The Boston Celtics sent Avery Bradley to the Detroit Pistons this offseason, but the move didn’t shock the 26-year-old.
Earlier this summer, the Celtics sent Avery Bradley and a second-round pick to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Marcus Morris, which didn’t come as a surprise Boston’s longest-tenured player. During a sit down with Bleacher Report’s Gerald Narciso, Bradley elaborated, saying he wasn’t hurt by the decision to move him.
“Not from me because you know, I’m eight years in the NBA and it’s the business, man. Anything is possible, anything can happen at any time,” said Bradley. “I wasn’t shocked that it happened, you know what I mean? I knew it was a possibility; it was something that we spoke about. Obviously, you can’t read the future and know what team, but I knew I was going somewhere.”
The Celtics drafted Bradley 19th overall in the 2010 NBA Draft after he spent one year at the University of Texas, and he’d remain in Boston for the next seven seasons. In 2017, the two-time All-Defensive team member had a career-year and averaged 16.3 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists while shooting 46.3 percent from the field overall and 39 percent from three. Boston finished first in the conference with a 53-29 record before losing in the Eastern Conference Finals to Cleveland.
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Detroit got one of the league’s best bargains for the next year. Bradley’s owed just $8.8 million for 2017-18, and the Celtics’ front office must’ve felt it was advantageous for them to get something in return for a player who was likely going to get paid after his contract ended.
The Westgate Las Vegas Superbook has the Pistons with an over/under of 38.5 this year. Alongside Bradley, Detroit’s returning guys like Reggie Jackson, Andre Drummond and Tobias Harris, all of whom are going to be huge in improving on a mediocre 37-45 campaign.
As expected, Bradley is focused on the playoffs, saying it “should be every team’s goal.”
Their last postseason appearance was in 2016 when they got swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Bradley wouldn’t save them from a premature exit, but it’d be a step in the right direction.
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