Avery Bradley: One and Done?

Well, I don’t know what to make of this. If there is a work stoppage coming, then this might be a decent move. Otherwise, it’s kind of a bad one. He has room to improve and his defense is suspect. But at his size and with his skill set I don’t know that he’d ever be a lottery pick.

CloseToJumping says he should come back to work on his offensive game.

CloseToJumping is also mocking you with his selection of Purdue to the Elite 8.

This is a first – if true.

He would be the first great kid/great athlete who would seemingly benefit from one more year who just bolts. DGib at least stuck it out two years.

Again if true, he wants out now.

This is all on Barnes and the repercussions could last a very long time.

Shaunsters, the resident OB connected hoops man, is predicting that Bradley leaving makes Joseph a lock for us. lol

How would his game improve in coming back if he’s not getting reps at point guard, which is what he’ll need to play in the NBA?

For his sake, and for UTs, I hope he goes in the 1st round.

What’s troubling is the hasty exit.

What’s disturbing is that we went from a wealth of guards to start the 2009 season to this in 2010:

- J’Covan Brown
- Jai Lucas
- Ward (injured, will come back, but will it be 100%?)
- Balbay (injured, may come back, may not)

And maybe, just maybe
- Corey Joseph (don’t know where he’s going to commit)

Multiple reports have him dropping including this one. They actually had a very nice write-up on him. He’s a project combo guard. He came in as one and in college you can sometime get away with it, but the NBA is a different ball game. He probably should put his name in the draft and workout for teams. One of them might fall in love with him. But if he can’t get assurances that he’s a top 20 pick then he’s simply making a mistake. I hope the best for the kid because he’s extremely easy to root for.

I know the SOP around these parts is to blame everything on Barnes’ constant browbeating. Have no idea of the validity of it. It seems overblown, but I never really saw Barnes lay into AB. Why would you? He brought effort every game. I do remember Barnes wanting AB to be more aggressive and shoot more. Terrible reinforcement. If Barnes can replace him with Corey Joseph, then good for him. If not, then the expected lineup from my article is looking more and more accurate.

Shipping a car home is never a great indicator of coming back. Best of luck to the kid, but he could be making a huge mistake. Not everyone gets to play with Lebron….

Jordan Hamilton should spend the next 6 months dribbling a basketball 24/7.

“His last play in the tourney against Wake was vintage Bradley — racing down the court chasing a fast break and swatting the ball off the glass to keep Texas in the game. Cleaning up yet another mess and you certainly can’t blame his effort nor his impulse to roll the dice in the draft after the trainwreck that was Texas basketball this season. "

Don’t forget the part about him going 4/15 from the field. Continuously jacking up shots and not driving to the basket to get to the free throw line. That is definitely vintage Bradley.

He was a bit full of himself (or as I’ve read his dad is) and thought he was going to be one and done before he even got to campus. I think he/his dad failed to realize that his ability to play street ball in AAU leagues doesn’t correlate too well with his current NBA readiness.

I wish him the best, but I really think he needed to stay another year.

Tweet from same website right after the Bradley info:

Texas staff expects Jordan Hamilton and the rest of the underclassmen to return besides Bradley.

BTW, if Bradley doesn’t finish the spring semester, doesn’t it hurt us? Maybe with scholarships or something? I thought there was rule about 1 and dones. I’m probably thinking about something else….

IIRC, you no longer can test. You either go or don’t go.

I wonder if this gives T. Thompson the warm fuzzies about showing up in Austin next year…

Bob,

I thought the deadline was just moved up, thereby de facto making you stay in, not actually requiring you to stay in. I’m probably very wrong on that though…

I doubt TT and AB have been on IM a lot recently, but what do I know.

Wow next year is looking great. Can’t wait.

Bad move IMO. 6’2" 180lbs, worn out SHOOTING guard who SHOT ~30% to close the season…sounds like a project guard, one that is not going to be selected in the first round. Better call Daniel Gibson.

Here’s how I stay positive about this.

