deconstructing - Shawn Bradley - inlcudes related articles

Sporting News, The, March 22, 1999 by Ken Amos

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Technically, Braman says there is no question that Bradley is pulling his hand back too quickly after his follow-through when shooting from the field.

"When you do that at NBA-game speed, results are disastrous. At the free-throw line you can get away with it a little more. Righthanded shooters, as they raise the ball from waist level, form a backwards letter L. And Shawn has that ... a la Smits and Chris Mullin.

"When you shoot a free throw, you get to raise that L at the speed you're comfortable with. When you shoot jump shots, the pace of the game and the amount of time that you're open dictates how quickly you raise that up.

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"Length of time on the follow-through is what controls that speed. The faster you raise it--for most people--the faster you jerk it. And that's loss of control.

"Bradley needs to see himself doing it on tape, understand (why he is making the mistake), and even though it might be part of his muscle memory now, it's easily correctable when 500 shots a day are supervised the correct way. Then, that will become second nature."

Braman says that while watching the tapes of Bradley, "I'm saying to myself, `Man, this is a guy who, when he can get to the middle, has a nice little hook shot, but he doesn't have the strength to bull his way in there. The question is then, if you're the coach, do you not give him the ball? No, you have to compose a game that makes him more of an offensive threat. He seems like a very good passer who sees the floor well. He's better off at the high post where he can hit cutters or people when they're open. (If he can) hit that 15-footer with consistency, then that will draw the defender up tight and he will be able to put the ball on the floor a little bit."

Braman says Bradley must define his offensive game in his own mind before he can set about coming up with a go-to move.

"He doesn't have a book on himself that he goes to," Braman says. "Therefore, his offense happens haphazardly, rather than on purpose.

"So I say, look at Shawn's strength offensively, and that would be his touch.... I selfishly look at everything as shooting, but if he would develop his jump shot, this guy is a 16-point-a-night shooter, just like falling off a log."

Braman says until someone teaches Bradley how to play triple-threat basketball as well as translate his free throw into his jump shot, his offensive game will continue to be a blank page.

"I guarantee you at this point if you gave him a pencil and paper and said, `Shawn, do me a favor and write down your game,' he'd just hand you back the paper."--K.A.

* Pete Newell

Credentials: The former California-Berkeley coach, who won an NCAA title in 1959, has run "Pete Newell's Big Man's Camp" for 22 years. More than 90 current NBA players have participated in the camp. Now 83, Newell serves as a consultant and West Coast scout for the Cavaliers.

Thoughts: "First ... Bradley really should have spent more time in offseason basketball programs," Newell says.

Although Bradley did work early in his career with Kareem AbduI-Jabbar, Newell still opined, "I don't think he has ever done the kind of offseason work ... needed to develop his post play. I don't think he has ever shown the desire to do that."

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deconstructing - Shawn Bradley - inlcudes related articles

Sporting News, The, March 22, 1999 by Ken Amos

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