (which is average for a game), they would lose 98-107.

I credit the Pistons resurgence to the other guys. I've always been a Tobias Harris fan. He is still young and looks like an All star. Drummond still misses a lot of rotations, but he is improving other areas of his game. Reggie Jackson finally looks like he is back to where he was a couple seasons ago as an offensive initiator.

All of that being said, I still think they are fool's gold. They probably end up slightly above .500 (43 wins?), but I don't think they scare the Celtics, Cavs, Bucks, or Raptors.

Agree with the majority of your post. Unfortunately, just like any other defensive metrics, the numbers don't look appealing for Bradley. Its because he has such low steal/rebound/block numbers, just like Klay Thompson, who was an negative dRtG player last year, when he was clearly alongside KD and Dray; one of their most vital pieces defensively.

[Phantom255x]

Like I've echoed on the Kyrie-Isaiah trade threads...

It's hard to evaluate this Morris-Bradley trade w/o seeing more of Morris.

BUT SO FAR.. Detroit has looked like the winners in this trade, and AB is helping them a ton. 

[Granath]

AB is Detroit's best player right?  So why isn't he a max guy for them?  It's not like he's going to get paid super-max.

Because a great way to get into cap hell is to pay the max for role players. It doesn't really matter if Bradley is the Pistons' best player. He's only worth what he's worth and that isn't $30M.

A guy who averages 16/3/2 on spot shooting who can defend the 1 or 2 but not the 3 is a role player. He's a valuable role player but a role player nonetheless. He's not an Otto Porter who still had great upside (and showing it this year). I think he'll get a bit better than George Hill type of money ($19m/yr) but no more than $22-$23m/yr.

If Bradley were 24 years old, improving and had a record of playing 75 games a year then we'd be having a different conversation. But he's basically peaked and isn't likely to get better. You simply can't justify the max for a guy like that.

[jambr380]

Like I've echoed on the Kyrie-Isaiah trade threads...

It's hard to evaluate this Morris-Bradley trade w/o seeing more of Morris.

BUT SO FAR.. Detroit has looked like the winners in this trade, and AB is helping them a ton. 

I think everybody knows this. We made the trade because of the Hayward signing and also because Morris has an extra year on his contract (at great value).

As for AB, I am genuinely happy he is doing well, but Ainge has been building this team up for years so that he could acquire true star players and pay them deserving max contracts. The salary cap is a thing and puts a ceiling on teams - players like AB and even IT were never going to get big money from Ainge. The ceiling of the Cs wouldn't have been high enough.

[wayupnorth]

Like I've echoed on the Kyrie-Isaiah trade threads...

It's hard to evaluate this Morris-Bradley trade w/o seeing more of Morris.

BUT SO FAR.. Detroit has looked like the winners in this trade, and AB is helping them a ton. 

We didn't make this trade to get the better player.

We did it to create the cap space for Gordon, and to get a more cost controlled player.

Your post truly confuses me.

[Granath]

Like I've echoed on the Kyrie-Isaiah trade threads...

It's hard to evaluate this Morris-Bradley trade w/o seeing more of Morris.

BUT SO FAR.. Detroit has looked like the winners in this trade, and AB is helping them a ton. 

We didn't make this trade to get the better player.

We did it to create the cap space for Gordon, and to get a more cost controlled player.

Your post truly confuses me.

Agreed. I think Phantom may misunderstand why that deal was made. Getting Morris was a bonus.

[chilidawg]

Like I've echoed on the Kyrie-Isaiah trade threads...

It's hard to evaluate this Morris-Bradley trade w/o seeing more of Morris.

BUT SO FAR.. Detroit has looked like the winners in this trade, and AB is helping them a ton. 

Like I told you, what I said ...