NBA Players Could Not Believe Avery Bradley Was Snubbed From Both All-Defensive Teams

At a glance, it seemed as if the voters nailed it with the 2016-2017 NBA All-Defensive teams. The best defenders in the league, highlighted by Kawhi Leonard, Draymond Green and Rudy Gobert, were recognized on the first team and the insanity was largely confined to the “others receiving votes” category. That kind of stuff (like Isaiah Thomas receiving a vote) is generally harmless, even if it is frustrating to die-hards that can’t understand some of the voting choices.

However, NBA players took particular exception to one part of the ballot: Celtics guard Avery Bradley didn’t make either the first or second team. Bradley was the “eleventh” member of the ten-man group that was awarded, as he led the best of the rest with 46 voting points. It is worth noting, though, that Klay Thompson (16) actually received more first team votes than Bradley (12) but, effectively, the Bradley was the fifth guard for four spots.

From there, players fired away on Twitter with their displeasure, including a former teammate in Jared Sullinger and some players who were checked by Bradley this season.

In fact, Pacers big man Myles Turner was seemingly perturbed enough to ask the public for their thoughts on the snub.

Later, Bradley’s teammate and backcourt partner joined the party, albeit with some level of implied bias.

https://twitter.com/Isaiah_Thomas/status/879404135673495552

Bradley is, by all accounts, a tremendous defender, though it is unclear what the actual beef is here. Both Tony Allen and Danny Green, who made the second team ahead of Bradley, are well regarded as defenders and, even if Bradley plays a bigger role as a two-way force, that shouldn’t necessarily come into play here.

Regardless, some of the players that compete directly with Bradley (in the backcourt, no less) seem to think it was absolutely crazy to leave him off the list. Players aren’t always the best when it comes to self-evaluation but they may have a beef here, especially when factoring in that Bradley has to play alongside Thomas on the defensive end.