A) Him leaving brings in Corey Joseph. (Ha ha ha ha ha ha)
B) NBA has lockout in 2011
C) In 2011 we have:
Ward, Varez (Sr)
Wangemene, Alexi (Sr)
Hamilton, Jordan (Jr)
Brown, J’Covan (Jr)
Williams, Shawn (RS Soph)
Thompson, Tristan (Soph)
Joseph, Corey (Soph)
Daniels, DeAndre (Fresh)
Kabongo, Myck (Fresh)
Lewis, Julien (Fresh)
McClellan, Sheldon (Fresh)

That leaves one more scholly, probably for a big man.

So, the one guy that apparently listened to Barnes is bolting? Ouch.

Best of luck, AB. Sadly, I’ll never see you play again as I hardly ever watch the NBA.

Hamilton may well average over 20 a game next year. Sean Williams just got some PT, too. We’ll see if he’s better than Hamilton after all. Hopefully ipowers was right and we’ll have two big time players next year.

I can live with Ward, Brown, Hamilton, Williams and maybe Balbay taking the bulk of minutes at the 1-3 spots. It is the 4 and 5 spots that I’m worried about. GJ didn’t look good down the stretch and things will be a lot tougher for him without DJ on the court. Wanchaphill isn’t a 3 headed monster at the 5, more like the 3 bears or blind mice.

Plus, Barnes is going to have to nut up and come up with something besides ball-you-half court on defense because Brown and Johnson suck worse than Hamilton on d and any time Wanchaphill came in the game we made guys like Davis look like Olajuwan. We simply can’t play our patented stay betwee your man and some mythical person in the stands defense with this group. We have to be creative. I doubt that will happen.

Work on your game:

A) in the D league
B) end of an NBA bench
C) with Barnes

D) After playing in the league for 3 years and getting little to no playing time, out of the league and on to Europe in which he’ll be part of the 60% of NBA players that are broke 5 years out of the league.

We should continue to blame the players for not being coachable or not being as good as advertised. It’s the only explanation.

Seriously though, great post Vasherized.

Avery’s video is the most frustrating part, imo. It’s obvious the guy can ball at an elite level. It’s not like watching someone playing six man football and you’re not sure if it’s the speed of the prospect or a lack of speed in the competition. Bradley was playing against top flight players on a routine basis including John Wall. And he was killing pretty much all of them. It’s obvious to everyone the kid was a stud coming out of Findlay Prep.

Oh well. Next year Avery will be making millions of dollars and good from him. Meanwhile he’ll be our very own cautionary tale. Go Team.

The NCAA moved up its deadline to remove oneself from draft consideration to 10 days BEFORE the lottery order is even chosen. So, a player has very little idea which teams are going to be interested in him, since a team’s selection will depend heavily on the draft order. This is going to have a huge impact with a bunch of guys coming out that should stay in school and guys staying in that should go pro.

How would his game improve in coming back if he’s not getting reps at point guard, which is what he’ll need to play in the NBA?

Which is why I think this is all on Barnes.

“but seemed handicapped both mentally and physically under Barnes’ watch as the season wore on. The array of talents we saw in December were mysteriously neutered by February.”

Well put. And after this year, it would take a recruit being deaf, dumb and blind to have no idea what is in store for him in Rick’s World.

Actually, his last college play was getting beat down the court by a mediocre pg with a funny name no one had ever heard of and getting scored on at the buzzer with his back turned on the man. Look at the tape.

I suspect this decision has more to do with the lockout/potential rookie salary restriction issue than anything else.

srr50 said:
March 23rd, 2010 at 1:31 pm

How would his game improve in coming back if he’s not getting reps at point guard, which is what he’ll need to play in the NBA?

Which is why I think this is all on Barnes.

So Avery should have been playing point? Good lord he could not dribble or pass worth a damn!

The video was 95% dunks and 5% blocked shots. I’m a big fan of Bradley but the video doesn’t really show what he does well. He was shooting around 50% from the field through the first half of the season. Once we lost Ward and Balbay he was our only defensive minded wing player, and his lack of help probably had a lot to do with his shooting percentage tanking. He gave 100% effort all the time which I really liked about him, but I think at the same time he wore himself out on the defensive end leaving no legs for his jump shot.

At 6’2" it is hard for any player to make it in the NBA, even point guards. A 6’2" shooting guard is an even tougher sell. The knock on him was already that he wasn’t a distributor (not that he had a terrible handle per se) and that he was hesitant to attack the rim. He obviously didn’t hit a growth spurt and his game was exactly as advertised, including weaknesses. As a seasoned 2nd or 3rd year player, like Stephen Curry, he could have proven that his strengths outweighed his weaknesses.

