UNC Basketball: Tony Bradley 2016-2017 Season Review
By Alec Lasley
With two big departures in the front court heading into next year, there is a big hole to fill up front. Who will it be? Hopefully, soon to be sophomore Tony Bradley.
The 6-foot-10 freshman center came to Carolina as a highly touted big man. Ranked No. 17 in the country in the final ESPN Top 100 Rankings, big things were expected from Bradley.
Though Bradley wasn’t a starter, nor did he play starter minutes, he still impacted the game dramatically almost every time he stepped on the court.
Season Breakdown:
Bradley finished the 2016-17 season with an average of 7.1 points and 5.1 rebounds in 14.6 minutes per game.
Off to a quick start, Bradley scored in double figures in the first six games of the season, including one double-double. After that, he scored in double figures in only seven of the remaining 32 games he played in.
Struggling at times through ACC play, averaging only 5.9 points and 4.4 rebounds a game, he showed his ability to produce at a high level while averaging 9.1 points and 6.2 rebounds a game in the non-conference schedule.
He played in 38 out of the possible 40 games, missing two games in the middle of the ACC schedule due to a concussion he suffered only six minutes into the Wake Forest game.
In the NCAA Tournament, Bradley finished with an average of 5.6 points and 4.7 rebounds in 12.2 minutes per game.
All in all, he was a very steady and consistent option off the bench for North Carolina, providing great rebounding and shot blocking ability.
Strengths/Weaknesses
For a freshman big man, Bradley is very mature and developed when it comes to his all-around game. With some of the best post moves at such a young age, this is why NBA scouts are drooling over him.
Most highly rated big guys coming into college have dominated the high school ranks due to their size and strength, but then don’t produce at that same level in college due to the fact that they aren’t the biggest player on the court anymore. With Bradley though, he has been able to utilize his great footwork and hands to make crafty lay-ins around bigger guys.
If you are a big man at Carolina, you need to be able to run the floor; and that is no different for Bradley.
There were many times this year when he was the first guy down the court and was thrown a long pass underneath the bucket.
Using his great hands and footwork, he was able to corral the ball, not travel, and lay it in for a bucket. This is not something you commonly see out of big men in the college game, let alone a freshman.
A player with very few weaknesses, Bradley obviously needs to get a bigger frame and add muscle. Though he was often times very good down low on both ends of the floor, you could see his inability to finish through contact against bigger teams.
Also, he needs to develop a more consistent elbow jump shot. I am not saying he needs to make it 100 percent of the time, but he does need to make it at a higher percentage than what he does now. Something that could help, is getting more arc on his shot. Right now it is very flat, resulting in a lot of misses.
Related Story: Tony Bradley Declares for NBA Draft
Future
After a good, not great, freshman campaign, Bradley entered his name in the NBA Draft. Although he didn’t sign with an agent, there have been rumors about him hiring one and therefore staying in the draft.
If Tony Bradley wants to be the dominant big man in the NBA that he can be, he needs to come back to school for one more year.
If we’ve learned anything over Roy’s tenure, it’s that he can develop big men, unlike the school eight miles down the road.
One year of being the go-to big man down low, Bradley will improve his game greatly and will rise up the draft boards going into the 2018 NBA Draft.