KU’s Gradey Dick loved playing at his ‘dream school.’ Now he looks ahead to NBA Draft
Wichita native Gradey Dick heads into Thursday night’s NBA Draft feeling grateful for a highly successful one-and-done college experience.
“It was a dream come true,” Dick, a 6-foot-8, 205-pound shooting guard who is regarded as a likely lottery pick, said of playing at the University of Kansas — his “dream school growing up.”
“Playing for coach (Bill) Self, a Hall of Fame coach … playing in Allen Fieldhouse was everything I hoped for and dreamed for, definitely a huge blessing, It helped propel me into this level of basketball. I can’t do anything but thank it (everyone),” Dick added, speaking to an Indiana Pacers NBA.com reporter after a workout Thursday at the Pacers’ practice facility.
The 19-year-old Dick — he averaged 14.1 points and 5.1 rebounds a game for (28-8) Big 12 champion KU during the 2022-23 season, his only one in Lawrence — showed so much promise as a Jayhawk that he’s been invited to sit in the NBA Draft Green Room reserved for first-round prospects during Thursday’s extravaganza. The draft starts at 7 p.m. Central Time at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. It will be aired on ABC and ESPN.
Still five months shy of his 20th birthday, Dick has no idea if he’ll be overcome with emotion when NBA commissioner Adam Silver calls his name and Dick heads to the stage to shake the hand of, and pose for pictures with, the NBA’s top executive.
“It’s hard to say right now,” Dick said Thursday, a day after a dinner meeting with former KU national championship guard Kevin Pritchard, the Pacers’ president of basketball operations.
“I’ve been thinking about this moment since I first started playing basketball. It’s been a dream from day one, so it’s hard to say. It’s going to be just raw emotions that come out. I’m looking forward to it a lot.”
According to published reports, Dick has had individual workouts with the Pacers, Orlando Magic, Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder and Dallas Mavericks. Also the Toronto Raptors planned to bring him in for a workout. Various projections have Dick headed to the Magic at either No, 6 or 11, Indiana at No. 7, Utah at No. 9, Dallas at No. 10, OKC at No. 12 and Toronto at No. 13. The Miami Heat are also said to be interested at No. 18.
What’s Dick’s biggest sales pitch to NBA front office types?
“It’s kind of a cheesy answer,” he said, “but I will do everything in my power to win. I will take any role given and not try to be something I’m not. I know my game best. It’s my personal game. I know what I can go and provide for a team. I give 110% energy wherever I go.”
Dick’s pre-draft workouts with teams have all been individual sessions. No other draft prospects have been in the gym. That’s so NBA execs could focus solely on his game.
“I felt I went out there and was just myself. That’s what I try to do in all of these workouts, go in there and give them a little taste of what I can potentially be for their team,” Dick said after the Pacers workout.
“First and foremost, what got me here is my shooting. That’s a big part of it,” Dick added of trying to showcase his scoring ability from beyond the arc. “It’s a different play style at the NBA level. There’s a wide open floor, more so than college. I try to show versatility, get to my spots on the court where I can shoot the ball, show the shooting I can do.”
Dick said he can do more than sink NBA-range threes.
“When I maybe hit a couple, I am able to pump fake, get guys in the air, just get around them and show them finishing around the rim and above the rim. I show athleticism really, more of a full area of my game where I can excite the crowd in the arena, stuff like that.” Dick explained.
NBA scouts reportedly like Dick’s high release on his threes.
“My mom (Carmen, former Iowa State player) really taught me everything I know at a young age. My high release was her high release,” said Dick, the KU freshman record-holder for threes, with 83 made (in 206 attempts, 40.3%). “She never really shot threes. I don’t think she took a three in her career. That’s really what I do. My mom and dad (Bart) taught me consistency is key. When I’m getting my shots up every single day that’s what will propel me to being the shooter I’m dreaming to be.”
If the Pacers happen to be the team that drafts Dick, he will have first-hand knowledge not only of former KU standout Pritchard— “we got to talk about different stuff, different stuff in Lawrence,” Dick said — but also Pacers guard Kendall Brown, who just completed his rookie season in Indy.
Brown was a teammate of Dick’s at Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kansas. He was a second-round pick of the Pacers in the 2022 draft.
“We went and saw ‘Boogeyman (last week in Indiana),’’’ Dick said with a smile. “We went to the movies, sat and talked. (I was) picking his brain about a place like this (Indiana). It’s a big advantage for sure.”
Jalen Wilson, another Jayhawk expected to be taken in Thursday’s draft, sees Dick as a can’t miss NBA prospect.
“You saw all year he has no conscience when it comes to shooting the basketball,” Wilson said. “It’s what makes a great shooter, being confident every time he shoots the ball. When he shoots we think it’s going in just like he thinks it’s going in. Teams faceguard him, put their best defender on him and he still knows he’s going to knock it down.”
Jonathan Givony, whose mock draft on ESPN.com has Dick headed to Orlando at No. 11, wrote of Dick: “Every NBA team is looking for big, solidly built wings with dynamic shot-making prowess who can do a little more than just shoot. Gradey Dick’s physical comps indicate he has ample tools to play either wing spot, with more room to fill out at age 19. With picture perfect shooting mechanics, toughness, a strong feel for the game and a confident, assertive demeanor, Gradey Dick has a high floor and plenty of upside to tap into long-term.”