His chances of being a lottery pick are very slim, and at this point 2nd round is much more likely. Second round means no guaranteed contract and something like a third of all second rounders never play a single NBA game.

“Remember this kid?”

Nope. I like the kid, and don’t blame him for bolting. The one bad decision he’s making is not taking a leisurely drive back home to Washington.

I’m not sure how much his NBA stock was going to rise with another year. He seems to not be a great prospect due to his tweenerness, but someone you’d want on your team from an effort/hustle standpoint. He might as well get paid in my opinion.

ransom,

Have you burned your Avery Bradley effigy yet? Will you continue to stalk him like a frustrated sexual sadist in the NBA?

Of all the players and coaches one could blame for this season’s demise, Avery is toward the bottom of that list. But he’s at the top of yours every day. Why is that?

Northern Iowa, Ohio, and St. Mary’s have some mediocre guys with funny names and they just knocked out Kansas, Georgetown, and Nova. Bradley played good D on that shot. It’s hard to block a step-back jumper at the buzzer. Sometimes you have to credit the player who made the shot instead of castrate the defender that got beaten.

So I’ll hang up and not listen. This act is beyond tired.

And as far as that goes, he didn’t get beaten, because if he had, Smith would have gone to the hoop like Chris Kramer did on the Aggies on Sunday.

Ransom,

I’ve looked at the tape and Ishmael Smith makes a great 16 footer with a hand in his face. It’s a great individual play. I’m not sure what more Avery Bradley could have done. He at least kept him out of the lane. Avery’s back only turns to him after the shot has gone up and he turns around. Nothing bad with Avery’s defense or effort on that play. Would have been good if he was taller, I guess. AB didn’t shoot well that game but he had a couple of key blocks and a steal down that stretch. Again, he gives great effort (something the other two freshman can’t say). I’ll echo Vash’s question as to why all the hate? I think the kid is going to be disappointed with his draft experience and it’s a little silly to think about the fact that he was higher rated than Wall or Cousins, but he had a fine freshman season….

Surprising to me. Good luck to him. If he’s not finishing out the semester in good academic standing, then yes, it does negatively impact Texas—but not too big a deal since we don’t seem to be using all our scholarships anyhow.

Egg, there’s more evidence outside of the video that tells us Bradley was a stud. It’s not like he was rated as the number 1 player in America for dunks. The kid was killing, KILLING, really good players in every way imaginable in high school and on the AAU circuit. Dominating guys that will get paid to play basketball.

There was nothing fake or deceiving about his game coming out of high school. Hell he was stellar in November and December to an extent. Guys that scout basketball for a living raved about his game.

Now he’s struggling to stay in the first round of the draft. I suppose it’s his fault. Anything’s possible.

I remember posting the pipe dream I had that the Spurs would be able to grab him. Now it looks like they could, but they already have what may be AB’s best case scenario in George Hill and have other needs. And I realized that AB can’t really dribble.

I really don’t understand the idea that Avery Bradley was ruined in the last year. Some guys just aren’t 1 and done talents, regardless of their rank coming into college. Taking 09’ out since the top guys haven’t declared yet. Guys like Samardo Samuels (#2), Tyler Zeller (#7), JaMychael Green (# 6) ,Scotty Hopson (#9), and Willie Warren (#10) weren’t one and done guys from 08’. Only Tyreke Evans and Brandon Jennings have had real impacts and were selected high out of the top ten that year. Jrue Holiday was taken #17 and Mullens was taken in the back half of the draft. Jennings and Holiday were PGs and better PG skills coming in.

07’ is the same with P. Patterson, K. Singler, N. Smith, A. Freeman, and N. Calathes all still in school. Love, Beasley, Mayo, Gordon, and Rose all were one and done and got great money but out of the guards, they’re all better physical specimen with better upside than AB at this time. Only Gordon really is comparable from a position standpoint, as Rose and Mayo or more PGish, and he’s 6’4" and came in already with a NBA body.

