Brad Stevens on Avery Bradley: ‘He’s a big part of what we’re doing’

11:57 PM ET

Add Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens to the #FirstTeamAllDefense campaign for guard Avery Bradley.

The NBA’s All-Defense teams will be announced later this month, and Bradley had been previously showered with praise by his peers. During an appearance on SiriusXM NBA Radio on Friday, Stevens joined the chorus while detailing the impact of losing Bradley to a hamstring injury during Game 1 of a first-round playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks.

“He’s so good at putting pressure on the basketball,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said of Avery Bradley. Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images

“In my eyes, the entire time I’ve been here, but really this year, [Bradley] stood out to me as first team all-defensive guy,” Stevens told the “Off the Dribble” program. “He’s so good at putting pressure on the basketball. And he’s gotten really good at defending both on the ball, which he’s always been great at, but then off the ball, navigating screens and making it difficult for guys to get the position they want. He had multiple games where we switched him onto big 3s, who tried to post him at the end of games, and he kept them from getting what they wanted. He’s really a good defender.”

Stevens was referencing instances like a late-February visit from the Utah Jazz in which Bradley defended Stevens’ old Butler pupil Gordon Hayward on the game’s …

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