G
Grant Flanders
Guest
Like Luke Kasubke and Chaminade did the night before, Davion Bradford and Mehlville High School dominates against weaker competition last night. The team Bradford played was a little better than Althoff was against Chaminade, but whatever the case, both K-State signees showed out and balled out.
Bradford is a big body with a wide frame and he holds his 260 pounds well.
There are number of things he does well. He is solid with his back to the basket with decent footwork that I expect to continue to develop, and when he gets the opening, it’s hard to keep Bradford from dunking the ball. All but maybe 5 of his 17 points were dunks. Yes it was small competition, but it’s nice to see a 7 footer go up with strong hands and finish strong whether it’s through traffic or not. I know K-State recently has struggled with their bigs finishing strong at the rim, Bradford already has that mindset. It won’t be easy against Big 12 bigs, but he at the very least will have the physicality to compete on both ends of the floor.
He ran the floor better than I thought he would. He’s not fast and he can look a little clunky running down the court, but he still moves well for a guy of his size, if that makes sense.
He enjoyed a few transition dunks while he was the first guy back for Mehlville and all it took was one pass to him, then for him to rise and finish. When he was held just outside of dunking range, he did show a nice ability to still lay the ball in.
He doesn’t have a broken jump shot, it’s just not particularly accurate right now. We only really got to see it in warmups, and his stroke was smooth. I could see him possibly developing a little mid range game later on in his career at K-State, but for now he’s pure paint presence. As for his free throw shooting, we only saw one attempt and he made it. In his last game out he went 9/10 from the FT line, something he was proud of. He for sure takes pride in getting better all around and since his shot isn’t broken, I could see him becoming a better free throw shooter in college. More of 70%+ clip rather than the 50 or 60 percentile.
Last thing on that end, he’s a better passer than I knew. Keeps his eyes up and looks for cutters in the half court. He also had a really nice full court baseball type pass for a transition assist on the money. Also his ability to recognize when pass out of a sticky situation in the paint is what you want to see from him.
On defense he is a good rim protector. He will have to work his lateral quickness, but that’s something he will likely never excel at. He will not be as good as Mak in guarding pick and roll situations, but Mak was really excels at that. So similar to on offense, he is mainly just a paint presence and rim protector at this point on defense.
He is not the most athletic guy but we already knew that. K-State will work on his already good body even more, and I think he’s going to only get stronger and more aggressive on both ends when that starts happening.
He’s a really great kid and I enjoyed talking with him a lot. Both him and Luke are awesome and I’m excited for them to get to K-State. I think their personalities will fit with the team well, and the fact they are best friends will help them acclimate even easier.
For now I still think Selton Miguel and Nijel Pack will have a more instant role than Bradford and Kasubke will, but I think all four have a good chance to all have solid careers at K-State.
Bradford is a big body with a wide frame and he holds his 260 pounds well.
There are number of things he does well. He is solid with his back to the basket with decent footwork that I expect to continue to develop, and when he gets the opening, it’s hard to keep Bradford from dunking the ball. All but maybe 5 of his 17 points were dunks. Yes it was small competition, but it’s nice to see a 7 footer go up with strong hands and finish strong whether it’s through traffic or not. I know K-State recently has struggled with their bigs finishing strong at the rim, Bradford already has that mindset. It won’t be easy against Big 12 bigs, but he at the very least will have the physicality to compete on both ends of the floor.
He ran the floor better than I thought he would. He’s not fast and he can look a little clunky running down the court, but he still moves well for a guy of his size, if that makes sense.
He enjoyed a few transition dunks while he was the first guy back for Mehlville and all it took was one pass to him, then for him to rise and finish. When he was held just outside of dunking range, he did show a nice ability to still lay the ball in.
He doesn’t have a broken jump shot, it’s just not particularly accurate right now. We only really got to see it in warmups, and his stroke was smooth. I could see him possibly developing a little mid range game later on in his career at K-State, but for now he’s pure paint presence. As for his free throw shooting, we only saw one attempt and he made it. In his last game out he went 9/10 from the FT line, something he was proud of. He for sure takes pride in getting better all around and since his shot isn’t broken, I could see him becoming a better free throw shooter in college. More of 70%+ clip rather than the 50 or 60 percentile.
Last thing on that end, he’s a better passer than I knew. Keeps his eyes up and looks for cutters in the half court. He also had a really nice full court baseball type pass for a transition assist on the money. Also his ability to recognize when pass out of a sticky situation in the paint is what you want to see from him.
On defense he is a good rim protector. He will have to work his lateral quickness, but that’s something he will likely never excel at. He will not be as good as Mak in guarding pick and roll situations, but Mak was really excels at that. So similar to on offense, he is mainly just a paint presence and rim protector at this point on defense.
He is not the most athletic guy but we already knew that. K-State will work on his already good body even more, and I think he’s going to only get stronger and more aggressive on both ends when that starts happening.
He’s a really great kid and I enjoyed talking with him a lot. Both him and Luke are awesome and I’m excited for them to get to K-State. I think their personalities will fit with the team well, and the fact they are best friends will help them acclimate even easier.
For now I still think Selton Miguel and Nijel Pack will have a more instant role than Bradford and Kasubke will, but I think all four have a good chance to all have solid careers at K-State.
