Report: Celtics sending Avery Bradley to Detroit

BOSTON — The Celtics are finalizing a trade that'll send guard Avery Bradley to Detroit, according to reports.

League insider Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted the news Friday morning, just a day after Boston finalized an agreement to send Kelly Olynyk to the Miami Heat.

The big name trades come on the heels of the Celtics' acquisition of Gordon Hayward from the Jazz earlier this week.

According to ESPN, the Celtics will get Marcus Morris and a future second-round pick.

Bradley was a key part of the Celtics' 2016-2017 playoff run into the Eastern Conference Finals, particuarly after Isaiah Thomas was sidelined with an injury.

Despite playing after suffering his second hip pointer injury during this year's playoffs, Bradley annoyed Wizards' point guard John Wall throughout the Celtics' series against them.

The primary defender on Wall, he helped hold Washington's All-Star to just 21 points and 17 field goal attempts. He also limited him to a playoff-low four assists - well below Wall's playoff average of 11.1. In Boston's three wins, Wall has a plus/minus of minus-17.

"Avery's the best on-the-ball defender in the NBA - hands down," Thomas said. "A guy like John Wall you're not going to stop.He does a hell of a job on him. He makes it tough. Nothing's easy. And that's what Avery Bradley does, each and every night."

Bradley said he was inspired by text messages he got from Thomas and Celtics' television play-by-play man Mike Gorman.

"They told me they felt like it was going to be a big game for me," Bradley said of his Game 5 performance. "My mindset was just to come out and be aggressive. I wanted to make those guys work on both ends of the floor."

In a perimeter-oriented NBA in which rim protecting big men are a dwindling luxury, guards like Bradley who are willing to dedicate themselves on the defensive end are a commodity. He's 6-foot-2, but has enough length to bother shooters, the lateral quickness to keep opponents in front of him and the strength not to get bullied.

In Boston's three wins Bradley has constantly crowded Wall, tormenting him with an assortment of stabs and pokes at the ball, while also cutting off his driving lanes.

Part of the reason is that Bradley is playing so inspired is that he is coming off a truncated 2016 postseason.

His playoff run lasted all of one game last season thanks to a hamstring injury in the opening game of Boston's first-round matchup with Atlanta.

He's made the most of being healthy this time around.

Bradley, who typically has shied away from any verbal back and forth, has had moments during his postseason in which he let his feelings be known.

After the Celtics' series-clinching, 22-point win at Chicago in the first round, Bradley was asked about some outward emotion he exhibited during the game. Bradley said he took some comments made by Bulls All-Star Jimmy Butler between games personally.

"There were a few guys that walked up to me and said 'I think Jimmy had said last game that we can't let guys like Avery Bradley score 20,'" Bradley recalled. "I usually don't say anything, and I just go out there and play hard. But I feel like every player should respect this game."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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