EX-UCLA standout Alford hopes he’s ready for his shot
Mthan anything, Bryce Alford must remain the optimist, able to distinguish opportunity in what many might believe the implausible.
He needs to believe his is a game that can translate, unlike similar ones that were exiled to far away lands.
It’s a tough road, knowing your ticket to an NBA roster exists beyond a 3-point line and yet trying to stick on a team with the world’s best shooters.
No one in the history of UCLA basketball, in all the greatness produced by those blue and gold jerseys, made more 3s than Alford.
He owns school records for 3s in a game, season and career.
He’s not the guy you challenge to a game of H-O-R-S-E.
But scoring 37 against Colorado while making nine 3s in a Pac-12 game or shooting 43 percent from distance as a senior isn’t on the same planet when it comes to realizing his current objective: Alford
is playing with Golden State in the NBA Summer League, an undrafted shooting guard trying to open any authoritative eyes from the league’s best team.
“It’s a challenge,” Alford said. “It’s no easy task. They’re the defending world champions, so you have to come in here and have supreme confidence. It’s a tough deal, because there are so many guys on each roster, so whether you play or not, whatever minutes you get, you have to be confident and try and make any impact you can.”
Golden State was the first to reach out to him following the draft and given the Bruins ran similar schemes and sets as the Warriors, Alford felt this the most comfortable fit to begin his professional journey.
And isn’t that what it’s about for undrafted players?
It’s a story — terrific college shooter trying to make the league but not considered a sure thing to stay longterm — we’ve heard before.
GRANEY
One of the more popular examples remains former BYU star Jimmer Fredette, drafted 10th overall by the Kings in 2011 and who managed to carve out 235 NBA games for a total four teams until ending up in China last year.
He scored 51 points in one game and 73 in another, averaging a league-best 37.6 for the Shanghai Sharks.
“The fit is huge,” Alford said. “If you put Jimmer against a lot of guys in the NBA, he’s just as talented. I mean, he can really play. There’s no reason he shouldn’t be in the NBA. But a lot of it is fit and opportunity and once you get it, doing whatever you have to in order to stick.”
His hadn’t been plentiful in Las Vegas, where through the first two summer league games, Alford averaged just four minutes and didn’t score. But he started a 78-76 overtime loss to Minnesota on Tuesday, scoring 16 on 4-of-12 shooting over 27 minutes.
He has sought the guidance of his father, UCLA head coach Steve Alford, who played four NBA seasons and yet was presented an almost impossible hurdle to scale in living up to his legendary status shaped at Indiana.
For the most part, Dad has been pretty straightforward with advice: When and if your time comes, be ready.
It’s not easy for 6-foot-3 undrafted guards to make an NBA team, never mind one with shooters named Curry and Thompson and Durant. But there are 29 other teams watching this week, and there is (lots of ) money to be made overseas for a player who can fill things up like Alford.
His is the sort of game you would figure a team might send to the Development — um, Gatorade — League and watch.
You can’t teach a lot of things, and his shot is one.
“Bryce is a really tough kid,” said one Western Conference scout Tuesday. “He’s smart, he understands what he has to do and he can really shoot the ball. I don’t care what anyone says — he can shoot the ball at this level. I’ll be very surprised if he’s not on a G-league team to start.”
Alford is asked often if he wants to follow his father and become a coach, a path older brother Kory has already begun. He doesn’t, not now, maybe not ever, preferring the pressure of trying to play as long as possible to the kind he has seen his father endure running programs at schools like Iowa and New Mexico and UCLA.
“Being a coach’s son, I know to come out here and show them what I can do and not what I can’t,” Alford said. “Some people come out here and try to do too much. After the first practice, the coaches told me to just do what I do best. It makes things pretty simple.”
It’s a tough road.
If he has a shot, it’s because of, well, his shot.
Contact columnist Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702383-4618. He can be heard on ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.