Having entered college as a highly touted prospect, Bam Adebayo now comes into the NBA Draft after an impressive season with Kentucky.
Who is Bam Adebayo?
Edrice Adebayo, now mostly referred to by his nickname “Bam”, is an interesting big man likely to fall in the middle to late first round of this year’s NBA Draft.
Adebayo will arrive in the NBA as one of the latest one-and-done products to emerge from the Kentucky program under John Calipari, but he possesses an impressive résumé that predates his time in college too.
Having measured in at 6’6″ at the tender age of 13, Adebayo quickly scaled the ranks of underage basketball, ultimately going on to achieve McDonald’s All-American and North Carolina Mr. Basketball honors.
En route to such accolades, Adebayo competed against many of the best young players of his age group, and as such has been on the radar of scouts and fans alike for a number of years.
Although Kentucky’s season ultimately ended in disappointment, Adebayo put together an impressive campaign at one of college basketball’s true powerhouses. The Newark native averaged 13.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks on efficient shooting as a freshman, and as such is likely to draw plenty of attention in the coming months.
Let’s take a broader look at Adebayo’s game, though, and assess his strengths, weaknesses and how he’d fit with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Strengths
Adebayo is an explosive athlete whose game has grown at a rapid rate from his AAU days right through to his freshman year under John Calipari at Kentucky.
Although in many ways Adebayo lacks the kind of polish that may ultimately be required for him to reach his full potential, the flashes of his core abilities are there.
The youngster, who spent most of his formative years in North Carolina, possesses great quickness for his size, something which he can be seen to put into action in straight lines as a rim-runner or laterally on the defensive end.
The combination of speed, ease of movement, explosiveness and a 7’2″ wingspan leaves Adebayo with immense defensive potential, even if consistency remains an issue. In 38 games as a Wildcat, Adebayo averaged 1.5 blocks and 0.7 steals in 30.1 minutes per game, and there’s no reason in looking at his physical traits to suggest that he couldn’t replicate or surpass that production at some point in the NBA.
Just as Adebayo’s explosiveness allows him to block more shots than someone of his height generally should, his ability to take off and leap with real power adds extra wrinkles to an offensive game that would otherwise only be described as a work in progress.
Adebayo scores the bulk of his points with dunks, having cut back on some of the more inefficient elements of his offensive repertoire in his time at Kentucky. These can come off lobs, as a trailer, when he gets out in front of the play in transition, and perhaps most importantly as offensive rebounds.
Adebayo had a reputation as being prolific on the offensive glass entering college, and with 3.1 offensive rebounds per game last season he managed to back that up, even when competing against bigger men.
Weaknesses
Listed at somewhere between 6’9″ and 6’10” depending on where you look, Adebayo possesses the range of abilities that are associated with the small number of traditional big men who have managed to maintain relevance in the changing NBA landscape. The difference is he lacks the height of a DeAndre Jordan or Rudy Gobert.
Adebayo’s size places him in tweener territory, but his skill-set undoubtedly makes him a center. He could act as an interesting counter to small ball, due to his combination of the traditional big man approach with added mobility, but wouldn’t seem likely to offer any of the floor spacing that has become a feature for modern bigs.
Having had a reputation for settling for midrange jumpers in his AAU days, Adebayo almost completely eradicated the jump shot from his game at Kentucky. The resulting 59.9 percent shooting season goes down as a positive, but NBA teams will hoping that he has learned a lesson in shot selection rather than completely abandoning some form of jump shot.
According to a Brian Hamilton piece for Sports Illustrated, Adebayo has reportedly improved his jump shot behind the scenes.
"“Coaches insist Adebayo’s under-deployed jumper has come along, behind closed doors. With school out for the Martin Luther King holiday, Adebayo and [Kentucky assistant, Kenny] Payne held a pre-practice workout. Payne had Adebayo take pick-and-pop midrange jumpers until he hit 20. Managers shouted out the big man’s make-to-miss ratio with each attempt. Ultimately, Adebayo required 30 shots to get 20 makes, indicative of a touch that Kentucky hasn’t so far needed (and that has been oddly lacking with Adebayo’s 61.8% free throw shooting). ‘I can see him learning to be able to be a three-point shooter one day,’ Payne says.”"
Until that shot has been put into practice and proven to hold up in a high level competitive setting, it’s still going to be hard to class it as anything other than a weakness.
What The Experts Say
(As of 4/12/17)
Draft Express (Jonathan Givony): 32nd
ESPN (Chad Ford): 19th
CBS (Howard Megdal): 58th
Sporting News (Sam Vecenie): 20th
The Step Back (Trevor Magnotti and Chris Stone): 30th
Quotes:
Sam Vecenie of Sporting News was impressed by the impact Adebayo managed to have defensively during his time in college.
"“Defense is one of those difficult things to measure. However, Adebayo’s impact on Kentucky’s defense due to his ability to protect the rim, switch on the perimeter and cut off guard penetration played a major impact in cultivating a top-10 defense, especially when considering the Wildcats had no other truly defensively-capable bigs.”"
Chad Ford of ESPN projected Adebayo to fall to the Bucks in his latest Mock Draft, explaining the fit by saying:
"“‘Bam’ played much better over the last month of the college season. When he plays with toughness as a rebounder and finisher at the rim, he looks the part of a lottery pick. The Bucks could use that toughness in the paint to balance all the skilled perimeter players they employ.”"
Fit With The Bucks
Adebayo may just be coming along a year too late for him to really make sense for the Bucks, but he definitely fits the mold of player they were looking for at center prior to drafting Thon Maker last year.
Maker and Adebayo make for an interesting point of comparison, and have gone to head-to-head with each other multiple times at various events in recent years. Adebayo can be best described as lacking the size and shooting touch possessed by Maker, while the Bucks’ current rookie could certainly benefit from Adebayo’s strong 240lb frame.
Chad Ford’s read on Adebayo and the Bucks seems about right, as Adebayo could bring something to the mix as an explosive, energy big, but he likely wouldn’t possess the kind of upside the Bucks usually chase on draft night.
One department where Adebayo certainly seems unlikely to let the Bucks or anyone else down is attitude and work ethic. Generally described as a positive and happy young man, Adebayo surprised everyone at Kentucky with his determination and relentless drive.
As illustrated in that aforementioned SI piece:
"“The Wildcats coach had gathered his team and apparently had addressed, multiple times, the progress the freshman big man had made. Calipari insisted he wasn’t taking digs at the rest of the roster. But he says he asked the group one question: Who’s the hardest worker in the gym? ‘They all pointed to Bam,’ Calipari said. ‘And I said, ‘There you go. My point is made.’ That is why he is making strides that are just crazy.’”"
Next: NBA Draft 2017 Prospect Watch: T.J. Leaf
Adebayo’s draft stock is pretty volatile among experts at present, but he certainly could be available when it’s Milwaukee’s turn to pick. If the Bucks want to add some depth to cover for Greg Monroe‘s potential departure, he could be an interesting option, but would seem unlikely to represent a typical swing for the fences selection from Milwaukee.