I don’t type this to criticize AB or Barnes, simply that perhaps we were all expecting a little too much if your expectations were for a small SG with limited ballhandling to come in, blow up, and be a NBA lottery pick. I think AB in two years COULD make himself into a Hill or Monta Ellis type player (both about his size) with work at the proper skill set. Both of those players were not drafted high for various reasons. Small SG simply aren’t drafted high often. I don’t begrudge him if he goes, but I don’t understand the Texas ruined him thought process. I thought he got better throughout the year, he just has longer to go then some of you think….

Bradley, Gibson, Abrams: all have Dads who thought they could/should play in the league as underclassmen. Gotta get paid, man.

PB, I agree with almost all of what you wrote. I usually do, we seem to think alike. But, this part: “I thought he got better throughout the year, he just has longer to go then some of you think….” just isn’t true.

He did have longer to go than some thought. He wasn’t a usual #1 player that was an obvious one and done talent. It was pretty obvious to me that Wall was a better player. Hell, I think Hamilton has more upside than Bradley. But, he didn’t get better throughout the year by any metric.

His ball handling got worse over the course of the year and was substantially worse than it was in high school. He was a much worse FT shooter in college than h.s. He got more and more tentative taking the ball to the rack as the season wore on. His jumper got worse, his confidence eroded. He was flat out a better basketball player last year than this year. I know the competition got much tougher, but that doesn’t change the fact that his skills got worse. That should not happen, ever, to an 18 year old.

That is the rub. A lot of players have gotten worse around here and it just shouldn’t happen. Period. These kids should be making huge strides month to month and especially year to year at this age. I’m not sure there is any way a reasonable person can conclude that it is not Barnes fault.

I’m convinced that the only reason Hamilton began to show so much improvement is because Todd Wright adopted him and shielded him from Barnes. That is also why he is coming back. Barnes really needs to take a long look in the mirror.

I hope he gets drafted and makes lots of money in the league. But you can look at the comments from numerous people on here and other sites and see that he was vastly overrated coming out of high school. He doesn’t have much of a handle, has tweener size, barely shot 43% [and 54% of his free throws!] and cannot take anyone off the dribble. Either the competition he was playing against in high school was miserably bad or he really, really regressed from graduation to October in Austin. But we can blame all of that on Barnes I suppose.

That disease is rearing it’s ugly head again, it just amazes me how far a person can hide their head in the sand. Some thought I was going to say something about a body orifice.
Kevy is right about Avery’s game, it has been evaluated by many experts, he is golden and a “player”. Another kid that tried to fit his all around game into a Texas square hole.
I wish him “God speed”.
Having watch him at least 50 times against top flight players this kid is not a project and will do well at the next level.

Vasherized, good stuff, many good points. Well done.

Shipping his car home, The booster didn’t want it back?

Sorry, I can’t resist low hanging fruit….or married women

His skills aren’t in question and I think he can be a good NBA player. If I had to put money down I would have wagered that he has a better/longer/more productive NBA career than Hamilton. That was before he (presumably) declares for the draft as a FR.

Being a great player at the HS or college level doesn’t necessarily translate to the NBA. Two thirds of the first round players become “what happened to him?” in five years, partly because the GMs take huge gambles and partly because players who dominated at lower levels can’t do that in the NBA. The guys who make it big have size and athleticism and are well skilled, the guys who are “just” good have one or the other, or maybe they have a single specialty of some sort. Look at the Cavs lineup aside from LeBron, Varejo has size but not athleticism but he rebounds and moves extremely well without the ball, Gibson is a lights out shooter and benefits from being able to run with a 6’8" point forward, Moon has size and athleticism but isn’t too skilled, same with Candace Parker’s brother. When that lineup is out there they tear apart teams playing small ball.

The jump from HS to college, as well as the jump from college to the NBA, can be hard for players that were used to dominating against inferior competition. They hit a wall where they can’t rely on pure athleticism like they used to, and some players never fully adjust. Kevin Durant’s biggest asset is his hard work, it is why he can hit any shot from the floor. There are other 6’9" lanky guys in the league who have the same physical tools as him but never put in the work. Guys that aren’t fortunate to have good size or elite athleticism find out real quick that without honing in on some skillset they don’t stick around long. The rest of the players in the league are just too good.

