On court for Arizona basketball, in life, Alabama transfer Jaden Bradley adept at adapting

For a guy who just had his 20th birthday last week, Jaden Bradley has already learned to be pretty flexible. In basketball, and life.

So, after living in New York, North Carolina, Florida and Alabama before he showed up in Tucson this summer, the Wildcats’ sophomore transfer guard quickly began exploring the local food scene.

“I tried the Sonoran hot dog, I think it’s called?” Bradley said. “That’s not bad.”

Last month, Bradley also took a detour halfway around the world with his new teammates, diving into Middle Eastern cuisine in Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Among other gastronomic opportunities, the Wildcats were invited into a Palestinian Christian family’s home for a wide-ranging lunch and later that day dove into a gigantic Shabbat dinner spread at their Jerusalem hotel.

“They had a lot of hummus and different dips like that,” Bradley said. “I’m a texture guy when it comes to food. I tried raw fish and stuff like that and it wasn’t bad.”

Same sort of deal when Bradley was a freshman at Alabama last season: He went local.

“They had some good pizza and wing spots,” Bradley said, “but my favorite spot out there was definitely the catfish spot.”

After arriving at his fourth school in the past five years — Bradley played high school ball in North Carolina and at Florida’s IMG Academy — Bradley is also adapting on the court once again.

Starting 22 of 37 games as a point guard for Alabama last season, Bradley averaged 6.4 points and 3.1 assists, shooting 39.2% overall and 31.2% from 3-point range. He is expected to play a starting or key reserve role at both guard spots this season.

He spoke about his role and the season ahead during an introductory news conference Tuesday at McKale Center:

“Definitely want to be more efficient than last year, (improve) my numbers of finishing 3s, free-throw percentage and win more games,” Bradley said. “Definitely want to get to that Final Four, just do whatever it takes to win a national championship. I feel like we’ve got the team, the roster, coaching staff and everybody to do that.”

While Alabama routinely went big with a frontline of 6-9 Brandon Miller, 6-10 Noah Clowney and 7-0 Charles Bediako, Arizona has considerable depth and talent on the perimeter, including North Carolina transfer Caleb Love, senior Pelle Larsson, sophomores Kylan Boswell and Filip Borovicanin and freshman KJ Lewis — plus a scrappy long-term prospect in 6-foot Spaniard Conrad Martinez.

The Wildcats could play three guards at a time, as they did occasionally last month, while they also possess the size to go big. UA has 7-footers in starting center Oumar Ballo and freshman Motiejus Krivas, along with shot-swatting forward Keshad Johnson and 6-8 shooter Paulius Murausakas.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

“We’ve got so many different lineups we could go with,” Bradley said. “Depending on who we’re playing, we could match them or go smaller and try to outrun them or go bigger and try to play bully ball.

The two “UAs” – who will meet on Dec. 20 in Phoenix — also have what Bradley called different styles on both ends of the court. He said Arizona’s offensive system should help him more in shot selection, learning to take the right shots within the Wildcats’ free-flowing system, while Arizona’s depth up front adds to its defensive abilities.

“We got some great guys, Kylan and Caleb and even Conrad — we can all play so it’s gonna be interesting to see what lineup coach (Tommy Lloyd) wants. I feel like everybody on the team can find minutes, so this is gonna be interesting to see the different lineups that can be out there.

“We had a different defensive scheme at Alabama then over here. I like what we have going on so far. We’ve got a lot of guards who can get into each other. We’ve got Big O (Ballo), Krivas, Keshad at the rim to block shots, so we look in like a great defensive team.”

During the Wildcats’ exhibition trip, Johnson wound up leading the Wildcats in scoring with 14.7 points per game, while Love averaged 11.0 points while shooting 38.7% overall, hitting 2 of 16 3-pointers.

Meanwhile, Bradley was a selective shooter, averaging 7.7 points and 4.3 assists but only one turnover a game, hitting 58.9% from the field overall despite a 1 for 6 mark from 3-point range. Bradley said he expects his offensive role could vary during the season.

“Depending on the game and what the defense has given me, it’s just being able to hit knock down those shots and being efficient,” Bradley said. It’s “whatever the night looks like, just take it, taking more 3s, getting to the basket more, just reading the defense and seeing what they give me that night.”

The Wildcats had two weeks off from basketball duties after their Middle Eastern trip, allowing time to rest and adjust to the start of classes, but Bradley said he still took time to review video of the games.

“It was just seeing the stuff that I did well — pass and get my teammates involved,” Bradley said. “There’s definitely some shots I wish I hit. Everybody wishes they can make every shot. It was seeing the shots that I’m gonna get within the system and kind of just repping those out, trying to perfect it.”

Bradley said he sent his grandmother photos and videos he took during the trip, saying the Biblical sites around Jerusalem were a highlight, while he found the Wildcats also did some pretty valuable bonding off and on the court. That could help them figure things out in the season ahead.

“That’s the fun of basketball, trying to figure out everything and try to piece it together. As a player you’re just trying to figure out where everybody likes to get the ball, their spots, and that’s what we talked about overseas trip — making your teammates better, helping them get better reading what your teammates do, then get it to them in that spot.”

Off the court, Bradley still has another adjustment to work on: He has yet to settle on his favorite Mexican food spot in Tucson. He spoke highly of Momo’s, across the street from campus, but still has wandering eyes.

“If you’ve got any suggestions, I’m open,” he said. “I’d love to try it.”