2024 NBA Draft: Aaron Bradshaw Shines Versus Penn
The Kentucky Wildcats defeated Penn yesterday 81 to 66. Kentucky has implemented a whole new offense and style of play this season. They are playing a lot faster, taking more 3-pointers and less mid-range jumpers. This opens up the floor for guards to thrive but also gives a ton of room for bigs to operate.
One big man that we are going to break down is Aaron Bradshaw. Bradshaw is a 7-foot-1 center that played his second game of the season yesterday. How did he look?
Bradshaw produced a double-double as he led the team in scoring with 17 points, led the team in rebounds with 11 and led the team in blocks with three. One thing for sure is that the 7-foot-1 freshman center will be productive on the stat sheet if given enough minutes on the floor. He made six field goals around the rim with some being dunks and layups. His size overwhelmed Penn a lot of times during different parts of the game as they struggled to defend him once he got great positioning down in the painted area.
He serves well as a lob threat and a guy that can generate easy second chance points when he’s playing with energy. One thing that caught a lot of people’s eyes was when Bradshaw made a 3-pointer off the catch. The freshman in the high school school scene was labeled as a big man that could stretch the floor at a respectable rate so him making an outside jumper off the catch wasn’t a surprise to many scouts or evaluators.
He showed a clean shooting stroke on his free throw attempts as well which is exciting for Kentucky fans as it adds a whole new element to their team if Bradshaw is able to consistently knockdown jumpers and free-throws. We sadly didn’t get to see a ton of passing flashes or short roll plays made out of Bradshaw but as the season moves along we will get a better understanding on how well of a decision-maker and passer he is.
Defensively, he protected the rim but had his lapses defensively like any other young freshman does as they play their first couple games at the college level. The notable things that Bradshaw needs to work on is his defensive positioning and staying more vertical. There were a couple of times where he was way too out of position to make a defensive play happen and gave Penn an open layup as he was way too late to help. Bradshaw has the length and size to alter shots without blocking it but he tends to not keep his arms straight up and will bring his arms down which led to him getting three fouls in the game.
Bradshaw will have to make sure he stays out of trouble moving forward as he’s the tallest active player on the roster and the best rim protector on the team so the Wildcats will absolutely need that if they want to have a chance to compete for a national championship this season. The 7-foot-1 big man has seen his name slip a bit on mock drafts due to how much time he has missed this season but if he’s able to continue to produce on this talented Kentucky team then he could see his name get back into first-round conversations.
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