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Is Leaky Black good enough to become the next Dudley Bradley?
Bradley, the legendary Secretary of Defense at Carolina, was the No. 13 pick in the 1979 NBA draft after averaging 4.4 points in college, with 9.2 as a senior his high-water mark. But he was good enough for a long pro career.
Of his then-UNC-record career 190 steals, who can forget the night he picked Clyde “the Glide” Austin’s pocket at Reynolds Coliseum and went in for a slam dunk that turned a one-point deficit into a one-point win over a stunned Wolfpack.
Bradley played 11 years for nine different NBA teams, and still collects a six-figure annual pension. He shot better than 50 percent in only one of those seasons but was always a feared defender and swipe artist, perhaps Dean Smith’s poster child for playing the other parts of the game so well.
Black, whose 166 career steals in five seasons compared to Bradley’s four, became such a great defender for the Tar Heels he was often compared to the Secretary by old-timers who saw them both play. And he has signed a two-way contract with the Charlotte Hornets and their G-League team in Greensboro.
Over the last 40-plus years, the NBA has grown from 22 teams to 30 and the popularity of the game produced thousands of great players, which is only one of the reasons that Black went unpicked in today’s two-round draft. His career scoring average was about the same as Bradley’s but he shot a far lower percentage, albeit with the 3-pointer coming to the college game in 1987.
Unlike other Tar Heels participating in the NBA Summer League, Black sat on the bench for three straight games before getting in for the Hornets’ 97-93 loss to Portland, and went on to play well enough to get signed.
In his best game, Leaky took on the New Orleans Pelicans and former UNC teammate Garrison Brooks. Black finished with 8 points and 8 rebounds in 16 minutes. What stood out most was his ability to showcase his fit as a Three-and-D guy, knocking down 2 of 3 attempts from behind the arch.
President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Mitch Kupchak announced the deal but according to team policy did not reveal details. Kupchak, who played with Bradley in Chapel Hill, gave us his take on the difference between the two.
“Dudley was a better athlete,” offered Kupchak, the 1976 ACC Player of the Year and an All-American who himself had a 10-year NBA career. “And he was a better shooter and a rim-attacker, too.”
One other stat that has become very important to NBA players and teams is their comparative age difference. Black just turned 24, while Bradley was 22 when he was drafted, giving Dudley more time to develop into an NBA keeper.
Featured image via Todd Melet
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