Bradley can stick around, but he will have to up his game. Monta Ellis, Stephen Curry, and Russell Westbrook are recent examples of guys his size who have done good things as undersized SG (Westbrook having made the conversion to PG – Curry in the process). Those three should encourage Bradley that he can make it. I just don’t think he is ready, and he is running the risk of missing his chance of sticking with a team by jumping in too early. The list of players who have made that mistake is very long.

Kevin, NBADraft.net has for some time listed Bradley’s deficiencies as including: “Size”, “NBA Ready” and “Passing”. He did nothing this year to improve on those areas. I like the kid, and I thought he was our second best player and second most consistent player behind Damion James. At the same time, there were question marks in his game coming into the season, from an NBA perspective.

I said in my first post “I’m a big fan of Bradley but the video doesn’t really show what he does well.” That wasn’t a knock on him at all, his best attributes are his defense (both on the ball and off), his midrange game (and a deadly stepback with a high release that can’t be blocked), and his ability to run the floor. His FG percentage was amazing for the first half of the year for a jump shooting freshman.

I still believe that his struggles (and by extension the team’s) had alot to do with Ward and Balbay being injured. I mean, you take away a great defender and a threat to attack the basket in Ward and that makes more work for Bradley on the defensive end and tightens things up for him on the offensive end. Having Balbay next to him may have been an even trade off on the defensive end but not on the other end of the court. Once Balbay was gone too, Bradley was all alone on the wing playing defense. To his credit, he brought defensively every trip down the court even with Brown or Lucas next to him.

Now given his lack of “Size”, his average “Passing”, and the lack of “NBA Readiness” (which I read as ability to seize a game – the best players all do it); he struggled to carry the team on his shoulders. Does that make him a poor player? Not at all. But if he wants to be a lottery pick he has to prove that he can put a team on his shoulders, because he doesn’t have the physical tool set that GMs go apeshit for.

“Now given his lack of "Size", his average "Passing", and the lack of "NBA Readiness" (which I read as ability to seize a game – the best players all do it); he struggled to carry the team on his shoulders. Does that make him a poor player? Not at all. But if he wants to be a lottery pick he has to prove that he can put a team on his shoulders, because he doesn’t have the physical tool set that GMs go apeshit for.”

I just don’t see how this is controversial, or any way sticking your head in the sand (or elsewhere).

Saying that ’he’s been evaluated by experts, so he’s golden" is absurd. Again, without disparaging Bradley, most of us could recite the litany of can’t-miss prospects who did. AB has game but he’s not an athletic freak, he’s an 18-year old who couldn’t consistently knock down a jump shot for most of the year. He’s far ahead of his peers defensively put I don’t recall hearing any 6’2" defensive specialists getting drafted very highly.

The question ‘can he get paid?’ is a different one. I’ve got no idea about that. I do know that a league which puts AB in the lottery right now is not a league that I want to watch.

“I just don’t see how this is controversial, or any way sticking your head in the sand (or elsewhere). "
say esa, Go back and read the post with your eyes open, see what that reference is about.

“‘he’s been evaluated by experts, SO he’s golden" is absurd”
Ditto esa , don’t add anything to the quote, read the post again. Ok I will make it easy on you primo, open your eyes now.

“Kevy is right about Avery’s game, it has been evaluated by many experts, he is golden and a "player". Another kid that tried to fit his all around game into a Texas square hole”

You must not be a real primo or you would know what and how to use “golden and player” in a statement.
Are you from “North” El Paso ?

Probably a bad decision. I think if he knows for sure he would love a career in Europe or in the NBDL, he should do this. I see him as a 2nd rounder right now and that doesn’t even get you 1 year of a guaranteed contract in the NBA.

I think he would have a better shot at the NBA with a few years of nailing jump shots in college.

There are only about 400 guys in the whole world that get to play NBA ball at any given time. Just because you want to, doesn’t mean you get to. I could think of a lot of worse things to do with my time than to hang in Austin for a few, go to school for free (maybe even get a degree) and get better at hoops…Seems like it would be better than playing minor league ball or spending half the year in Turkey or Ukraine or wherever to get a tiny paycheck.

Bradley made a business decision, he weighed the risk of labor problems in the NBA (including a likely lower pay scale for rookies) plus the risk of getting hurt (ala Ward and Balbay) versus the cost of not improving his draft position by playing another year at UT.

