2017 Orlando Magic Draft Preview: Who is Bam Adebayo?

The Bad

On the offensive end, Adebayo needs to be more polished. His lack of post moves gets him stuck at times. He relies on his strength to overpower his defender and hopefully draw fouls.

With limitations on his range, Adebayo is not much of a threat to score from the perimeter. In today’s NBA shooting is everything. Having a non-shooter on the floor is a liability.

His court awareness causes him to get stripped by guards when doubled in the post or make poor passes.  This lack of awareness leads to his poor assist-to-turnover ratio. He has a tendency to get tunnel vision and misses cutters when he has the ball in the post or the elbow.

Adebayo has the tools to be great on defense but does not do it consistently. With his athleticism and explosiveness, Adebayo should be a much better rim protector than he is. The effort given to challenge shots in the paint are lackadaisical at times.

Unlike the offensive end, Adebayo does not seem to have a consistent motor to be as effective as he could be. This shows in the disparity in his defensive rebounding numbers compared to his offensive rebounding numbers.

A player with a limited offensive game usually has defense and high energy to fall back on as assets. Bam Adebayo has to develop a more consistent motor and bring effort on every play to be effective in the NBA.

The lack of commitment on the defensive end may have been a result of coaching at Kentucky or not having his defensive role defined. Hopefully, Adebayo can buy into his role as a rebounder and rim protector to give maximum effort consistently.