Isaiah Thomas And Avery Bradley: 1 Backcourt, 2 Stories

Boston Celtics guards Isaiah Thomas and Avery Bradley epitomize two very different basketball upbringings, but it’s time for them to learn from one another.

Aside from sharing the responsibility of comprising the Boston Celtics‘ starting backcourt, Avery Bradley and Isaiah Thomas don’t have much in common; one could even argue that the trajectory of their respective careers up to this point have been completely opposite.

Bradley had the luxury of garnering a ton of attention early on; he was the top prospect in the class of 2009 (according to ESPNU), and attended the University of Texas, one of the top-tier college basketball programs in the country, where he saw moderate success in his freshman campaign.

After posting solid averages in his single season with the Longhorns, Bradley was considered a first-round lock. He was selected 19th overall by the Boston Celtics, and has since been groomed by the most successful NBA franchise in league history over the course of his five-year career.

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The 25-year-old Bradley is both a product and an embodiment of the effects of the early spotlight. A.B. was a highly-regarded high school player, and because of that, he’s been able to be good (but never truly great) since then. He’s been able to play it safe because he’s good at what he does, even if “what he does” isn’t anything exceptional.

For Isaiah Thomas, the opposite has been the case. He was a four-star high school recruit, ranked 92nd overall, but as a 5-foot-9 point guard, Thomas was never predicted to have much success at the upper levels.

He committed to University of Washington and played three seasons with the Huskies, and despite his numerous college accolades, he was one pick away from going undrafted in 2011. Thomas was drafted with 60th and final pick of the 2011 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings, who had already traded for fellow point guard Jimmer Fredette, the 10th overall pick.

As an underdog who had proven nothing, the undersized Thomas couldn’t afford to play it safe. Luckily for him, his fearlessness — coupled with legitimate skill, of course — yielded remarkable success early on.

Thomas averaged 11.5 points per game during his rookie year, and increased his scoring average in each of his three seasons with the Kings. He averaged 20.3 points per contest in his final year with Sacramento, and at season’s end, he signed with the Phoenix Suns to join a stacked backcourt rotation that included Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic.

Despite averaging 15.5 points per game with the Suns in 2014-15, Thomas was sent to the Boston Celtics in a last-minute deal before the trade deadline. In Boston, he was used in the sixth man role once again. Thomas voiced his desire to start multiple times, but never got a real chance until this season, when Marcus Smart went down with a knee injury early on.

Now, Thomas is gaining a legitimate backing for his first-ever All-Star appearance, and it seems that the perennial chip on his shoulder has left him permanently insatiable.

Thomas’ metaphoric hunger has had real implications on his on-court performance, just as Bradley’s risk aversion has affected his game as well. The discrepancy between Thomas’ and Bradley’s basketball-upbringings has bred two very different players — neither perfect, but both capable of learning from each other.

Incidentally, the factor inhibiting the offensive production of both Thomas and Bradley is experimentation, but for opposite reasons: Thomas is notorious for attempting to do too much, while Bradley’s fear of stepping out of his comfort zone renders him completely one-dimensional.

Let’s take a look at this dynamic:

Isaiah Thomas and the art of impatience

Isaiah Thomas has been the X-factor for Boston since he joined the green and white cavalcade last season, but like any X-factor, the ship sinks when he does.

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Thomas is shooting 41.7 percent from the field this season, but taking that number in a vacuum doesn’t account for the vexing inconsistency of the 5-foot-9 guard. Though sporting an average of 20.7 points per game this season, Thomas’ output isn’t nearly as steady as you’d like it to be from a primary scorer, and much of that is due to his shot selection.

The metaphoric divider between the true elite and the league’s volume scorers is a capacity for offensive patience. For Isaiah Thomas, patience has never been an area of strength, and that has held true during his time in Boston as well.

Nearly a quarter (23.8 percent) of Thomas’ shots are attempted when the shot clock is between 22 and 18 seconds, a range that NBA.com considers “very early.”

