To be overrated in the NBA is a mixed blessing. On one hand, it means you are, at minimum, a star in the league and that people have heard of you and your game. On the other, it means you have a substantial number of detractors for whatever area your game is coming up short — or paycheck coming up too large — in the their estimation.
Such is the case with a former Boston Celtics who found his way into the “NBA’s most overrated players of the last 10 years” list recently put together by Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey. The fact this player shares his initials with the B/R analyst did not spare him from Bailey’s wrath.
In case you haven’t guessed, that player is Avery Bradley.
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“Avery Bradley has two All-Defensive nods, and he probably deserves them. It’s tough to accurately measure impact on that end of the floor,” notes Bailey.
“But Bradley’s last All-Defensive selection came in 2016, and he’s seemingly been riding that reputation ever since. Throughout his career, his teams have generally surrendered more points per 100 possessions when he’s on the floor.”
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“Low block and rebound rates have contributed to Bradley’s below-average defensive box plus/minus. However, that number should be taken with a grain of salt,” adds the B/R analyst.
“Box Plus/Minus is good at measuring offense and solid overall, but the defensive numbers, in particular, should not be considered definitive,” Daniel Myers wrote for Basketball Reference. “Look at the defensive values as a guide, but don’t hesitate to discount them when a player is well known as a good or bad defender.”
“In combination with the aforementioned play-by-play data, it’s fair to at least use Bradley’s mark as that guide,” suggests Bailey.
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“And a slightly inflated value on defense isn’t the only point here,” notes the author. “Bradley has had an above-average true shooting percentage exactly once in his career. That came in 2011-12, the season before the sample in question here.”
A point worth mentioning is Bradley made his bones as a man-to-man defender, and he has never really been the best in team defenses.
As the league shifts away from such coverage, particularly during the regular season, the area where Bradley HAS been a great defender has diminished with it.
Could the Boston Celtics’ best option to replace Danilo Gallinari’s minutes for the 2021-22 NBA season be…to do nothing? https://t.co/jgok9ci3N8
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) September 3, 2022
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