On Monday, the NBA announced the first and second all-defensive teams, which are as follows:
Position / Player, Team / 1st Team Votes / 2nd Team Votes / Total Points
First Team
F / Draymond Green, Golden State / 99 / — / 198
C / Rudy Gobert, Utah / 97 / 2 / 196
F / Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio / 93 / 6 / 192
G / Chris Paul, LA Clippers / 61 / 18 / 140
G / Patrick Beverley, Houston / 38 / 34 / 110
Second Team
G / Tony Allen, Memphis / 17 / 46 / 80
G / Danny Green, San Antonio / 21 / 26 / 68
C / Anthony Davis, New Orleans / — / 58 / 58
F / Andre Roberson, Oklahoma City / 3 / 47 / 53
F / Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee / 7 / 21 / 35
Boston’s Avery Bradley was a surprise snub this season after making the first team last season. Despite being the top vote-receiver in the Eastern Conference, Bradley didn’t rack up enough points to fill in one of the four guard slots on either of the two teams. Bradley finished with 46 points in total with 12 first-team votes, and was actually the 10th highest vote-getter. The four guards that made the cut were Chris Paul who received 140 total points, Patrick Beverley with 110 points, Tony Allen with 80 points and Danny Green with 68 points.
A bunch of the players who expressed their displeasure with the voting are guys who guard Bradley regularly, which leads you to believe that Bradley probably should have made the team. It isn’t so much admiration for Bradley, but them respecting another guy’s talent and craft.
One argument towards the fact that Bradley was left off either of the teams is that his injuries caused him to miss a total of 26 games, which thus contributed to the eventual snub, which is 100 percent fair. Bradley missed 18 straight games from January 18 to February 26 plus another eight here and there with hip pointers and achilles injuries. Though, go back to the 2012-2013 season, Bradley made the second all-defensive team despite playing in only 50 total games, for what it’s worth. It’s nothing new, the Celtics failing to get recognition for their accomplishments league-wide, but you have to admit, Bradley being left off of either team is pretty absurd.
The Celtics finished 12th in the NBA in defensive rating thanks to the likes of Bradley, Marcus Smart and even Jae Crowder. I totally understand Smart and especially Crowder being left off, but Bradley’s defense propelled Boston to rally from their 0-2 series deficit against the Bulls in the first round, locking down Jimmy Butler for a majority of the series. Not to mention, that spectacular regular season win over Cleveland in March wouldn’t have happened with Bradley playing outstanding defense on Kyrie Irving in the final minute or so. Bradley came in clutch in the second round series versus the Wizards as well. Possibly, without his above-average defense, the Celtics don’t manage first place in the East, either. All of those feats should have been recognized to some degree.
It’s difficult to successfully analyze an individual player’s defense with the stats that we have today and having to piece things together on our own, so looking at a team’s overall defensive rating when an individual player is on the court versus off the court is the best that you can get, in my opinion. Looking at the Celtics’ D-rating when AB is on/off the court is pretty telling, even moreso when you compare those numbers with the four all-defense guards’:
DEF.RTG. ONDEF.RTG. OFFNETAvery Bradley107.5103.8-3.7Chris Paul101.3110.1+8.8Patrick Beverly106.0106.8+0.8Tony Allen104.4104.7+0.3Danny Green101.1100.8-0.3
Even using just the eye test, it was pretty evident that when Bradley was sidelined, the team simply got worse defensively. As Bradley improves as a player, so does Boston’s defense.
Bradley’s game has evolved since he joined the league with the Celtics, and so has the team around him, in general. He’s undoubtedly a critical piece to the Celtics’ defensive puzzle and it’s crazy to think that that fact has yet to become known across the league. You don’t have to watch every minute of every Celtics game to see that Bradley is one of the better defenders in the entire league. He tackles any challenge he faces with confidence and more often than not, he succeeds. While the Eastern Conference Finals were completely nauseating, Bradley still opened some eyes, especially in that Game 3 win. He took on the likes of Kyrie Irving and LeBron James without hesitation in situations where others would panic (rightfully so, though).
While Bradley not making the team doesn’t hurt nor help the Celtics in any way, shape or form, it will undoubtedly give Bradley some extra motivation this coming season and he will surely make the extra push to show the league that he shouldn’t be disregarded again.
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