Avery Bradley trade has helped propel both the Celtics and Pistons

For the better part of 2017, the Pistons looked like a team destined for mediocrity. Throughout the 2016-17 season, their top talent (Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson) were overpaid and not meshing. Their role players (Tobias Harris, Boban Marjanovic) were overpaid. They had high hopes of making some noise in the East and ended up not even making the postseason as trade whispers swirled around the organization.

Things seemingly took a turn for the worse this summer when they lost a pair of key rotation players (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Aron Baynes) in free agency for no return compensation

WIth no significant salary cap room to work with thanks to their oversized contracts, Detroit’s major free agent additions in July were Anthony Tolliver and Langston Galloway — not exactly two guys you can expect to move the needle. Essentially, the whole offseason came down to a couple big decisions: Not blowing up their core (by trading Drummond or Jackson) and acquiring Avery Bradley for Marcus Morris in July.

Through a quarter of this season, the trade couldn’t have turned out much better for both sides. The Pistons (next to the Celtics) have been the biggest surprise in the East, storming out to a 13-6 record, that includes road victories over Golden State, Oklahoma City and now Boston after an impressive 118-108 win at the Garden. Bradley’s defense on Kyrie Irving (18 points, season-high six turnovers) was at the center of it all on Monday night and his new coach credits him with helping to change the team’s mindset.

“He's been exactly what I expected, which is good because we expected a lot,” Stan Van Gundy explained. “He's a guy that comes to play and comes to work all the time. He's serious, he's unselfish, he plays hard. I mean, there are no negatives with him. That's what we thought we were getting and that is what we've gotten.”

"He’s one of the best I go against, if not the best,” Irving said of Bradley. “Just going against Avery in the playoffs and the regular season, you’ve just gotta commend a guy like that, to be able to stay in front of you, pressure you one way, and still be able to do it without fouling.”

While serving as the defensive perimeter stopper that he has always been known for, Bradley has also continued his ascent on the offensive end in his new home. He’s shooting a career-best 43 percent from 3-point range through 19 games while averaging 16.6 ppg, the second-highest total on the Pistons. The 26-year-old has been a major upgrade over Caldwell-Pope, helping to give this Pistons core the fresh start they desperately needed after a disappointing 38-44 record last year.

On the flip side of the coin, the Celtics did just about as well as they could have in a tough situation by receiving a win-now veteran for Bradley in the form of Morris. The 28-year-old forward has been battling knee soreness through the first couple months of the year but his versatility and shotmaking have been a crucial part of the C’s 18-4 start. Van Gundy talked before the game about just how much he valued his former forward.

“We never had one thought about trading Marcus ever: it was the availability of Avery Bradley,” Van Gundy explained. “That’s what it came down to. We were in a situation where we had a free-agent two guard and nothing had been resolved there, and then Avery’s availability came up and Marcus was what was required to get it done. We tried to do it with other people in the deal, so it’s what we had to do to get it done.

“Marcus and Aron both, I mean, two of my favorite guys, really tough unselfish team-oriented guys. You couldn’t ask for more. Especially when I look back a few years down the road, and you’re looking back and saying ‘Who is your favorite group of guys you’ve coached?’ Those two guys will be in that group.”

It’s easy to forget that at the time of the Bradley deal, the Celtics had to choose between dealing Marcus Smart, Bradley and Jae Crowder to free up cap room to sign Gordon Hayward. It certainly wasn’t an easy choice for Danny Ainge but it’s hard to deny it was the right one for a variety of reasons, particularly given the path the Celtics took over the rest of the offseason.

For one thing, Bradley was never going to get paid here in his next contract once Hayward agreed to sign. The Celtics were going to have two max players in Al Horford and Hayward and it wouldn’t be a wise team-building move to commit at least $15-20 million per year next summer to signing a non-star piece in Bradley. That’s not the path to a championship core and Ainge knew it.

He sold high on the veteran guard when he still had value and got back a cheaper win-now piece in Morris (who’s earning a bargain $5 million per year through 2018-19). Payroll management is incredibly important when building title contenders in the NBA and the Celtics did about as well as they could as far as a return that helped them to stay competitive and remain flexible with future moves.

Additionally, it’s hard to envision Jaylen Brown having the kind of breakout season we’re seeing now with Bradley still in a Celtics uniform. He wouldn’t have had the kind of playing time and opportunity handed to him at both ends that have quickly turned the 21-year-old into such a promising young piece. Brown’s presence likely made the decision to move on from Bradley a bit easier at the time, but no one could have expected a breakout quite like this. It’s been a surprise bonus from the trade.

Finally, dealing Bradley over Crowder in July also gave the Celtics the ability to make the Irving deal in August. It’s doubtful the Cavs would have bitten on taking Bradley in that deal without asking for an even bigger return than they already received because he only had one more year on his bargain deal. With LeBron James potentially out the door at the end of the season, Bradley would have been a rental. Crowder had three years left on his bargain deal when Cleveland acquired him, making him a more valuable trade chip in a deal for a superstar from a long-term perspective.

All in all, the Celtics also did Bradley a favor by dealing him to a team in Detroit that has no choice but to pay him next offseason. They won’t have the cap space to replace him with anybody else if he walks, but they own his Bird Rights, which should produce a hefty payday for him, particularly if the Pistons keep playing like this.

In today’s NBA, it’s hard to find trades that are extremely beneficial to all parties involved (teams and players). This is one that has everyone happy just four months later and could result in these two teams battling in the playoffs in the near future.