Los Angeles Lakers: Complete grades for the 2019 NBA offseason
Signed Avery Bradley
The idea of Avery Bradley is a solid one, and one that has earned him a decent amount of money over the past few seasons.
The positive spin on his game is that he can handle the ball as a secondary playmaker, shoot well from outside and play tenacious defense against the opposing team’s best guard option.
That is the version of Bradley we saw briefly in Boston, but it is not the version we have seen since. Bradley has not been a terrible player, but he is “not-quite-as-good-as-advertised” in every area.
After shooting 39 percent from deep in his final season he has shot just 35 percent over three stops since.
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Overall he has been a negative offensive player over the past two seasons, not efficient enough to justify his love of the midrange or jaunts to the hoop. He’s likewise not a beneficial defensive player, last season actively hurting the LA Clippers on that end before they traded him to the Memphis Grizzlies.
Because he played a healthy number of minutes, Bradley was one of the most negatively impactful players in the entire league last season. Jacob Goldstein’s PIPM (Player-Impact Plus-Minus) ranked Bradley 500th out of 532 tracked players last season, a negative contributor in offense and defense.
FiveThirtyEight’s CARMELO player projections are no kinder, rating Bradley as well below replacement value next season and not worth even a minimum contract. He will instead make $4.8 million this season and have a $5.0 million player option for next season.
The Los Angeles Lakers need a plus defender in the backcourt, with Quinn Cook, Rajon Rondo and Alex Caruso not the paradigm of a lockdown rotation. Avery Bradley was signed to be that player, but his track record screams that he is not a plus defender. The Lakers whiffed on this one.