Bradley did not seem to improve this year, in fact he finished the season poorly (probably due to tired legs). It seems obvious that Bradley feels that playing another year for Barnes will not improve his draft position enough to outweigh the risks associated with staying another year.

To do well in the NBA, Bradley is going to have to master PG skills. He has a long way to go in that area. On D, NBA size shooting guards will post him up mercilessly. Avery is super quick though and, with some improvement, should be able to guard quick PGs. Avery was a good shooter until he hit the wall so shooting should not be a problem.

Losing him really hurts, he was one of the few (2?) returning horns who could play both O and D.

I’m no expert for sure, but there is a collective wisdom on these boards. The last times people were this skeptical that I can recall were DGib and CJ Miles. DGib lucked out getting to the Cavs with King James. Where again is Miles?

I wish AB the best but my uninformed sense, confirmed by the wisdom here is that this isn’t a smart move. I hope it isn’t a referendum on Barnes. I want Barnes to recover from this ala Mack.

HOOKEM

Hope this is serious. Miles is putting up about 10 ppg for the Jazz. Had 23 two nights ago against the Celtics. Full-time starter last year, part-time this year.

For anybody questioning Bradley’s ranking at the end of his Senior year, you obviously weren’t paying attention. He forced them to give him that ranking by consistently dominating the floor against the best players in the nation. He ascended to #1 from about #15. They didn’t just throw him there to be the contrarian site. He took it.

Did he live up to it? No. But he wasn’t a bust either.

Avery isn’t going to grow or get to run the point next season. Why not get paid to learn the game? I think he ends up in the middle of the first round, though he might never play point guard.

People keep focusing on his negatives, not his positives. His plus side is huge. There aren’t more than 3-4 difference makers in any NBA draft, and Avery is not one of those guys, but he will be a solid starter for someone.

I’m not saying Bradley’s NBA ready, but the program did nothing but hurt his prospects as an NBA player. Blame it on whomever you like, the coach, the system, Bradley, proximity, tired legs, salsa with too much kick, but facts are facts.

The NBA thought more of Bradley coming out of high school than they think of him now. I also know for a fact Bradley’s departure is being used against us on the recruiting trail, and for good reason.

Here’s another thing thats going to hurt us and don’t think for a second it’s not being used by every swinging dick out there.

Kevin Durant, DJ Augustin, Damion James, AJ Abrams

vs.

Demarcus Cousins, John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, Patrick Patterson

Texas was nearly one and done in the tournament
Kentucky is probably going to win the national championship.

Good luck to Avery, but I think a lot of the frustration with his decision is that — despite his hype and ranking — he had a less successful freshman year than Daniel Gibson had.

When Bradley came to Texas, I doubt many thought he’d be a less productive (though certainly more athletic) Dan Gibson.

Gibson has had a nice run in the NBA. He also had a greater impact on the UT basketball program — Great Eight appearance — than Bradley will have had if he leaves after this season.

Great Eight, that was a great run. Too bad we couldn’t make it to the Fantastic Four though.

Two things:

First, it seems unlike Bradley, given his reputation and performance as a team player, to take a whack at the team’s APR on the way out the door. But if he really is leaving, that’s what would happen (unless he came to school with credits already in the bank).

Second, it seems like he caught all the bad breaks in terms of performance. He gave it all on defense, and his shooting suffered late in the season. But he still found enough in his legs to block that shot against Wake. He undoubtedly would have driven more had he not lost confidence in his own ability to shoot FTs. He can go end to end… he did it against UNC.

There probably are players (I’m thinking J’Covan Brown) that don’t let Barnes get to them because deep down, they still think they know how they should play. Bradley seems like one of those guys that really thought Barnes would improve his game and took everything he said to heart. He gave it all he could, things got worse instead of better, and now he’s looking at the future. I don’t blame him for leaving, if he can get first-round money.

Kafka,

Absolutely. I believe this is a business decision for AB. Work stoppage, probably first round, risk of injury which happened not once but twice right in front of him. That probably has a large impact.

Mags,

Do you believe after watching AB in college that he should have been the #1 rated recruit coming in? I think AB is a top 10-15 kind of recruit and had a very good first year.

