Bradley Beal leads talented guards in NBA draft,
Bradley Beal always wanted to get drafted into the NBA. The hard part was deciding when.
The Florida freshman sharpshooter was faced with that choice after his team’s 72-68 loss to Louisville in the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament March 24.
“It was really tough, because I actually like school and I just believed that next year we were going to have a great team to possibly get to the Final Four,” Beal said.
Beal was faced with the choice of staying in college — where he excelled in basketball and school with a 3.8 grade-point average — or going for his life-long dream.
After getting advice from his parents and Gators coach Billy Donovan, Beal decided to declare for Thursday’s NBA draft, which is also his 19th birthday.
“Basically, Coach Donovan, as well as my parents, gave me pros and cons about both situations, and they had their own ideas of what I should do,” Beal said. “But overall, they really just backed out of it, and it was my decision. I still kind of think about it sometimes, but in the end, I made the right call.”
He enters the NBA after averaging 14.8 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists at Florida.
In his senior year of high school, the St. Louis native was the Gatorade National Player of the Year and a Mcdonald’s All-american, averaging 32.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.7 steals at Chaminade Prep in St. Louis.
Beal also led the under-17 and under-16 U.S. teams to gold medals in the FIBA World Championships in Germany and the World Championships in Argentina. But there is one dream left on his agenda. His dad, Bobby, remembers his son playing make-believe of what is soon to become a reality.
“He would walk around the house and put on a cap and jersey,” Beal’s father said. “You know how (NBA Commissioner) David Stern would say, ‘And now, with the first pick of the lotto is Bradley Beal.’ He would change jerseys and act out certain teams that would draft him. He was maybe about 4,5,6, but he didn’t need much motivation for finding what his dream was.”
Beal won’t be taken No. 1 — Kentucky’s Anthony Davis likely will get that honor — but the 6-5 shooting guard is projected to fly off the board to the Charlotte Bobcats at No. 2, Washington Wizards at No. 3 or Cleveland Cavaliers at No. 4.
Beal knows he did not exactly scorch the nets from three-point range as a Gator, shooting 33.9%. But Florida assistant coach Matt McCall said Beal could be faced with just about any challenge and he would “figure it out.”
“Brad could stop playing basketball tomorrow and go and try to be an astronaut,” McCall said. “It may not be next year that he’s an NBA All-Star, it may not be the year after. But he’s going to figure it out. That’s just the type of person that he is.”
Beal said he learned how to be tough growing up with four brothers, all taking after their dad and playing football.
Beal’s mother, Besta, took her son to the YMCA basketball court at night and had him drive through the lane while his two 230-plus-pound older brothers, Brandon and Bruce defended. Brandon, 26, and Bruce, 24, each played Division I football, at Northern Illinois and Alabama State, respectively.
“She would use them as bookends to have (him) bounce off of,” Beal’s dad said. “Brad would say, ‘You guys can’t stop me. I don’t care, I’m still going to score.’ And he would.”