-shakes my head-.
People seem to obsess over him being dunked and sure it happened but he's top 15 in blocks all time. He must of been doing something right. Although he shouldn't of gone number 2 in the draft I feel he's one of the more underrated big men
his job was to block shots. Most players wouldn't have even tried to defend a lot of those drives to the rim. You're going to get posterized going for everything like he did.
Great vid, I like when Muresan dunks on him and they caption it "Yao Ming" (44 seconds)
Because none of his blocks were intimidating or nasty. Same with Yao.
If you're 7'6, you need some volleyball type of blocks to get attention. People like monkey ball for a reason.
Exactly my point.
Bradley was actually a really solid overall player and a great defensive player from 1997 to around 2001, tbh..
He would have received a lot more recognition playing in the advance metrics era, as he ranked well in on/off metrics and probably would have rated well with the new rim protection stats..his teams' defenses were significantly worse when he left the floor, and his PER was surprisingly good for a speciality role player..
Bradley was drafted 2nd in his class. Sure he can be called a flop but that class was ty and if you had to do it again, Bradley would still draft top 5.
He could have been a beast. Unfortunately lacked the muscle and the determination to become a real presence. But even in today's NBA he'd be a solid 5th big to have.
Yeah, the Center spot today is pretty weak, I think he would be a beast today.
Shawn Bradley was white, a defensive player, a center, and not a bag who yells and puts fake invisible guns into invisible makebelieve holsters after every made shot.
Things ESPN and NBA tv doesn't give a about showing. Four strikes against him before he even steps on the floor.
This has still got to be the all time best posterizations. T-Mac riding Shawn Cowboy style.
Beside what Kidd K mentioned, Bradley was also part of this movement of out of control rookie deals back in the day. I don't remember the specifics, but I think Bradley was offered a $44M deal despite only playing one year in college, and then didn't even playing the next couple of years before entering the NBA draft. In the same year, Webber and Hardaway both signed ridiculous deals (following Larry Johnson's previous year's deal), and after rumours of Glen Robinson holding out for a $100M happened the following year, public opinions turned sour, and it because a major point in the later CBA negotiations, leading to the rookie pay scale of today.
Bradley was paid purely on potential, and not on accomplishments. He had obvious weaknesses in his game that was really never addressed. He never became a strong rebounder due to his slight frame, he was a bad offensive player, he wasn't particularly good on defense other than blocking shots (and he was really historically good at blcoked shot though), and he never really improved upon any of those weaknesses throughout his career.
at least Shawn didn't get ted on by a 5'6 midget
four very good points actually, haha
I saw Shawn Bradley in the airport last month. The man is damn tall standing next to him. Nice guy though.
its kind of sad that trying to embarrass bradly became the chic thing to do. when i was younger i used to laugh at it. now that i'm a little older, its not so funny to me.
its not bradley's fault he was drafted so high. its not his fault the sixers decided to start him his first game when it seemed pretty obvious he wasn't quite ready to be an NBA starter.
watching this video....some of those he flat out had no chance to block. mutomobo in his prime wouldn't be able to stop them. some of them he's not even going for the block. not sure how thats "Getting dunked on"
i would agree with the majority of the posters here who say he was serviceable, likeable, and the positives he brought to the table have gone largely ignored by the media and the average fan. he was a lot more than the tall white mormon who everybody dunked on.
Basketball fans know it's a bigger pussy move to duck out of the way than to try to block it and fail. All the great shot blockers get posterized from time to time.
Damn, I'm actually surprised of all the legit replies here. I excepted a thread of Bradley sucks....kudos Spurs talk....kudos
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