BiH,

CJ Miles is an interesting case. I think he’s either a cautionary tale or story of success depending on what lense you use. He made about 1.8 million in the NBA his first 3 years. If it’s true that a NBA guy after, taxes, agent, lawyer, etc. takes home about 25% of gross then he made about 450k net. Not bad for a 19 year old kid if you can find it. His 2nd contract, which is supposed to be what your shooting for was 4 years, 15 million. Again, good stuff but more journey man level.

I wonder what a 6’7", true wingman could have done in college though. Look at guys like Evan Turner or Wesley Johnson. They’ll probably be making 4-5 million a year in their first contracts, and unless the bomb more than that on their 2nds. Could CJ Miles been that? Don’t know, but it’s an interesting conversation that will never be truly answered. He’s only 23 so he could still blow up. I root for him.

Kev,

Distressing hearing about the negative recruiting, but are we surprised? Can we really blame the other schools? Barnes better be able to overcome that argument or his stay in Austin will be shorter than he expects.

BTW, The last third of the season, Bradley was about 75% from the line, a tremendous improvement from OOC play. He also hunted for his offense more, tried to display leadership, and showed a toughness and gave effort. I appreciate his toughness more than anything.

Also, can we dispense with the theory that AB was sooo much worse a shooter from the beginning of the year??? It’s simply not true. He definitely limped in with a few stinkers as he hit the wall and his legs were gone, but AB was a 43.2% FG shooter for the year.

He was 44.1% in conference play. He was 42.9% after conference play started (counting UConn and tourney)*. He never shot the ball consistently well all season. He simply went cold after the Mizzou game. Not surprisingly around the time we went over 25 games….His A/T level went up quite a bit, but he shot about the same and became a better FT shooter as the season progressed. If your going to spout something, at least be able to back it up…..

*this was based on very quick math and could totally be wrong

Patrick, I was following the stats for most of the season and for nearly half of the season Bradley’s FG percentage was near 50%, and that included some of the first few conference games. I think it was in the 47-48 range. It tailed off considerably as he started piling up those 15-20% nights with more frequency. While he was shooting great we went 17-0 and when he wasn’t we went 7-10, with some fashion of the chicken and egg thing going on.

The main point about his shooting was that if he stuck at around 50% he might be a lottery pick still, but as a 43% shooter he won’t.

PB, good point… but IIRC CJ was pretty intent on not being in college long. Certainly not the three years of play that Turner and Johnson put in.

Egg,

Actually, he shot 43.7% before conference play. Again, he limped to the finish line with some stinkers when I think his legs were gone, but it’s simply a misnomer that he shot well OOC and then sucked in conference. He shot better the first half of conference play but it had nothing to do with regressing as a shooter and more to do with endurance….IMO….And remember most of those games were against Little Sisters of the Poor. He never was above 50% as a shooter, he got up to the high 47% before the A&M game….My point still stands, I think your just agreeing with me…

BiH,

Certainly there are differences but CJ was a much better prospect then certainly Johnson…..I think fans and certainly CJ will always wonder what happened if he went Durant or Carmelo or heck even Eric Gordon…

PB@BC,

I have the benefit of hindsight. What I’m saying is, as of the last game of the high school season last year he earned it.

I’m not sure a top 10-15 type of recruit leaves after the type of year he had. He’s still benefiting off of his high school rep.

The fun parlor game is what would AB have looked like had he played at Kentucky. Or Duke.

Kevy,
" Blame it on whomever you like, the coach, the system, Bradley, proximity, tired legs, salsa with too much kick, but facts are facts."
I want to go on record that Patron, Scotch and strippers had nothing to do with Avery leaving !

“but the program did nothing but hurt his prospects as an NBA player”. correcta mundo Kevy.

I have always said that we have not seen the best Basketball that Damo ,Gary J. even Dog, but most of all Avery , Hamilton , and maybe JCB can play,period. They were all better players coming into Texas.

Patrick, I’m not sure if you were addressing me, but the numbers on Avery Bradley are:

1st 16 games: 81 for 163 for a 50% shooting percentage
last 18 games: 78 for 205 for a 38% shooting percentage
last 9 games: 33 for 103 for a 32% shooting percentage

He got much worse as the season progressed.

