The instinct for players and teams alike is to make the best of a new signing. To look forward. Buff the polish.

But Avery Bradley doesn’t shy away from the last few years of his career – frankly, they haven’t been his best. He lingered on a journey that’s taken him through Detroit, the Clippers and Memphis in the last two seasons before looking ahead to his upcoming season with the Lakers. He thinks Los Angeles might hold promise as a place to settle in for a while.

“My goal is to come here and give myself a chance to show what I can do,” he said. “I feel like it’s been a rough couple of years for me obviously with trades, (never) being in one place a long period of time and then going through that. It’s been hard on me and my family, but I feel like this is going to give me some stability and give me the opportunity to go out there and really show what I can do on both sides of the floor.”

At 6-foot-2, the 28-year-old guard began approaching the production he believes he can have again after injury-riddled tenures with the Pistons and Clippers. With the Grizzlies, Bradley averaged 16 points and 4 assists on 38.4 percent 3-point shooting to close the season.

That’s more in line with the role he carved out at the start of his career in Boston, when he shined as a two-time All-Defensive team honoree. Bradley was known then as one of the league’s best bargain three-and-D players. He thinks he can reclaim that reputation by playing alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis, confident he can carve out a role similar to the one he had when he was teammates with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.

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From the outset, the Lakers’ glut of guard signings looks as though it could squeeze certain players out of the rotation. Bradley said he’s not expecting any particular role but is ready to compete for minutes.

Bradley said he’s looking forward to reuniting with Rajon Rondo, who he shared the backcourt with for several years in Boston. But the larger draw was the opportunity to play with Davis and James – two superstars he’s long admired and thinks he can learn from.

“I knew if I had an opportunity to play with one of those guys, I would definitely think about it,” he said. “Now that the opportunity presented itself, I didn’t hesitate. Everything was aligned.”