Gafford take court with NBA greats at Nike camp
FAYETTEVILLE — Daniel Gafford will be likely playing against and perhaps as teammates by 2019-20 with some of the NBA players he played against and with last week.
But for 2018-19, El Dorado native Gafford’s week at the Nike Skills Academy in Los Angeles was all about maximizing the Arkansas sophomore center for his second and presumably final campaign with coach Mike Anderson’s Razorbacks.
Variously listed 6-10 or 6-11, Gafford netted his invitation among college basketball’s best to the Nike Skills Academy after being named last season to the Southeastern Conference’s All-Freshman team while averaging 11.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocked shots per game.
NBA great Kevin Durant was among those not only tutoring but also playing with and against top collegians. Lebron James, also attended.
“I want to first start off by saying I was honored to be invited to it,” Gafford told media assembled Tuesday for a press conference. “Because not everybody can get invited to such a big camp like that with NBA Hall of Famers and former NBA players. The atmosphere was great.”
Great, Gafford said, because he saw firsthand that stars don’t shine without hard work.
“Everybody wanted to work hard,” Gafford said. “There was no complaining about, ‘Oh, I want to go home. I just want to be up here for the gear,’ and all that. It was just a working atmosphere, and that’s something I’m ready for in the future.”
Gafford said the first day in L.A. trying to keep up with the pros taught him he must work even harder than he has worked with his Razorbacks teammates during summer workouts and pickup games.
“The first day there, I was basically out of shape,” Gafford said. “I was running like I was an old man that first day. I had
to get back to the shape I was in to where I could run up and down the floor because I was real gassed.”
He vows heeding an NBA great’s advice working to run full tank before the Razorbacks officially practice in October.
“I have to work myself to exhaustion, and that’s coming from a great player — Kobe Bryant,” Gafford said. “He worked himself to exhaustion. So, I see in my eyes that I have to do the same thing to become a great player like him. Playing with Kevin Durant, it showed me hard work pays off because he’s a hard worker, and he’s one of the greats.”
Gafford may be a trifle too hard on himself. He musthave hit his conditioning stride pretty quick into the five-day camp to receive the rave reviews he received publicly from media and NBA executives, as well as reports that Anderson, addressing a Brandon Burlsworth Foundation benefit banquet Friday in Fayetteville, said have been told to him.
“I could have done better, but I got it together close to the end,” Gafford said. “I feel I went up there, and I did what I had to do.”
Playing on the same team as Golden State NBA champion Durant might leave any collegian off his game and awestruck.
“I was in shock when they first said I was on his team,” Gafford said. “But then I had to get my mindset back.”
Did Durant find Gafford for any passes or just score?
“He gave me passes,” Gafford said. “But other than that, he just basically did what Kevin Durant does. I set a screen for him.”
When you set the set screen did you then roll for a Durant pass?
“Ah, no,” Gafford said laughing. “Not really.”
Former Kentucky one-anddone and Phoenix Suns forward Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards, a former one-and-done for former Florida coach Billy Donovan’s Gators, are among the NBA players that Gafford said he played with and against.
Gafford said he weighs about the same as last season but that his better distributed, stronger 236 pounds helped him in L.A. He said he’s more ready to bang inside but also expanding his perimeter shooting.
Does that include 3-pointers since he never attempted one last season?
“I will if coach Anderson lets me,” Gafford said. “If I do, hopefully it goes in. If it doesn’t, then I won’t shoot any threes for the rest of the year.”