The Miami Heat signed a defensive savant in guard, Avery Bradley. Will he turn out to be a starter for Miami this season?
Guards:
In the playoffs, the Miami Heat decided to start Goran Dragic after being one of the best sixth men in the league during the regular season. Now, that certainly worked in the playoffs, but at this stage of his career and coming off an injury, it’s almost certain that he will be going back to the bench.
There are three candidates for the first spot. They are Tyler Herro, Nunn, and Bradley.
And it’s quite an easy choice here. It has to be Bradley starting only because of the defense he provides.
He is the point of attack defender that the Heat needed. Here are some of his defensive stats, top defensive stats might I add, according to Basketball Index.
- 78th percentile in real adjusted turnover rate
- 81st percentile in loose ball recovery rate
- 65th percentile in steals per 75 possession
- 63rd percentile in deflections per 75 possession
He does all that on defense while also being in the 94th percentile guarding an All-NBA player. The Heat have been missing that point of attack guy and they finally got him.
This will improve their perimeter defense, which was one of their main weaknesses. It should also help to take a load off Butler on the defensive end.
Nice work to everyone who got it. This is Avery Bradley.
— Cranjis McBasketball (@Tim_NBA) June 3, 2020
Some cool Bradley defensive stats in our profile for him:
- 96th percentile Matchup Difficulty
- He guards All-Stars more than 94% of NBA players
- His A- Loose Ball Recovery Rate https://t.co/PlICjxdOCR
In addition to his defense, he is a 36.4 percent career three-point shooter. This season, he shot 36.4 percent on 3.5 attempts.
He has proven in his career that he is capable of knocking down from deep with his career-high being at 39.0 percent on 5.0 attempts. As we all know, you can never have enough shooting.
The second guard has to be Duncan Robinson. Robinson, this year has been, at worst, the third-best shooter in the league. He already has the highest catch-and-shoot three-point percentage ever in league history.
Robinson being on the court, alone, provides significant spacing for everyone else on the court. With his historic season, defenders can’t take their eyes off of him or even think about helping someone else because if they do, then it’s an easy make for Robinson.
This is without mentioning his dribble handoff actions with Adebayo. That is just deadly.
You can make a case that he is a top-two most important offensive player for them and because of that, he needs to be on the floor. However, if you have him on the floor, you need more defensive players around him, which is why he and Bradley are a perfect match.