Avery Bradley was presented with his award for being named to the NBA’s All-Defense first team last season. He said the award looks exactly the same as the All-Defense second team award he took home the 2012-13 season. As he continues to move upward, he wants the big award that no guard has won in the two decades since Gary Payton claimed it during the 1995-96 season, the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award.
Now that the Celtics have added defensive-minded Al Horford, Bradley believes the team will do better and their success could improve his chances of winning the award, though he feels he belongs in the conversation every year regardless of the Celtics’ performance.
“If we’re playing well this year, I’ll give myself a chance [to compete for the Defensive Player of the Year award] because, to be honest, I feel like I should always be in that conversation,” said Bradley. “I think I’ve [been left off the] defensive team because of our [lack of] success in the past. We weren’t winning as many games and I’m not going to name some players, but when I was looking at the list I’m like, ‘That person got more votes?’ It’s just because they had a better year, they played longer, they were on TV more — all those things help you out. This year, I feel like the amount of TV games and how we should be playing this year should be able to help me be in that conversation.
“You can ask all the best players in the NBA — there’s not one player in the NBA that guards them like me. I know [San Antonio Spurs forward] Kawhi [Leonard]is a great defender and [Golden State Warriors big man] Draymond [Green] — to me, he’s a really good defender. For someone that plays defense, I appreciate watching him play defense. It’s really amazing.”
source: ESPN
