72. Avery Bradley, SG, Celtics
The world simply needs more combo guards like Bradley. Offensively, Boston’s 6'2" shooting guard has developed into a solid floor-spacing spot-up shooter and has honed an opportunistic and crafty off-ball cutting game that keeps defenders honest. Defensively, Bradley is a tone-setter who can flip seamlessly between guard positions: his aggressive on-ball style, quick hands and tireless approach helped drive the Celtics to a top-five defensive efficiency rating. Even better, Bradley (15.2 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 2.1 APG) avoids most of the bad habits usually associated with combo guards: he doesn’t pound the air out of the ball, he doesn’t force plays that aren’t there and he is rarely exposed to defensive mismatches. Bradley, 25, has his faults—he’s not a natural distributor, he isn’t equipped to run an offense for long stretches and his lack of size prevents him from making a big impact on the glass, but he tends to err on the side of control. (Last year: Not ranked)
+ Made and attempted more threes last season (147 for 407) than he did his first four seasons combined.
+ One of four players among the top 20 in steals to register more steals than turnovers
– Injury issues have been a recurring theme throughout his career
–His limitations make him reliant on his teammates to generate much of his offense
