It is tough to get an opportunity in the NBA. Once a player is drafted, he has to fight with established players to earn a place in a team’s rotation.
For new Philadelphia 76ers big man Tony Bradley, he has yet to earn consistent minutes. He spent the first three seasons of his career playing behind Rudy Gobert with the Utah Jazz.
With Utah, he played in 70 games, and he averaged 10.4 minutes per game. Fifty-eight of those games came in his third season, during which he averaged 4.9 points and 4.6 rebounds. He averaged 1.5 points and 3.8 rebounds while playing in six games in the playoffs.
“I’m still working on trying to get [more minutes],” he said. “It’s been a while since I’ve had some very significant, high amount of minutes, but I feel like I can get there. I just got to keep working hard, keep developing, keep learning from the guys in front of me.”
Bradley is certainly eager to learn from the likes of Joel Embiid and Dwight Howard on this Sixers roster. The two of them have a lot of experience with Embiid being one of the game’s bright young stars while Howard has a wealth of experience and is likely headed to the Hall of Fame once his playing career is over.
Bradley can learn a lot from those two players, and he said he believes he can be a stretch big in this league. That means moving to the 4 at some point.
“I played the 4 just a little bit,” said Bradley. “They were experimenting with me, especially with Rudy during the bubble. It was very brief, but just a little bit. I will be cool playing 4, but it’s all a coaching decision, but I wouldn’t mind it.”
The Sixers will eventually have to figure out his role on this team and that will happen when training camp begins in Dec. 1.
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