Aaron Bradshaw won't change the Kentucky offense: "He'll help us a lot"

Look, I get it. ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ Kentucky’s offense is a well-oiled machine shooting and scoring with the best of them in college basketball — and doing it efficiently while maintaining the nation’s best assist/turnover ratio. Why muck things up by throwing a 7-1, 226-pound big man in there?

Because Aaron Bradshaw isn’t like most 7-footers. Sure, he catches lobs and blocks shots, but he’s also mobile and hits shots. Just think of him as a plug-and-play complementary piece to what’s already working on the floor.

“I think it’ll help us with rebounding, defense, for sure,” freshman Rob Dillingham said of Bradshaw’s anticipated debut, which John Calipari says is expected Saturday vs. UNC Wilmington. “But also offense because guarding screen-and-roll with him — he can shoot and stretch the floor. He’s just like Tre almost, honestly. But he can dunk the ball like crazy. I think he’ll help us a lot. Once we get him in there, we’ll adjust well.”

If anything, it’s what this team has been missing up to this point. The offense has been there, but the defense has been an issue, as has rebounding. Bradshaw is going to build on what’s working while fixing what hasn’t.

“Being able to have a 7-footer on the court is just a great feeling. We have someone to get rebounds and block shots. He’s going to be able to bring all of that and his skill,” sophomore Adou Thiero added. “Teams are definitely going to rethink going up with him right there. That’s going to give us more stops.”

John Calipari has stressed the importance of having ‘basketball players’ on the floor, individuals capable of passing, dribbling and shooting. Bradshaw is yet another example of that.

“We’re going to keep doing the same thing. Keep running and try to make the other team tired. Just having a big inside, being able to do the same thing we already do — dribble, pass and shoot,” Thiero said. “He’s capable of doing what we’ve been doing this year. And he’s been watching us, he’ll be able to do it.”

We could see it for the first time Saturday against the UNCW Seahawks.