Elevating his game: Brady’s basketball career proving to be above average
Can the average person do this – take one step and jump 40 inches?
How about this?
A flat vertical jump of 33 inches.
Can your neighbor bench press 340 pounds? Or put up 225 pounds 21 times?
Nothing is average about Jordan Brady. You don’t get to start for a Division I basketball team if you are average. You don’t start in the NBA D-League if you are a marginal athlete, even if you are 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds.
Despite his athletic ability, Brady has been labeled an over-achiever. In the NBA’s D-League, 6-6 players are the majority, not the minority, but players with Brady’s work ethic and drive are a rarity.
Many people still haven’t heard of Jordan Brady, despite his success. He was a first-team all-state selection after leading the state in scoring at 21.3 points per game, but he was tucked away in Vernal, playing at the 3A level.
He played football for Uintah, but he didn’t start playing until he was a sophomore.
“I remember as a sophomore we had a playoff game and five sophomores were invited to dress (for the game). I wasn’t one of them,” Brady said.
So Brady took a radio to the weight room and listened to the game while he lifted and committed himself to excellence. As a junior, Brady not only suited up, he started at wide receiver and free safety.
Even though Brady wondered what it might have been like to try to play football and basketball in college, it was basketball where Brady made his biggest impact. When it came time to try to play at the next level, he followed his heart and that led him to the campus of Dawson Community College in Glendive, Mont., to play basketball.
Hey, don’t laugh: have scholarship, will travel.
Brady decided to transfer from Dawson to Salt Lake Community College for a year before serving an LDS Church mission to the Philippines.
Brady found himself on a very good Salt Lake Community College team. He came off the bench on a talented squad.
“He was tough and strong, very physical. He didn’t back down from anybody, kind of the way he is now,” said former Salt Lake assistant coach Matt Logan, who is now the head coach at Orem High. “He was always pretty explosive. The thing that stands out to me was not only was he not scared of anybody, he relished the challenge. The bigger the name, the better for him.”
When his junior college eligibility was up, Brady took one of the few Division l offers he had and went to Utah Valley University.
As a junior, Brady started in all 29 games. He averaged 6.9 points and 5.2 rebounds and shot 56 percent from the field.
As a senior, he earned first team All-Independant honors after averaging 11.2 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. He also earned the NCAA Division I Independent Defensive Player of the Year award.
In a game against Boise State, Brady scored 17 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. He closed his UVU career in style with a 19-point, 17-rebound performance against Cal-State Bakersfield.
“Jordan Brady epitomizes a guy who has learned and matured on each stop along the way. Everyone has underestimated him. He has a psyche that’s built by Gold’s Gym,” said UVU coach Dick Hunsaker. “He truly is phenomenally strong. For a man 225, 230 pounds, he has tremendous agility and mobility. He can really get up and down the court.”
Brady also walked away from UVU with some other keepsakes. He married UVU volleyball player Brooke Wilson in 2006 and they now have a 14-month-old son named Wyatt.
After finishing up at Utah Valley, Brady went overseas and played for Racing Luxembourg in 2008. He was released after just eight games, even though he averaged 26.8 points per game, so he came home and opted to practice with the Flash.
“He was a practice player with us last year. He came to every practice. I was amazed. Usually when we have a practice player, a guy will show up every once in a while,” said Utah Flash head coach Brad Jones. “I told him this year that if we could draft him we would, but there were no guarantees.”
The Flash took him with their final pick of the D-League draft. There was still no guarantee Brady would make the team and when the call came, it looked like Brady’s run with the Flash was over when he was the last player released.
But it lasted less than a day. Utah’s first-round pick, Garret Siler, opted to take an offer to play in China. Brady was now officially on the team.
“When I found out (about Siler), I told Jordan that I might have to take him on our road trip,” Jones said. “He was like, ‘Sure coach, I’ll be ready.’ I called him at 7:30 p.m on Thanksgiving day and told him to get packed. We flew out at 9:45 p.m. He didn’t get to play until our third game because of the contract situation with Siler, but he started his first game he was eligible to play for us. He played 30 minutes and has been playing very well for us every since.”
Brady is averaging 6.7 points and 5.0 rebounds game with the Flash and continues to spend time in the gym toning and keeping his body in top shape.
“I try to eat right. I don’t have a lot of fast foods, mostly whole wheat grains. It’s kind of like a Word of Wisdom diet. I eat a lot of fresh foods,” Brady said. “Everything I’ve done in the weight room is to make me a better player.”
After watching Brady work out, it’s easy to see why he overachieves. He is put through a series of drills that involved balance, stretching and light weights.
“The main thing is to be consistent,” Brady said while catching his breath. “There are a lot of different ways to get there.”
He doesn’t drink pop and he hasn’t gone longer than a week without an appointment in the weight room for more than four years. He says his body fat has been as low as five percent, but now is in the six-to-eight percent range.
“He definitely has a bright future the way he works,” Jones said. “He’s more athletic than people realize. He runs very well, jumps unbelievably well, and he’s strong. It’s not a mismatch when he plays guys bigger than him because he’s so strong.”
Brady has surprised people at every level, so it should be no surprise that he’s doing it again in the D-League.
“Without hesitation, Jordan Brady’s best basketball is still to come,” Hunsaker said. “He has a future, whether it is that he continues to play in the D-League. The NBA is his dream, but if those things don’t materialize, then maybe some day for financial reasons he’ll decide to go to Europe to play. He’s really created for himself a terrific opportunity.”