Of course, Thomas is often the man leading Boston’s fast break, and his speed is his weapon, but fast-breaking on every possession is not a sustainable style when the playoffs come ’round, so it’s important for Thomas to learn now how he can be effective when the pace slows.

In halfcourt sets, Thomas has struggled to shake his man. He’s an OK ball handler — he’s flashy, but loose with his dribble — but he is most effective using simple hesitation moves and saving his creativity for finishes around the rim, something he’s actually exceptional at.

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The issue with Thomas is that when he wants to shoot, he’s going to. And as a natural scorer, he wants to shoot.

A lot.

This, unfortunately, leads to countless contested jumpers, which is not the way most coaches want to end possessions. A whopping 43.2 percent of Thomas’ shots come when a defender is between two and four feet of him, but he’s only converting 38 percent of those attempts.

Though it’s understandable for a bite-sized guard like Thomas to be bothered by the length of his defender, who is almost always bigger than him, there’s no reason he should be throwing up such a high volume of closely-contested shots in half court sets.

When the postseason arrives and the importance of every possession is inevitably raised exponentially, the Celtics simply cannot afford wasted opportunities on offense.

Avery Bradley and the shackles of risk-aversion

Avery Bradley is on the verge of breaking out, and at this point, his own mental block is the biggest obstacle standing in his way.

Bradley has never been a very adventurous offensive player, and while some may believe that’s actually a good thing, the sixth-year guard’s reluctance — borderline refusal — to step out of his comfort zone has made him a little too grounded for his own good, to the point where he is actually holding himself back from becoming a complete and well-rounded basketball player.

Since being drafted by the Celtics, Bradley has always been a big proponent of the midrange jumpers. When his stroke was a work in progress, the elbow and short-midrange was his go-to area, but he’s since progressed as a shooter and improved the form of his stroke, and has subsequently shifted to the three-point line.

His attempts from deep have increased exponentially, to the point where he’s now tossing up nearly six trifectas per game.

Unfortunately, Bradley has (predictably) become infatuated with his outside shot, which has taken away from the slashing aspect of his game. He has taken 79 shots in the paint this season, compared to a whopping 130 from midrange.

One could argue that Bradley is more effective from the perimeter, but the Cs’ guard is converting 60 percent of his attempts in the restricted area, compared to just 43 percent from midrange.

It wouldn’t be fair to say that Bradley has regressed as a player since improving his jumper, but he has certainly become more predictable offensively. It seems that nearly every pick and roll designed for Bradley ends with him pulling up after one dribble. When considering how dynamic and shifty he was in his second season, it’s remarkable how one-dimensional he’s become.

Take a look at a 28-point performance against the 2012 Hawks, versus a 25-point outing against this year’s Atlanta team.

Bradley was considered an elite prospect because he was (and still is) one of the top athletic talents in the entire world. Over the course of his career, Bradley has also become a decent ball-handler who makes up for his lack of creativity with his great first step. But, once again, we’ve yet to see him put that on display this season, save for a few random plays here and there.

At 25, Bradley is entering his athletic prime. He’s put on muscle, and has been around the NBA game (not to mention multiple Hall of Famers) for five years now. He should understand the basics of attacking his man off the dribble or hesitating a help-side defender on pick and roll (he did it multiple times in the 2012 video).

Having said all that, Bradley is scoring more than he ever has before (15.2 points per game), and is shooting at the second-best efficiency of his career, even with his high volume of long range attempts. He’s still a productive player, but he still could be so much more than that.

At the end of the day …

Bradley and Thomas is a backcourt pairing that’s working effectively right now, and for a team that won’t be contending for a championship this season, that’s OK. Both have had their names thrown around in the All-Star conversation this year, indicative that — at the very least — they’re exceeding expectations in some areas.

Still, one can’t help but hope that both improve, as neither is the perfect player. Making fundamental adjustments to play style is easier said than done, but it isn’t impossible by any means. The locker room of this Boston Celtics team strives to be as ego-free as possible, and assuming that holds true, the transition shouldn’t be too difficult for either player.

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The new year is approaching, and if there is a time to make a change, it’s now.

Hopefully, the Boston backcourt thinks so too.