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SALT LAKE CITY — The main draw of NBA Summer League games has always been centered around the new and exciting.
There’s a reason a sold-out crowd filled the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas on Friday to watch the New Orleans-New York game.
Donovan Mitchell, Trae Young and even Floyd Mayweather didn’t show up eager to watch former Lone Peak standout Frank Jackson go off for 30 points (even if that is just what they got). The stars took courtside seats to see Zion Williamson, one of the most highly anticipated rookies to ever come into the league. They wanted to see the debut of the player believed by many to be the future face of the league.
The new draft picks get the attention, they draw the crowds. Remember the hype surrounding the Andrew Wiggins vs. Jabari Parker summer league matchup in 2014? The anticipation for that seems downright silly five years later.
They don't even have to be high picks to create buzz. The Salt Lake City Summer League averaged around 10,000 people per day with most of the excitement centering around three late second rounders. But should it have?
A look down at the Jazz’s Summer League roster might offer a surprise: Tony Bradley, the third-year Jazz center, is the youngest player on the team.
The 2017 first round pick turned 21 in January. While he's young, he’s been around for two full years now — that means a good showing doesn’t carry with it the same excitement as when a rookie goes off. But him showcasing a developing game might end up being the most exciting thing about the Jazz's time in summer leagues this year.
Bradley was once again the Jazz’s best player on the court during a less-than-pretty 78-66 win over Oklahoma City on Saturday in Utah’s first game of the Las Vegas Summer League. He scored 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting and had 14 rebounds. He’s improved and, maybe more importantly, he knows it.
It might be the less pressure-filled confines of summer league, but Bradley has looked like a more confident player.
As a center, you don’t try to take the ball coast-to-coast multiple times during games unless you think you’re pretty good — especially if it doesn’t work out all that well (both of his optimistic drives full-court drives resulted in two turnovers on Saturday).
It's no surprise the confidence is growing — because Bradley’s game is, too. A look at his three assists shows that. He made a great read on a give-and-go to Justing Wright-Foreman that led to an open dunk from the rookie guard and he made a quick pass from the post to Miye Oni for a wide-open 3-pointer.
Careless coass-to-coast attempts aside (he won’t be trying those in the NBA anytime soon), Bradley is finishing around the rim, he’s securing almost every rebound that gets close to him and he’s looking like a player that is eager to contribute to an NBA team. These are good signs for the still-young big man that has spent the majority of his two-year career playing in the G-League.
📹| @ToBrad1 ⤵️
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) July 6, 2019
19p | 14r | 3a | 1s | 1b pic.twitter.com/UDyTVRPotT
“I want to be aggressive and just let that speak for itself,” Bradley said before the SLC Summer League.
His play is starting to do just that. In the three games he’s played this summer, Bradley has averaged 19.6 points and 15 rebounds. Those are gaudy numbers and he even faced one center that is an NBA guy in Ivan Rabb.
“I'm feeling good,” Bradley said after a 26-point performance last Tuesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers. “I’m feeling stronger and faster.”
That’s not by accident, either. Bradley spent the weeks leading up to summer league in Salt Lake City to train with the Jazz staff. He knew he needed to get stronger and get a better base — so Bradley went to work doing just that.
Now that is starting to pay off.
