When Celtics coach Doc Rivers announced Thursday afternoon that he was sending rookie guard Avery Bradley to the NBA Development League, his reasons for the move were no secret. Plain and simple, he wanted the kid to play.
“I just think he needs to play basketball,” Rivers said of Bradley after Thursday’s practice. “Sitting, especially in this stretch where we didn’t practice at all, hasn’t helped him.”
Rivers was onto something. After three months of playing with the big boys in the NBA, Bradley had still yet to see a real opportunity to prove himself. His career high in minutes was 14, and that came in a blowout win over the Nets when he saw extended run in garbage time. Bradley was with the Celtics for 38 games, and the bulk of his NBA career was 24 DNPs and 13 outings of seven minutes or less. Without significant playing time, he cannot be an impact player.
The Celtics were excited to see Bradley grow when they drafted him this summer, No. 19 overall out of the University of Texas. But, the youngster took a surprisingly long time to recover from offseason ankle surgery. He spent his first NBA training camp watching from the sidelines, and he was slow to play catch-up when he finally got healthy.
Learning Doc Rivers’ schemes, both offensively and defensively, is a tremendous challenge for a 20-year-old kid fresh off of his freshman year in college. Bradley showed great flashes of individual talent, but he hadn’t yet learned to contribute to the Celtics as a team.
Moving Bradley to the D-League was the right move, and if the Celtics are lucky, it will work wonders for his future prospects.
Bradley made his debut Friday night with the Maine Red Claws, playing 21 minutes off the bench as the backup point guard behind Mario West, himself a fellow Celtics camp invitee this fall. The former Longhorn made his biggest impact in any game this year, finishing with 11 points, six assists, two rebounds and two steals in a losing effort against the Erie Bayhawks.
It doesn’t seem like much, but for a guy whose confidence was shaken by a discouraging first few months in pro basketball, it’s a big step forward.
Bradley probably won’t be a big-time contributor for the Celtics this season. He’s a tremendous athlete, and he’s got the talent to be a brilliant defender on any NBA guard, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready to lock down Dwyane Wade over a seven-game series. Just not yet, anyway.
Avery Bradley will be back, and he will be a contributor someday, but for now, what’s best for him is to play. Now that he’s up in Maine, he’s got a chance to do just that.
