IS THIS THE ONE JOSH?

["Dorine" <norine@sover.net>]

            Bradley gets his chance 

            Celtics give shot to Everett star 


            By Michael Vega, Globe Staff, 07/29/99 


            at Bradley sat near the end of the Celtics bench, happy to be present for Boston's 82-69 victory over the New York Knicks last night in a Shaw's Summer Pro League contest and happier still to be wearing a Celtics jersey. 


                   Everett's Pat Bradley, left, had a reunion with Salem's Rick Brunson at the Celtics-Knicks game.
                 

            But Bradley's smile was hard to suppress when he arose from the bench to enter the game with 5:45 left in the second quarter, and the packed gymnasium at UMass-Boston's Clark Recreation Center greeted the pride of Everett and former University of Arkansas standout with some warm applause. 


            ''Yeah, that was really nice,'' Bradley smiled. ''We brought half of Everett down here.'' 


            Even nicer still was the fact that, after getting overlooked in the NBA draft last month, the 6-foot-2-inch Bradley was finally getting a chance to live out his dream by getting a shot at the pros when the Celtics invited him to join their summer league roster after shooting guard Jeff Sheppard departed the team to sign with an Italian pro team, Benetton Treviso. 


            ''We like to give local players a shot,'' said Celtics general manager Chris Wallace. ''With Pat and Wayne [Turner, the former Beaver Country Day guard who went on to star at Kentucky], I think you have two of the biggest names in the area.'' 


            Bradley, who had been working on his strength and conditioning with Mike Boyle and playing in the Beantown Basketball League at Boston College, said his agent, Ken Buckley of Brockton, got word from Wallace Tuesday night during a BBL playoff game that there was an opening on the roster. 


            ''You should have seen the look in his eyes,'' said Rich Bradley, who sat courtside at the Clark Center for his son's Celtic debut last night. ''I could tell he was very excited when he got the call. Maybe except for Red Auerbach and Eddie Andelman, no one bleeds Celtic green like Pat does.'' 


            Last night, Bradley donned jersey No. 20, did his layups and shot his jumpers in pregame warmups, and proceeded to sit and watch. Until, that is, he was summoned for what amounted to a two-minute cameo appearance as Adrian Griffin's sub. Once Bradley took the floor, a familiar face wearing a blue Knicks jersey was waiting there to guard him: Salem's Rick Brunson. 


            Bradley, a shooter at heart who set Southeastern Conference and Arkansas career records with 366 3-pointers, wasted little time in hoisting a shot when he ''attempted to get it down low,'' but noticed how Brunson ''had backed off of me by 2 or 3 feet,'' he said. ''That's an open invitation.'' 


            Bradley fired, missing his one and only field goal attempt when it drew iron. He wound up making an assist to Walter McCarty before departing after fouling Brunson with 3:45 to go. 


            ''It was nice to see him again,'' Bradley said of Brunson. ''We played against each other once when I was at Arkansas and he was with the Converse All-Stars, but here he is now in the pros. I saw him after the game and he said, `You had a good four years [in college] and no one thought you could do it, but you proved them wrong.''' 


            This story ran on page F03 of the Boston Globe on 07/29/99. 
            © Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.