The Detroit Pistons put Avery Bradley on the trade market – should the Blazers be interested?
Three games out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture, the Detroit Pistons are looking to move some players. One of those, as made known by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, is defensive-minded Avery Bradley.
Story posting soon on ESPN: Detroit has made starting shooting guard Avery Bradley available in trade talks. Acquired in July trade with Celtics, Bradley will be a free agent this summer.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 29, 2018
The Boston Celtics traded Avery Bradley to Detroit this summer. Boston moved Bradley to clear cap space for signing Gordon Hayward, taking the team in a new direction.
He’s maintained a 15-point scoring output on his new team, but slipped in rebounding and shooting percentages.
Last season with the Celtics, he grabbed 6.1 rebounds and shot 46.3% from the field per game. With Detroit this year, he’s recording just 2.4 rebounds and shooting 40.9%.
Where Bradley is the most impactful, however, is on the defensive end. While the stats don’t reflect it, he’s one of the better guard defenders in the league. He was a crucial part of Boston’s top-notch defense – making up for Isaiah Thomas‘s deficiencies on that end of the floor.
Why the Blazers don’t move for Avery Bradley
Defense
In years past, the Blazers would be quick to jump on any player capable of improving the team’s defense. In a surprising turnaround, Portland actually fields a top-ten defense this season.
As previously mentioned, Bradley’s best feature is his defense. Sure, Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum aren’t the best at defending. But their improvement is notable in the team’s overall defensive rating of 104.4 (9th in the NBA).
Being top-ten doesn’t call for a move, especially considering other reasons why Bradley wouldn’t benefit the Blazers.
Backcourt
Portland is already hounded for running two short guards together. Dame is 6’3″ and CJ is 6’4″.
Avery Bradley is 6’2″.
Neither Lillard or McCollum would be part of the trade with Detroit. Therefore, the team would have all three of these undersized guards.
Portland runs a small lineup now with Evan Turner (6’7″) and Al-Farouq Aminu (6’10”) as forwards. Inserting Bradley in somewhere (most likely for Turner) creates a SUPER SMALL lineup. Even if Bradley is a strong defender, the constant mismatches he’ll encounter will degrade his defense.
Contract
Avery Bradley is in the final year of a four-year, $32 million contract. He’s therefore an unrestricted free agent after the 2017-2018 season.
While Portland may include one of the big contracts in the trade (Turner, Maurice Harkless or Meyers Leonard), they still won’t have the space to re-sign Bradley.
Knowing Neil Olshey, he’d likely focus on retaining Jusuf Nurkic. The potential Bradley move frees cap space, but not for Bradley’s purposes.
The move is then just a salary dump in Detroit, who are searching for picks and young players to improve their future, rather.
Next: Could Kevin Love realistically be traded to Portland?
UPDATE: From ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Clippers and Pistons have just made a trade. Included in the trade is Avery Bradley, making this analysis no longer applicable.
In light of recent events, this post is merely to console the Blazers fans who wanted a trade for Avery Bradley. It wouldn’t have benefited the team, and clearly Neil Olshey wasn’t quick enough anyway.
Enjoy the crazy trade season!