American imports Lanard Copeland and Dave Simmons, Bradtke's arrival helped transform the Tigers from a pretenders to a genuine championship team. The team would win their second NBL title in 1997 when they defeated cross-Melbourne rivals the South East Melbourne Magic 2–1 in the Grand Final, reversing the result from the 1996 series. While with the 36ers, Bradtke established himself as one of the premier centres in the NBL and following the Tigers 1993 championship, the then twice Olympic representative was regarded as the best centre in the league. Bradtke's form with the Tigers continued over the next nine seasons before finally receiving the ultimate individual accolade by being crowned the 2001–02 NBL Most Valuable Player. He was also voted to the All NBL First Team in 1994, 1996, 1997 and consecutively from 1999–2005 and was also selected to the NBL 20th Anniversary Team in 1998 and the NBL 25th Anniversary Team in 2003. Brisbane Bullets After 377 NBL games with the Melbourne Tigers, Bradtke played his last season with them in 2004–05. For the 2005-06 season he signed with the Brisbane Bullets, winning his third NBL title when the Bullets defeated his former team the Melbourne Tigers 3–1 in the 2006-07 NBL Grand Final series. After the grand final, and 59 games in two seasons with the Bullets, the 38-year-old Bradtke retired from playing professional basketball having played in four NBL Grand Finals (winning three) Bradtke retired as the NBL's all-time leading rebounder pulling down 6,283 rebounds (4,279 def, 2,004 off) at 11.3 per game. This record still stands as of the 2016–17 NBL season. On 21 November 2003, Bradtke broke the previous NBL rebounds record of 5,200 held by his former Adelaide 36ers teammate Mark Davis at the Distinctive Homes Dome in Adelaide (now known as the Titanium Security Arena). Davis, who still makes Adelaide his home, was on hand to present Bradtke with the game ball in recognition of his achievement. Bradtke led the NBL in rebounding in 1992 (14.8), 1994 (14.5), 1998–99 (13.3), 1999–00 (14.8), 2000–01 (14.1), 2001–02 (13.1), 2002–03 (12.9) and 2003–04 (10.9). Bradtke is also third on the all-time list of NBL blocked shots with 763 at 1.3 per game International career Bradtke was a prominent player for the Australian Boomers, making his debut in 1987 at the age of 17 in a home test series against the visiting Soviet Union. At the time