Celtics Pick Up Avery Bradley’s Option for 2013-2014 Season

The Celtics exercised the 2013-2014 option for Avery Bradley today. The extension means he’ll fulfill his entire four year rookie contract, then become a free agent after that season.

Bradley will make $2,511,432 for the 2013-2014 season. He’s making $1,630,800 this season.

Analysis

This move was expected.

Bradley will be the starting shooting guard next to Rajon Rondo once he gets back from rehabbing his shoulders after receiving double shoulder surgery in the offseason.

He emerged as a defensive star last season after Doc Rivers had to use him to fill in for an injured Ray Allen. Once Allen came back, it was hard to take Bradley out of the starting lineup. He wasn’t only playing defense, but he was nailing 3-pointers and jumpshots on a regular basis.

Bradley formed a strong relationship with Rondo to a point where they had excellent chemistry. Rondo would use Bradley’s speed on slash plays where Bradley would run pass his defender and go under the basket to take a Rondo pass to lay it in. In the playoffs, their chemistry drove the Hawks, 76ers and Heat crazy and once Bradley was injured, the Celtics were much weaker.

It was fun to watch, and as the second half of last season went on, Celtics’ fans knew they had a budding star on their hands. Bradley even led Allen to leave Boston because Rivers planned to put him in the starting lineup over Allen who’d come off the bench, which was something he wasn’t keen on.

Next up for Bradley, besides getting healthy, is to get a contract extension. Hopefully, the development of Bradley is proof that the Celtics will keep trying to develop young players so they don’t have to rely on the free agent market for veterans to round out the roster.

For now, it’s going to be fun watching Bradley for the next two years.

Celtics sign “The Brazilian Blur” Leandro Barbosa

The Celtics bench just keeps getting deeper and deeper.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports has reported that the Celtics have signed 6’3″ combo guard Leandro Barbosa to a one-year deal for the upcoming season.

The 29-year-old played for the Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors, in a combined 64 games last season. He averaged a total of 12.2 PPG, while shooting 44 percent from the floor.

His best season came during the 2006-2007 season, where he averaged 18.1 PPG with the Phoenix Suns. Barbosa’s shooting was deadly as he shot 43 percent from 3-point territory and 48 percent from the field. His play earned him the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award. Overall, for his nine year career he has averaged 12.5 PPG.

Barbosa earned his nickname The Brazilian Blur because of his speed and how he blows by defenders with flashy moves.

Analysis

So the move to release Dionte Christmas led to an opening in the back court and the Celtics signing Leandro Barbosa. This is a solid, low risk/high reward move. The Celtics get him at the league minimum, so they don’t have anything to lose if he stinks.

Anyways, after the surprising retirement of Keyon Dooling, the Celtics are left with Rajon Rondo, Jason Terry and Courtney Lee to anchor the backcourt.

However, until Avery Bradley returns from double shoulder surgery in December, the team doesn’t have anyone to back Lee up, as Terry is the defacto back-up point guard until then.

Here’s the bright side to Barbosa.

He brings amazing speed and sharpshooting ability to a team that already has many good shooters. He also has exceptional ball handling skills and I think that was an important factor with Danny Ainge bringing him in. Like the rest of the Celtics roster, Barbosa is versatile and can also play point guard where his ball handling skills would definitely shine.

Now with Bradley out for the time being, he could see 10-15 minutes a game. Once Bradley gets healthy though, Lee will be the first guy off the bench.

Ainge brought Barbosa in solely for depth, which is something Barbosa completely understands. He wants to win and Boston is the right place for that. For now though, he’ll provide solid scoring behind Lee. On any given night, Barbosa is capable of dropping 10-15 points when he plays a solid 20-25 minutes. He adds solid depth, and gives opposing teams something to think about when he and Rondo are putting defenses through hell with their speed.

Unfortunately, the downside is why was a talented player like him still a free agent a mere two weeks before the season starts?

For starters, his shooting was absolutely horrendous with the Pacers. After he was acquired from the Raptors, he shot just .399 percent from the field. In fact, it was worse during the playoffs.

How bad was it?

