Is Avery Bradley On A Hot Streak Or A Path To Stardom?

Avery Bradley is playing on another level, and it’s no fluke.

What would happen if you were to take Tony Allen‘s other-worldly defense, combine it with, say, J.J. Redick‘s deadly shooting stroke, and tack on Klay Thompson‘s youth?

Well, you’d have one hell of a basketball player on your hands.

The aforementioned hybrid being may seem fantastical, its existence improbable; however, it does exist, and spends most of its time in the Boston Celtics‘ practice facility in Waltham, Mass.

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Welcome to your chance at stardom, Avery Bradley.

The sixth-year guard out of Texas is really coming into his own after a few seasons of perennial averageness. Though always considered an elite wing defender, Bradley’s unconventional value as a stopper and not much else has made it tough to give him starting-caliber minutes, despite actually starting 194 of the last 200 games he’s played in.

There is a promising prospect looming, though; Bradley’s defense has been an unwavering force throughout his Celtics tenure, but now, he seems ready to take the next step on the offensive end of the court — the area most players tend to prioritize — and step up as a go-to guy in Brad Stevens’ motion-heavy attack.

This offseason was all business for A.B. He came into the season with a clear and present goal: to establish himself as one of the best shooters in the NBA.

Well, he’s put in the work, and thus far, it’s yielded major dividends. Bradley currently ranks 26th league-wide in three-point percentage, trailing famed sharpshooter J.J. Redick by just 0.1 percent (42.6 to 42.5). He actually leads the Clippers’ wing in made three-pointers by a solid margin of eight as well. Bradley, in fact, is 19th in made threes, and tied for 11th in made threes per game.

Game-to-game, Bradley is attempting the same number of field goals as he did last season, and only converting an additional 0.4 shots per game, but a higher volume of three-pointers has bumped his scoring average up by 1.5, from 13.9 to 15.4.

Perhaps it’s Brad Stevens’ emphasis on advanced metrics — which indicate that a given player would only have to knock down 33.3 percent of threes to yield the same number of points-per-shot as someone who converted two-pointers at a 50 percent clip — but Bradley has put up more long-balls than ever before, and it’s not even close: for his career, 27.4 percent of Bradley’s attempted field goals have been three-pointers.

This season, that number has spiked to 42.7 percent.

Bradley’s upped his deep-ball percentage from 35.2 last year (still a respectable clip) to a scorching 42.5. It’s no coincidence, either; Bradley’s jumper looks unprecedentedly smooth now that the the small hitch that used to plague his otherwise-excellent form has been eliminated.

Ideally, a player’s shooting arm would form a right angle, his hand would be under the ball, and he would release the ball upward as opposed to forward.

Though Bradley’s shooting form was always decent, he was, for some time, guilty of making a “V” shape with his arm instead of that right angle, subsequently causing him to short-arm his stroke and shoot towards the basket instead of above it. Check out this video from a few years ago:

Now, instead of bringing the ball to his forehead, Bradley keeps his hand under the ball and shoots up instead of out. His improved jumper is much quicker, and he extends his right arm fully, making his release smooth and easily replicable. With this, he’s become a much better catch-and-shoot player, now that he’s eliminated much of his jumper’s fundamental inconsistencies.

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Bradley has a new confidence in his jumper, and that confidence radiates throughout his entire offensive performance. Good shooters don’t give up after a few misses, and Bradley has solidified himself as such. He has yet to attempt fewer than six shots in a single game this season, which is an encouraging sign for someone who projects to be a primary scorer for this Celtics team.

This season, Bradley has already put up 20-plus points in five of the 13 games he’s played in, meaning he’s reaching that benchmark in about 39 percent of his showings. Last year, he did it 12 times in 77 tries, and just once in his first 13, which equates to 15 percent and seven percent, respectively.

There’s no guarantee Bradley keeps this up, of course, but the fundamental improvements to his game indicate that his stellar performance is more than just a hot streak.

Avery Bradley is a weapon. The Celtics extended him in the beginning of last season for four years and $32 million, a deal that was subject to much controversy at the time. But $8 million a year in the post-Turner-deal world is a low-end contract, and this Avery Bradley is worth that asking price.

His defense cracked the door, but a new offensive mojo has flung open the gates of impending stardom.

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All he’s got to do is realize it and walk through.