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BOSTON – Boston’s backcourt is loaded with talent, and three amigos lead the charge.
There’s Avery Bradley, the cagey, longest-tenured Celtic who’s known best for his 3-and-D style of play.
There’s Marcus Smart, the young gun who’s regarded as the team’s energizer bunny.
And then there’s Isaiah Thomas, the little guy who does big things at the offensive end of the court.
Try to game plan against these guys and you may find yourself searching for ibuprofen.
“We each bring something different to the court,” Smart says of the trio. “It’s kind of tricky (for opponents) because you look at one player and you try to figure him out, but you’ve also got another player who’s hitting you with something different.
“It helps us on both ends of the court, especially when we’re getting ready to play other teams. We can mix it up in a variety of ways.”
Those varieties are typically Boston’s rebuttal to what another team brings to the table on the perimeter.
Say, for instance, Team A has two playmaking guards. Brad Stevens can rely on Bradley and Smart, both of whom received votes for the NBA All-Defensive team last season, to shadow them for the majority of the game.
Maybe Team B possesses an inconsistent defense, sparking Stevens to use a Bradley-Thomas combo that can drive, kick and stick a perimeter J.
And then there’s the possibility that Stevens may want to wear down Team C, in which case he could throw Thomas onto the court to exhaust the defense with his scoring, and use Smart’s bulky and bothersome defense to harass the other team’s scorers.
This situation is unique not only because Bradley, Smart and Thomas complement each other so well, but also because they are all team leaders at different stages of their careers.
“My thing on leadership is really simple,” says Stevens. “It’s: do you do your job reliably, and are you lifting everybody else up? There’s a lot of things that go into that. That’s where leadership has to start, and for us I feel like the guards do a good job of that.”
Bradley is at the forefront of that leadership, and as previously mentioned has been donning green longer than any other Celtic. He’s entering his sixth season with the team and has started 99 percent of the games he’s played in over the past three seasons. He’s a mainstay in this organization, and other players, including Smart, look up to him.
Bradley reveals that he is embracing his leadership role on this team in a different manner than he has in the past.
“I’m used to leading by example. Just going out there and playing as hard as I can,” Bradley tells Celtics.com. “I learned that I shouldn’t only lead by example. Sometimes I need to speak up and be that vocal leader.
“I know that I can help the younger guys and I can teach them how to be a professional on and off the court, like the leaders before me taught me.”
One of those young guys is Smart, who is entering his second NBA season. Stevens calls him an “energy giver” because of how hard he plays, particularly on defense. That’s how the young guy leads.
As Bradley says, “That helps our team out a lot and it energizes everybody else when you have guys out there playing as hard as they can.”
Thomas energizes his team as well, but in a much different way. He’s a highlight-reel player who is this team’s leader on offense. Thomas averaged 18.8 points per game during 25 contests with the C’s last season, and he too chimes in with vocal leadership on the court.
Mix these guys together and you’ve got a group that the Celtics love, and a group that Celtics opponents love to hate.