Barbosa was basically rendered useless against the Miami Heat during the Eastern Conference Semi Finals last year. He shot 32 percent from the field and didn’t make one single three-point shot. For a guy who prides himself on 3-pointers and shooting, his performance seemed like his career was reaching the end at a mere 29-years-old. Barbosa was no longer that guy who could put up 18 points a night like he did six years ago.

That’s why he was a free agent.

If he’s playing 20-25 minutes every night, then the odds of winning Banner #18 will be pretty slim. The goal for Barbosa is to be ready when Doc Rivers calls his name. As most knowledgeable sports fans know, a team can never have too much depth. Like Lee and Terry, he probably could start on most teams. However in Barbosa’s case, being on a team like the Celtics, he’ll be serviceable.

We’ll just have to wait and see.

Overall in the grand scheme of things, his job will be taking over for Marquis Daniels as the head cheerleading bench player.

Photo (cc) by Keith Allison and republished here under a Creative Commons license. Some rights reserved.

Celtics Release Dionte Christmas and Jamar Smith

The Celtics have cut guards Dionte Christmas and Jamar Smith, both of whom were Summer League standouts, and were trying to earn their way onto the team.

The moves bring the roster to 16 players, and has opened up a roster spot.

Christmas, a 6’5″ shooting guard, played his college ball at Temple University, where he played for four years and left the school as one of the top scorers in school history.

Before coming to the Celtics training camp, he went undrafted during the 2009 NBA Draft. The 26-year-old did garner Summer League and camp invites from the Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, and Sacremento Kings during his career. Christmas also played professionally overseas in Greece, Czech Republic, and Israel.

Smith, a 6’3″ shooting guard, played at the University of Illinois for a few seasons before transferring to the University of Southern Indiana. After college, he played in the NBADL and overseas with teams from the Czech Republic and Venezuela.

Analysis

Christmas getting cut was kind a shock to me. He played exceptionally well in the summer league, and I thought he’d stick after Keyon Dooling retired. His shot was solid and he was tall for a guard.

I also thought more into Christmas, and said all this was done during the SUMMER LEAGUE.

I know he was great in college, but there’s a reason why he has toiled overseas for several seasons. He just lacks the talent or something to compete night in and night out against the best in the NBA.

Hopefully one day, his dream will be realized and all the hard work he has sunk into playing basketball will pay off down the line. Christmas is still young and has time to hitch onto a team somewhere.

I think his Summer League performance will at least get him onto an NBADL team. Will that be with the Celtics’ affiliate, the Maine Red Claws? Who knows. He at least showed that he can stick in the U.S. and play, but remember it’s all about the Benjamins. If a team shows him the money in Europe, than that’s where he’ll go.

As for Jamar Smith, I think any realistic basketball fan knew that he had no choice on making the Celtics. This was the second time he was invited to a training camp with the Celtics, and both result in him being cut. He has worked hard, but like Christmas the potential and talent to exceed against NBA players wasn’t good enough.

Looking forward he’ll probably end up in the NBADL. He played for the Maine Red Claws during the 2010-2011 season, so there’s a chance he’ll stick in the region.

As for the Celtics, the roster is now down to 16 players. The roster has three players who could get cut Kris Joseph, Rob Kurz and Micah Downs. If all three are cut in the next week or so, it’ll open two roster spots for veterans outside of the team. From what I’ve heard and seen, Joseph will probably stick. I think Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers like his potential. Joseph was one of the better second round draft picks this year.

If he stays and Kurz and Downs are cut, they’ll be one opening on the roster. Rivers has even said that the team is looking for a veteran to fill the spot.

What veteran could that be?

Well it’s slim pickings. Do they bring in a 38-year-old Derek Fisher? Is Mickael Pietrus back in the picture? It’s tough to decipher.

I don’t think they’ll bring in a big man as they already signed Darko Milicic not too long ago. Kenyon Martin could be intriguing as he’s an excellent rebounder, but the power forward position is already stacked with Kevin Garnett, Brandon Bass, Jared Sullinger and even Jeff Green. So you can pass on Martin. There’s also Leandro Barbosa, but does the team really need another shooting guard? Once Avery Bradley comes back from his injury; any guard that’s signed will probably not see playing time. Is someone willing to ride the pine for most of the year at the league minimum?

We’ll just have to wait and see.

Image obtained was from NESN and is an AP photo. Some rights reserved. I don’t own it.