Buenos Dias Bradshaw
Tagged in: Kiwis Abroad
Tall Blacks forward Craig Bradshaw believes he’s got a foot in the door to arguably the best domestic league in Europe.
Bradshaw, after averaging 9.0 point and 8.3 rebounds per game for the Tall Blacks at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in July, has landed at Group Begar Leon in north-west Spain for the upcoming season.
Baloncesto Leon finished bottom of the Liga ACB, Spain’s top league last season, and were relegated to the Liga Espanola Baloncesto Oro, commonly known as LEB Gold, but Bradshaw said it was a great opportunity.
“I turned down more lucrative offers in Germany and France to be here,” the 2.05m big man said from Leon, a city of 205,000, famous for its Gothic Leon Cathedral and fiestas.
“I believe I made the right choice, this team is an ACB team which got relegated to LEB because they finished last, last year. Spain is the best league in Europe and I want to keep playing here, so I’m glad I got my foot in the door.
“From what I hear it’s hard to get into a Spanish team because there are only two import spots per team and the league is really tough. We have had five pre season games and the level of players is above what I played against in Turkey, there’s just so much depth here.
”The town I am in is crazy about basketball and the club has a great history.”
After graduating from Winthrop University, Bradshaw began his professional career last season with the now-defunct Brisbane Bullets in the Australian NBL, averaging 13.1 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in 24.5 minutes and shooting 47.1 percent from the field for the eventual beaten semifinalists.
He then joined Efes Pilsen in the Turkish BBL for a late-season stint, helping the Instanbul club to runner-up in the league, before being ousted in the semifinals by repeat champions Fenerbahce Ulker.
Helping Bradshaw acclimate to Leon has been fellow import Clarence Gilbert, a Missouri grad who Bradshaw knew from his time in Turkey, where Gilbert played with Beykozspor, last season.
“The other import on my team is an American, who I played with in Turkey, so that has made things easier since no-one on my team hardly speaks English, including the coach.”
Leon open their LEB season on September 19 on the road in Valencia against Gandia Basquet.
Back in the Southern Hemisphere, former Tall Black Casey Frank had a good and bad week with the Gold Coast Blaze as pre-season games continue ahead of the Australian NBL tip-off this weekend.
Frank poured in 36 points (12/15 FG, 5/7 3pt, 7/8 FT), 11 rebounds and an assist in 36 minutes, setting a new club record for points scored in all games in the process, in a 101-97 win over Lindsay Tait’s Wollongong Hawks on Thursday.
With import Luke Whitehead out with an ankle injury, Frank made the most of his starting opportunity, scoring the game’s first five points and dropping 13 points in the first quarter. His hot shooting enabled the Blaze to go on big runs to start the second and third periods.
“I’ve been shooting well at practice and had some good games in the Queensland Cup so it is really good to be able to contribute for the team and help get them over the line. The season is just around the corner so it is coming together at the right time,” Frank said.
Saturday was not so kind to Frank, who had just two points and fouled out in 14 minutes of court time as the Blaze fell 89-77 to the Hawks in Rockhampton.
Tall Blacks captain Pero Cameron posted eight points (3/5 FG, 0/1 3pt, 2/2 FT), two rebounds and three assists in 17 minutes in Thursday’s win for the Gold Coast, while Tait had no points (0/1 FG, 0/2 FT) and four assists in 28 minutes of the bench behind Kavossy Franklin.
The guy who beat-out Frank for the naturalised spot on the 2008 Tall Blacks roster, Nick Horvath, continued his impressive pre-season, scoring a game-high 29 points as the South Dragons finished a perfect 7-0 before the regular season with a 118-98 win over the Adelaide 36ers.
Horvath hit seven of his 10 shots in the first half as the Dragons led 60-49 and ended the pre-season averaging 22 points per game.
“Winning’s a habit is the old cliché,” said Horvath. “We have confidence. We know we’re not there yet, but it’s a foundation and we know if we keep building, keep working day in and day out, we can do something good.”
National team and Dragons team-mate Mika Vukona finished with nine points and six rebounds, while Tall Black Paora Winitana was subdued and did not score in double figures for AdelaideB.
