I thought he looked lost when he was in game today. Looked as he had not practiced at all with these players. I thought someone said he had been practicing ?
Bradshaw
- Thread starter westerncat
- Start date
He just started practicing a week ago I believe.
Granted, the injury and yada yada. We know, and understand that. But that said, I thought he looked really slow and frail. Like a baby deer. You could tell the conditioning wasn't there, but that's understandable and temporary. But the kid's body looks nowhere near ready for SEC play. Give it some time, we'll see.
you all have to remember, as many said, Wagner, Edwards, Bradshaw were top 5 freshman recruits but they are no where near top 5 like other classes. They are not close to a MKG, Anthony Davis, or even Marcus Teague Class, or Fox, Monk, Bam... they just aren't going to be impact players. I think Wagner can be formidable but Edwards and Bradshaw will take all year probably , hope I'm wrong. They'd be ranked 15 to 20 in other classes, and now college basketball is much older so it hurts even more.
First collegiate game. First real game in like 6 or 7 months, maybe a little longer. Probably a lot of first game jitters. He and the team will have to feel each other out. It's gonna take him a few games probably to get comfortable. They've all had been playing together for 7 games. Gonna need to allow him a couple, few, games to get comfortable.
Another thing to note. In his 12.5 minutes in the game UK was +11. Only other player that was on the positive side was Reeves. Thiero, who played twice as many minutes, was -18
I don't criticize the players, but he looked very awkward when in there. I hope that's just due to just starting back up and that he will look more fluid with experience.
And by awkward, I mean just running up and down the floor. Nevermind the actual basketball playing. Perhaps the injury and not running for a long time affected that. Or he's favoring it or just out of shape.
And by awkward, I mean just running up and down the floor. Nevermind the actual basketball playing. Perhaps the injury and not running for a long time affected that. Or he's favoring it or just out of shape.
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The plus minus stat only works when a certain player does it. People won't give Bradshaw any kudos.
I had these same thoughts while watching. He got pushed around a lot underneath the rim, but then again, all our guys did.
Nobody was fighting for position yesterday. The whole team looked lazy and like they didn't want to be there. How many times would a rebound opportunity arise and there were three UNCW guys there for the rebound and all our guys were behind them? Too many to count. You gotta want that ball and we didn't want it.
That falls on coaching. If guys don't fight for the ball, sit them even if it means a loss. He won't sit guys to build depth or make them fight for playing time, but he sure has no trouble taking a loss in order to showcase his guys and make sure they get theirs. It's not about individual players, but bad coaching. The players are just a symptom. Remember when he said he'd never be held hostage by his players?
Obviously, he's rusty and out-of-shape.
Has his vertical been measured, when 100% healthy ?? Does anyone know what it is ?? Is he quick off the floor ??
He went for a block yesterday and he got up there pretty good. He barely missed it but the reach for it was impressive. His problem yesterday was that he got pushed around. A lot. Doesn't seem to be very strong.
I think he is above average in terms of all that but it isn't like he didn'r jump at all because he had that dunk and goaltend. It more appeared that when there was any traffic for a rebound is when he didn't get off the floor. To me it comes off as being scared to reinjure himself. I understand that but if thats how he is going to be I don't know how much he can help us.
He is a beanpole ,can't see that changing in the near future
People are focusing too much on the +/- stat, as it does not take into account who were the other 4 on the court with you, and who were the 5 on the court for the other team. For example say we play Purdue, and Trey comes out for a breather every time Edey comes out. Likely whoever goes in for him will have a better +/- because that Sequoia isn't on the floor.
To be a 5 star player and one of the top high school players in the country his first game he looked very average.
Bradshaw has played no basketball, organized, pickup, NONE, since the McDonalds game (when he had 18 and 9, by the way). Everybody else in the game saturday played all summer and have been practicing with their team for seven weeks.
The kid can play. He is agile, can run and jump and does not shy away from contact. He also has good hands.
Search "Aaron Bradshaw" on youtube and watch some videos when he was in the swing of things. He will definitely help us.
The kid can play. He is agile, can run and jump and does not shy away from contact. He also has good hands.
Search "Aaron Bradshaw" on youtube and watch some videos when he was in the swing of things. He will definitely help us.