Barton,

As I said, he definitely limped to the finish line. But your picking and choosing your data points a bit. I simply used OOC vs. in-conference, because that’s what’s generally argued. First 16 games counts two very hot games in conference for him. He was very good in January and most of February and then started to fall apart. That’s not regression, IMHO, of skills but his performance was effected by lack of endurance. It was his first year of playing major college basketball and the mental grind, more than the physical, can get to freshman. That’s all. For the most part we agree. He had a lousy end after the Mizzou game, He was pretty much the same guy OOC as he was in-conference, even with the terrible ending….He shot FT’s better the last half of the year. He shot three’s a tad better OOC I think….

Fair enough. There was a stretch there where it looked like he would break out and instead he broke down. Still, you don’t see many collegiate freshman hit a wall quite like that. In the NBA, rookies often do, but that is 82 games, not 35. It still seems more mental than physical to me, numbers aside.

Avery has always seemed more introspective. It would appear that he is the type of kid to take things more personally. Whereas, JCB and JH don’t strike me as the reflective type. They probably don’t remember what somebody told them 1 minute ago. They can handle Barnes, Bradley obviously could not.

The way RB handled JCB’s minutes late in the year, I think he was still not doing things the company way, even though he said he understood the company way.

It’s just me thinking here, but I have to wonder whether that part of the marriage can be saved.

AB did not finish the season strong, and that is why he should stay another year or more. The kids who are nailing jumpers in the tourney and showing fresh legs are the picks at his position. You only get one chance to get drafted, and if you slip out of the first round, your chance of making it goes way down. If you don’t make the pros the first time, next year there will be a whole new crop of guys with huge upside that the NBA will be wanting to invest in and last years’ didn’t make it guys don’t seem as exciting.

But, as I said yesterday, if he knows college isn’t for him and he is going to be a pro ball player and be happy at whatever level he ends up at, then he should leave.

I would advise him to stay to have a season that matches his promise and then go pro.

Why did Avery Bradley get worse as the season went on?

How about playing 30-32min/gm as a freshman while trying to deal with 2-3 hour bball practices, game travel, while going to classes and studying.

College life is not an easy transition.

Playing time is a big deal these days to incoming recruits. They should be careful what they ask for. They just might get it and everything else that comes with it.

I have no idea of the veracity of this, but some people with (supposed) connections inside the program are saying that Bradley was not happy with his time here, and he is not the only one. Looks like there could be a real fall out of players and potentially staff. It’s all being attributed to Barnes’ stubbornness. I hope it’s not true, but I can’t say I’d be surprised. I guess we’ll find out more soon. Can’t believe just a few weeks ago we were the number 1 team in the nation. This could be the beginning of the end.

What, I am about to say may surprise a lot of ppl but its just my opinion. Avery Bradley, may just be a lottery pick and possibly at point guard he reminds me of Russell Westbrook. Westbrook was just an average college player and that’s being generous and he never played point guard until he got to the NBA. Westbrook, only averaged 10 points a game when he declared for the NBA and had absolutely no jumper.Bradley at this point is a better player than Westbrook; he shoots about 40 percent from 3 point range. AB, of course needs to work on his ball handling skills but… why not do that while your getting paid???I’m sure Barnes drained him mentally and physically I can’t blame him for considering leaving.

I hope your right Jock Itch. That would be great for AB to have that type of transition.

FTR, Westbrook averaged 12.7 PPG, a little over 4 assists and about 4 rebounds per game. He also was the best player for that UCLA team in the tourney. Love was the big time name player, but Westbrook was nails in the tourney. Collision was the “PG” and Westbrook was supposed to be the defensive stopper. Westbrook played a lot of lead guard for that team and led the team in assists…..He definitely showed glimpses of PG ability in college. AB seems a more natural shooter and has shown a better mid range game during their college years though…

Yeah, those freshmen from Kentucky look totally worn down. I hope they can keep playing.

Sheesh.

Sailor,

Ha, ha, ha….Right? Wall’s a freak and been great, but I think it’s fairly obvious that he’s the best freshman in the country.

AB played about the same minutes as Bledsoe and about 25% more than Cousins. Bledsoe’s numbers are a little worse than AB’s and he’s what, the 4th option at best on that team? No one says, we have to stop Bledsoe. AB turned into our 2nd or 3rd options after Dex got exposed….