Utah Jazz’s Tony Bradley speaks on what he has in common with the area

By Rhett Wilkinson
Sun Advocate Reporter

On Fourth North, between Second and Third East, in Price are concrete basketball courts where folks are playing every evening.
Tony Bradley also developed his game on a concrete basketball court.
Bradley was an NBA first-round pick by the Utah Jazz this summer, fresh off winning an NCAA championship with prestigious North Carolina.
Bradley and two Jazz staff – with around two dozen kids – engaged in a Junior Jazz clinic organized by Carbon County Recreation and the Jazz Tuesday afternoon at the Bunnell-Dmitrich Athletic Center at USU Eastern.
Bradley’s stop in Price marked day two and stop five of a six-day, 15-stop tour through rural Utah. He spoke with the Sun Advocate, as invited by Carbon County Director of Recreation Frank Ori, following the function – and he remarked on his Bartow, Fla. court.
Sun Advocate: How was the clinic?
Tony Bradley: It was fun to see the kids. (I’m) just traveling around the state Utah, seeing the state; I’ve never been here before. It’s different than from where I’m from, so I’m traveling around, seeing different things, the mountains; I’m fascinated by them. I’m enjoying it so far.
SA: They’ve got you in hotels every night as you hop around? You aren’t driving back and forth from Salt Lake, then?
TB: Yes – every night, different hotels.
SA: Anything else different for you about being in a new place in Utah?
TB: You go so far without seeing a store or gas station. It’s just new things I’m learning about the state as I’m here for the next few months and years. I’m just learning new things and excited to be with the kids and the Junior Jazz.
SA: The Jazz traded up to get you. What did you think about that?
TB: It showed that they had a lot of interest in me, that they really wanted me bad. It’s a very good thing; a very positive thing. My job now is to prove them right for picking me. After this, I’m just going to go back to training.
SA: Will you go back home? Stay here?
TB: I’m going to be training in different places. I might come back home for a little bit and after that, come back here.
SA: Former Jazz star Gordon Hayward left. He doesn’t play the same position, but there’s a void now in scoring and whatnot. What do you think about that opportunity?
TB: It’s definitely an opportunity that opened up. I’m just doing my best job to help the team as much as possible. It don’t have to be scoring. It can be defensively, rebounding, little things like that. Things to help me get on the court.
SA: People in Price play on cement basketball courts and your father built one for you. Talk about your court.
TB: That’s where it pretty much all started. I didn’t have to be in the car and go to a place to shoot. Any time I wanted to, I could just go into the backyard and work on my game and shoot as many shots as I wanted to. No one could control what I did in the backyard. That’s really pretty much how it started.
SA: How did you like 2017 NBA Summer League and what did you pull from that?
TB: Summer League was good. I could have done better. But each game, I felt like I improved my performance. But it’s definitely a different transition from college to the pros, just different things like the speed of the game and the strength.