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After reading this, my initial thought is that you either haven't played much high level ball in your day, and/or you haven't coached. If you think practicing for a week is going to have you anywhere close to fully prepared to play against an opponent - wow you have a lot to learn. And I don't mean any offense whatsoever. But getting a week's worth of reps in, against your own team, isn't anywhere close to having to play against a real (and experienced) opponent that plays completely different than what you see in practice
I dont have an issue per se with Bradshaw, expectations need to be tempered on his first game back. My issue was with the fact when he was in Cal reverted back to the same old ******** offense we have endured the last several years. The ball doesnt move as well around the perimeter as he tries to force the ball to Bradshaw (or whoever the post was in the past) in the post. Everything we have been doing well stopped and people acting like it was the guys who have been doing it so well and not the addition of the 7' footer and Cal trying to cram the ball into post. Several turnovers specifically associated with bad passes to Bradshaw or him not creating space to receive the pass. You can absolutely tell that was a direction coming from on high. We have been letting the offense flow through Mitchell, but not in the post. At the top of the key or even three point line, unclogging the middles and making the pass more effective. There were several instances where the guard just held the ball trying to make a pass to the post when Bradshaw was in, or even finally made a pass to another guard that did the same. Everything I feared with any of the 7's footers coming back is exactly what we are already seeing.
Nerves, yes. Having no practice with the team, yes.
But, one thing I did notice that has nothing to do with the team, practice, or his lag. He never had his hands up when guarding. He never really tried to block a shot except the one that was a goal tend. He slouched when defending the post guy instead of bellying up with his hands up, straight up and down, and he had lots of difficulty getting himself into post-up position on offense. I would assume these basic skills would be present already with a 5-star 7'1" player, but maybe he's more raw than I thought?
But, one thing I did notice that has nothing to do with the team, practice, or his lag. He never had his hands up when guarding. He never really tried to block a shot except the one that was a goal tend. He slouched when defending the post guy instead of bellying up with his hands up, straight up and down, and he had lots of difficulty getting himself into post-up position on offense. I would assume these basic skills would be present already with a 5-star 7'1" player, but maybe he's more raw than I thought?
Sure did.
I’m not sure why he didn’t look like all the other dudes that had been practicing for months and playing games for weeks.
He sure should have started at his absolute best with no experience playing college ball.
What the hell is going on? Doesn’t everybody peak in their first college game, seven games in? Come on… it’s easy.
I think what you saw was a habit that is easy to develop at the HS Level, where you can recover and block just about anything you want.
His shot is fluid. Very smooth. His running is the not. I thought he’d be a better athlete.
He was on a team with multiple other stars. That’s like asking how does the #1 overall NBA pick in 2015 Karl Anthony Towns only average 10 points a game in college. It’s easy to figure out if you apply context and don’t have an agenda to just trash the player.
DJ Wagner
Dasear Haskins
Cian Medley
Billy Richmond
Cornelius Robinson
His team was stacked and he played his role.
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that provided months of excruciating pain waiting and then we finally do see the guy play. yeah we lose which makes a sad day for us fans. We definitely need to see something special out of Bradshaw. I thought he looked a little awkward out there
Not trashing anybody ... it is a legitimate question. It is very surprising that he averaged so few points and rebounds in high school at 7'1" ... he averaged less than 10 points his Junior year ... both years less than 10 rebounds. An explanation that would make some sense to me might be that he played on the perimeter. I know he played with Wagner and certainly other excellent players ... scoring distributed, certainly. It just seems that the top-rated big man in the country would've been more productive. I wondered why ... ???
I loved his fight for the ball on that one play and the slam home. He was so pumped after that. Yes, he looked very raw but he needs more practice and play time and hopefully we see his best version soon.
That's part of the problem with these rankings. Some of it is how good a player was in HS, but a lot of it is projecting them forward how they wiil look a year or two or three after college. That's why sometimes you'll see a player like Reed Sheppard come in and people will be like, who knew he could play like that. He's a really good basketball player now, but what he does might not seemed to have projected well to the NBA.
Just watch other freshmen around the country when you can. They are actually better players than the 5 stars ranked ahead of them, but they might not be prototypical looking players so they are ranked lower despite being better at the actual game currently.