Miami Heat first-round pick Bam Adebayo is considered among the most athletic players and best defenders of the draft class by his peers.
This season’s rookie class is one of the deepest in years, featuring big names like Markelle Fultz and Lonzo Ball. Interestingly enough, though, it wasn’t the usual suspects that the rookies recognized during NBA.com’s annual rookie survey.
NBA.com polled 39 rookies from this past draft. Each of them voted on their favorites to win rookie of the year, and who they thought was the class’s best defender, who will be the biggest steal, and so on.
The Miami Heat surprised a lot of people when they selected Kentucky big man Bam Adebayo with the 14th pick in June’s draft. It doesn’t seem that the other rookies were all that surprised, and are impressed with Miami’s youngest player.
Adebayo didn’t place in the top three of votes in any category, but he received votes in two important categories: Most Athletic, and Best Defender.
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For Most Athletic, Dallas’ rookie point guard Dennis Smith Jr. earned the most votes (43.6 percent of the votes), with Oklahoma City’s Terrance Ferguson and Atlanta’s John Collins earning the second- and third-most. NBA.com doesn’t list how many votes Adebayo received, but he is one of only four players listed who were selected outside the draft’s top 10.
Adebayo was also recognized with votes as the class’s Best Defender, finishing behind Phoenix’s Josh Jackson, Golden State’s Jordan Bell, Utah’s Donovan Mitchell, Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox and Phoenix’s Davon Reed. Besides Brooklyn’s Jarret Allen, Adebayo was the only true center to receive votes.
These rookie survey’s aren’t typically reliable. The rookies have correctly predicted the rookie of the year only once, in 2007 when they voted Kevin Durant would win it. Last season, the rookies predicted Kris Dunn would win rookie of the year, and his first season was a flop.
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The key takeaway for Heat fans is that Adebayo’s recognition from his peers is encouraging. For a player many predicted would fall to the end of the first round, he’s already begun to make an impression.