Thank You Avery Bradley, For Everything

The Boston Celtics have traded Avery Bradley, but his impact will never leave this core

When you look at the history of the Boston Celtics there is not an era without a household Hall of Fame name that goes right along with it. The Celtics have retrred more numbers than you can keep track of, and their Hall of Fame inductees is something out of a story book.

Avery Bradley will never quite reach those heights. You cannot compare what he did to the unprecedented impact of Bill Russell. He certainly did not lead a dynasty the way Larry Bird did, and he did not endure the years of losing like Paul Pierce, to finally get that championship.

No, Bradley was something completely different from all of them, and special in a way that will make sure he is remembered in the hearts of Celtics fans in a way that most people will not understand.

Bradley was the player that got there just too late. Danny Ainge made his moves, bringing in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, culminating in an immediate championship. It was after that when Bradley came in.

More from Hardwood Houdini

Bradley experience every bit of what was important to that core. Bradley was molded by the kind of leadership and teammates that transcends generations. Bradley came in as a fraction of the player you look at now because of mentality he learned from them.

He was an inconsistent defender and he was a terrible shooter. Bradley needed to improve every facet of his game to prove that he could stand along the giants that won a championship before him.

With that leadership around him, Bradley put in the work, and he did it the right way every step of the way. Bradley is the model teammate on an off the court. He quietly went about his business, had no need for any kind of lime light, and in the wake of finally bringing that championship back to Boston, he was instilled with the mentality that defined one of the most special generations of Boston Celtics basketball.

With Bradley, you never even had to think about the priorities. Anything that happened on the outside stayed on the outside. For Bradley, all that mattered was on the hardwood, and the teammates by his side.

Bradley came in right after the last championship, just in time to learn from champions what it actually takes to bring home a banner. Now, Bradley leaves having instilled the work ethic and brotherhood that will need to be the difference for this new era to take down the insurmountable giants in the Warriors.

On paper, the Celtics are never going to look as good as the Warriors. Bradley’s legacy on this team is about everything that transcends numbers. Now that the talent on paper is finally catching up, it is those unquantifiable things that will bring the Celtics to the next level.

No team has embodied us against the world as much as the Celtics. Players like Jae Crowder and Marcus Smart always brought the intensity that made it feel as though they lead this chip on the shoulder charge.

The final pick in the draft Isaiah Thomas appeared to fit in with that mentality perfectly. Behind the scenes, however, it was Bradley’s leadership that brought all of it together, allowing the Celtics to embrace every aspect of these players that certainly have their flaws.

All these players had to deal with their own kind of outside noise, but it was Bradley that made sure they were unified as everything else tried to rip them apart.

Bradley was never the face of the franchise. Instead, he kept the same mentality that allowed him to become the best on ball defensive guard in the league while developing into a 40 percent three point shooter, and made sure all that mattered was what he could control.

The rest of this current Celtics core is following suit.

Bradley never let anything happening in the outside world have any kind of impact on anything he did, and that is the most important message he can leave this core with.

Outside of Boston, the Warriors are unbeatable, plain and simple. Inside of Boston, it is just the next obstacle. It is just the next thing that Thomas is being told he is too small to do do and it is the next immovable object in front of the force that is Smart.

Even if the Celtics should not be better than some teams in the league, that does not mean that these players cannot find a way to come together and put in the work that will push through whatever the NBA world might be saying is impossible.

Bradley was this team’s protector. He did everything and anything they needed, he brought in the hard nosed mentality that has made this core more special than it ever should have been.

And now, once again on the brink of reaching those heights, Bradley leaves without any opportunity to experience the rewards of the work..

Bradley was just too late to win the last championship, and now he is going out just too early to try and get it himself with the core of players that he has defined.

Bradley is not the legend of the magnitude of others in Celtics history, but when you look back at him you see all those things that seem to transcend generations for the Celtics, just without the prolific accolades that usually accompany it. In a way, Bradley had the kind of impact that none of those Hall of Famers could have brought.

Bradley can no longer win a ring with this core of players, but he will be a part of this core’s identity for yet another generation.

Next: What Does Morris Bring to the Celtics?

When Bradley was on the team, he quietly gave them more than most will ever realize. Now, even off the team, Bradley will continue to be that silent impact. He will continue to do those things that cannot be explained, and he will do it in a way that secures him a special place in the history of the Celtics.

Home/Celtics News