Kellan Grady was in a gym hoisting jumpers on Monday, trying his best to mimic the form he refined playing at Kentucky this past season. But something was conspicuously missing during his pre-draft workout with the Charlotte Hornets: The name “Granddad” didn’t get mentioned.
“That stays in Lexington,” Grady said, referring to the city in which the University of Kentucky is located. “Nobody has called me that since I left school.”
Grady’s former teammates jokingly nicknamed him “Granddad” upon his arrival in Kentucky because he was so much older than most on the team. After donning the uniform of one set of Wildcats — Davidson — for four years, Grady spent his graduate season wearing threads of another. The 6-foot-5, 204-pound guard started all 34 games for Kentucky in 2021-22, averaging 11.4 points and 2.1 rebounds in 32.9 minutes.
His 41.5% display behind the 3-point line was tops in the SEC, and ranked 15th in the nation. He drained 88 3-pointers — the eighth most in a single season in program history.
That followed Grady’s impressive stint at Davidson, where he started all but two of the 115 games in which he appeared. He averaged 17.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 35.8 minutes, finishing sixth in program history in total points with 2,002.
At Kentucky, his role wasn’t the same.
“I think one of the biggest things people overlook — my statistics were different — I played on a team with a lot of talent,” Grady said. “We had six guys that scored 25 points or more this past year. And I was asked to fill a specific role, and be a shot maker, and make the right reads and drive close outs, and be a floor spacer, and hold my own on defense, and play good defense.
“And I think although my statistics look different, people overlook what that means because in the NBA, you’ve got 20 or 30 guys who are stars and have the ball a lot, and the rest of the guys in the NBA have to be effective and efficient in their role.”
That’s where Grady believes he can step in and be successful as a pro.
“Me shooting my highest ever percentage from three this past year,” he said, “and showing that I was able to fulfill a role and play over 30 minutes a game I think helps me get to the next level because that’s something I’m going to have to do at the next level. So I think that was something that was very beneficial playing at Kentucky and doing it at a school that’s in the SEC, against the best length and best athleticism in the country.”
A Davidson foundation
Grady pointed to his opportunities at Davidson paving the perfect path for him to land at Kentucky, providing a solid foundation he used to carve out his slice in his lone season with his new team. Multiple people on the pre-draft trail, Grady said, have mentioned how he’s well-coached and attribute it to the person who just completed his 33rd season steering Davidson’s ship.
“Bob McKillop runs one of the best practices they’ve ever seen,” Grady said, “if not the best practices they’ve ever seen.”
The intensity, discipline and attention to detail McKillop focuses on and demands from his players directly impacted Grady. Paired with his work ethic, natural instincts and abilities, it’s translated to the 24-year-old growing into an overall better player.
His career 3-point percentage proves it. He made just 34.1% in his sophomore season.
“When he came to Davidson, he questioned in his mind his ability to shoot,” McKillop said Monday. “He really was not as confident as you would think he should be because of the work ethic he had, the success he had as a high school player, and it was a process where he just had to build up his confidence. I thought that year after year that’s what he did here, and at Kentucky he got out in a situation where he had guys breaking people down off the dribble and creating opportunities for himself.
“He didn’t have as much of an opportunity to break guys down off the dribble. It was more of creating and cutting game and at Kentucky he had an opportunity to spot more. So he’s got those three different ingredients in the offensive end – coming off a screen, making a cut and then spotting to get shots.”
McKillop compared Grady to someone on the Miami Heat.
“If you look at the NBA today, you see a guy like Duncan Robinson,” he said. “He was a guy who was a spot shooter. So Kellan, I think you can transfer his abilities in a way you can transfer Duncan Robinson’s.”
‘Acclimated with Charlotte’
Under the tutelage of agent Mike Miller, who played 17 seasons in the NBA and passes that knowledge along in nearly daily drills for his clients, Grady is trying to fine-tune some aspects of his game while also growing in other areas. Miller trains Grady with volume shooting drills, working coming off screens, dribble hand-offs — small tricks of the trade, as he puts it.
Grady is all about learning, and fully knows the Hornets have a track record over the past four years of developing talent, even using the G League Greensboro Swarm to assist with it. Spending all those months in Charlotte allowed him to keep tabs on the outside about how the Hornets do things.
Being around a franchise that embraces player development and puts resources into it would be a big boost. He welcomes that type of environment.
“I think that’s huge for me,” Grady said. “It’s very important to be self aware throughout this process. The range that I’ve heard is undrafted or a late second-round pick. So I think it’s important to go to an organization where they have a history of development and a history of not overlooking players that go late in the second round or undrafted.”
That’s why he would be thrilled to don Hornets’ garb again in the future.
“As much as Boston is my hometown, in a lot of ways I’m kind of a hometown kid in that I’m acclimated with Charlotte,” Grady said. “I was in this area for four very important years of my life. So I’m excited about the opportunity. Just to be candid this was my best workout I’ve had so far. So I’m excited to see where things can go. I’ve got a lot of respect for the organization, so we’ll see how it all works out.”
