Stan Van Gundy coveted Avery Bradley

Stan Van Gundy was seeking a player similar to Boston’s Avery Bradley to help the Detroit Pistons improve and take the next step this coming season.

The Boston Celtics had an abundance of good players but their contracts were running out and they couldn’t afford to keep all of them.  Avery Bradley was a casualty of the Gordon Hayward signing and is a taking the place of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the Detroit Pistons starting lineup to give them an upgrade on both sides of the ball.

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It’s clear Stan Van Gundy wanted more guys who could shoot threes and play defense and Bradley is a textbook example of that. Caldwell-Pope looked to be on his way to being a similar player to Bradley but his inconsistent shooting looked to ultimately give Van Gundy pause about resigning him to a big long-term contract.

Bradley will turn 27 by the start of next season making him a bit more than two years older than Pope. Bradley though is a better version of Pope with improved defense (two-time all-defensive team). In addition, he has a more consistent jumper as he shot 39 percent last season on five attempts per game.

Bradley only has one year left on his contract so Stan Van Gundy will need to resign him next summer but he will command a hefty price.  Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN explains more about Van Gundy’s desire to acquire and re-sign Bradley in the future.

Next: An updated look at the Pistons salary situation

Piston fans, do you like the move to acquire Avery Bradley at the cost of trading Marcus Morris and letting Caldwell-Pope walk in free agency?