Avery Bradley nominated for Player of the Month
He didn't land the honor, but Celtics second-year shooting guard Avery Bradley was one of six Eastern Conference players nominated for the final Player of the Month award of the season.
Bradley, who averaged 15.1 points while shooting 52 percent from the floor in 15 April appearances, lost out to New York's Carmelo Anthony. Atlanta's Josh Smith and Joe Johnson, Indiana's David West, and Miami's LeBron James were also nominated.
Just being nominated is some pretty crazy stuff for Bradley. In his rookie season he was lost and then again earlier this season Doc's frustration with Bradley's failure to learn the offensive sets was supposed to send him back to the end of the bench in favor of E'Twaun Moore. Bradley was sending out depressed tweets saying, "FML," and his sophomore season in Boston was headed for a worse ending than his first season.
Then all of a sudden he got it. Doc told him to mimic Andre Miller's cutting game. Injuries to Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen gave Bradley playing time and with more time on the court his confidence grew. He was no longer running around like a chicken with his head cut off, but instead he was attacking the rim, dunking on players like Kevin Durant and stuffing Dwyane Wade. He's been a completely different player. A player that hadn't been seen since his high school days.
Player of the month nominee? That's unreal. It also bodes very well for the Celtics future. Our backcourt is legit.
