Introducing the Rip List.

Jason Kidd, Goran Dragic, Greivis Vasquez, Jimmer Fredette, Ty Lawson, Kemba Walker, Gerald Henderson, Nate Robinson, Damian Lillard, Earl Watson, Jarrett Jack, Jeff Teague, Russell Westbrook, and Kyle Lowry.

It's an impressive index of NBA playmakers who all have one common thread: They've been picked clean by Celtics guard Avery Bradley this season.

Avery Bradley swipes the ball from Atlanta Hawks point guard Jeff Teague during the first quarter last Friday night. Bradley has 41 steals in 33 games this season. Barry Chin/Getty Images

And if you don't mind a little clutter to your on-court pickpockets, you can add Josh Smith, Luis Scola, Brandon Knight, Tyson Chandler, Kenneth Faried, Jimmy Butler, James Harden, Dwyane Wade, and Mario Chalmers to that list. Kobe Bryant got baited into a turnover, while Steph Curry managed to escape a mugging with his lunch money -- barely.

In 33 games this season, Bradley has produced 41 steals. Those 1.2 swipes per contest won't put him among the league leaders, but it's how he generates his thefts: hounding or baiting some of the league's top ball-handlers -- often before the midcourt stripe -- and picking them clean for easy transition buckets.

But that's only part of Bradley's defensive game, and his role in stabilizing the Celtics' season cannot be understated.

Boston, a team that has perennially ranked in the top 5 in defensive rating in the Kevin Garnett era, sat 14th in the league with an unsightly defensive rating of 102.1 on Jan. 1, the day before Bradley made his season debut after a pair of offseason shoulder surgeries shelved him for the first 30 games.

Since Bradley's return, Boston boasts a defensive rating of 96.9, the second-best mark in the league in that span (only Indiana has been better). It's a big reason why, beset by three season-ending injuries including the loss of All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo, the Celtics are 21-13 since that point (and Bradley sat out one of those losses against Chicago).

If not for the time he missed, it's not far-fetched to say that Bradley deserves some consideration for the league's Defensive Player of the Year award (or a spot on the league's all-defense team at the very least). Scoff if you will -- and there's no denying it's a big man's award as no guard has taken home the honor since Seattle's Gary Payton, who undoubtedly influenced Tacoma-born Bradley, swiped the award during the 1995-96 season -- but Bradley's individual impact on Boston's defense this season is tangible.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers has often noted that integrating so many new faces at the start of the season detoured Boston's defense. But lately he's submitted to the Bradley hype.

"Avery's return was bigger than people know," said Rivers. "It really was."

Bradley's individual numbers pad his resume. Among those with at least 300 plays defended this season, Bradley ranks first in the league allowing a minuscule 0.669 points per play, according to Synergy Sports data (Milwaukee's Larry Sanders is second at 0.704). What's more, opponents shoot a league-low 29.7 percent against Bradley (Sanders is next closest at 32 percent) and score a mere 30.9 percent of total possessions (yes, also tops in the league, with Chicago's Taj Gibson his nearest competition at 33.2 percent).