Belmont men's basketball's NCAA Division I era career scoring leader
Evan Bradds has been promoted to a player development coach role within the NBA's Boston Celtics organization. The 2017 Associated Press All-American and two-time Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year had served on the Celtics' staff as a video assistant since 2018.
"I'm super excited to stay here in Boston and work with the new staff," Bradds told BelmontBruins.com. "I'm looking forward to getting the season going here in a few days!"
After leading the nation in field goal percentage for consecutive seasons (2014-16), Bradds completed his decorated Bruin career in 2017 fourth all-time in Division I history in field goal percentage (.667). Upon graduating from Belmont, Bradds tore his ACL on his right knee during an NBA pre-draft workout with the Indiana Pacers.
However, a path to the world's most prestigious league opened for Bradds when former Boston head coach and current president of basketball operations Brad Stevens sought out the 6-foot-7 forward to join the Celtics' G League team as an assistant. Bradds served as an assistant coach for the Maine Red Claws until he was called up to be a video assistant for the Celtics prior to Boston's 2018 NBA playoffs run.
During his time as a Bruin, Bradds helped lead Belmont to the 2015 NCAA Tournament and three National Invitational Tournament (NIT) appearances. He finished with 1,921 points and 920 rebounds, becoming the first player in the Bruins' Division I era to reach 1,900 career points and 900 career rebounds.
The Celtics are under the direction of first-year head coach Ime Udoka as Garrett Jackson, DJ Macleay and Steve Tchiengang were named to the team's player enhancement staff with Bradds. Boston also announced on Monday that Will Hardy, Damon Stoudamire, Ben Sullivan, Joe Mazzulla, Aaron Miles and Tony Dobbins will serve as assistant coaches, while Matt Reynolds will serve as a special assistant to Udoka. Per team policy, terms of the deals were not disclosed.