Redrafting Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo in the 2017 NBA draft

As Bam Adebayo grows before our eyes, it’s time to take a look back at the 2017 NBA draft and assess where the Miami Heat center would go in a redraft.

Just a couple of summers ago the Miami Heat drafted the centerpiece of their young core with the 14th pick in the NBA draft. Bam Adebayo, a 6’9″ center out of Kentucky was selected by the Miami Heat in the late stages of the lottery.

It was a fascinating draft, particularly at the top, and again in the teens. The Boston Celtics may have pulled a swindle of sorts, swapping the first pick for the third pick (and others), landing Jayson Tatum while the Philadelphia 76ers were on the other end of this switch, drafting Markelle Fultz who has had too complex of an NBA experience thus far to document here.

Looking deeper into the first round, the Charlotte Hornets drafted Malik Monk 11th, right before the Detroit Pistons drafted Luke Kennard, before the Utah Jazz acquired Donovan Mitchell via the Denver Nuggets with the 13th pick. After all this, the Miami Heat drafted Bam Adebayo 14th.

Needless to say, Donovan Mitchell has turned into a star, and in a redraft of the 2017 class would absolutely be a candidate for a top pick. With Adebayo being drafted directly behind Mitchell, however, there is an argument that the best two players to come from this class were actually drafted 13th and 14th rather than first and second, or first and third.

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In most advanced statistical categories, Mitchell and Adebayo stand head and shoulders above the rest of the class. Adebayo is first in box plus minus by a long shot at +2.6, followed by Jarrett Allen (who went 22nd to the Brooklyn Nets) in a distant second at +1.9. Mitchell is seventh with +0.9.

Adebayo is second in win shares at 14.6, trailing only Allen’s 15.2. He’s third in win share per 48 minutes with .167 behind Tony Bradley of the Utah Jazz (the 28th pick, via the Los Angeles Lakers), who has only played 30 games and 229 minutes, and Allen again who checks in at .173.

Mitchell and Adebayo are at their closest in VORP, where Adebayo is first at +4.8 and Mitchell is second with +4.5.

Of course, these numbers only tell you so much, and context and role matter to evaluate both players. Mitchell has been relied upon as a first scoring option since day one, whereas Adebayo was a reserve center until the latter stages of his second season before he usurped Hassan Whiteside‘s starting spot and made him utterly expendable this past summer.

It’s too reductive to claim either one has a clear claim on the top spot in a redraft, so we need to take a look at the original order of the draft to decide who would go first. The Celtics swapped picks with the Sixers because they were infatuated with Tatum and knew the Sixers would do anything to get Fultz, but in this redraft teams can be assumed to be operating with perfect knowledge.

Thus, Fultz will not go first, and because the Sixers will not lust after him, the Celtics will keep the top pick regardless. The Celtics had Kyrie Irving and Al Horford at the time, and while Adebayo could fit nicely beside Horford in the front court, considering Tatum has been very good in his NBA career and he’s the player the Celtics picked anyway, we can probably assume they’d like to keep him.

Again, perfect knowledge and all.

The Boston Celtics select Jayson Tatum first in the 2017 NBA redraft.

Second up came the Los Angeles Lakers, and that’s where things get interesting. The Lakers craved a lead guard, and they were willing to trade D’Angelo Russell abruptly to clear the decks in order to make room for Lonzo Ball, so imagine what they would have done to get Donovan Mitchell.

The Lakers had a crowded front court, although they had nobody of Adebayo’s fully realized caliber. Brook Lopez (three years younger), Julius Randle and Larry Nance Jr. are nice, but Bam is better.

That said, Magic Johnson wanted a guard, and that would have been Mitchell.

The Los Angeles Lakers select Donovan Mitchell second in the 2017 NBA redraft.

The Sixers pick third, but they needed a lead guard as well, as proven by the fact they were willing to sell the farm for the first pick and Markelle Fultz. They still go for a guard, but they don’t take Fultz. They’ll draft for fit, taking a player who can shoot the ball a bit and can add some spacing to go with Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid.

De’Aaron Fox is the obvious choice, as he was the fifth pick to the Sacramento Kings in the 2017 draft.

The Philadelphia 76ers select De’Aaron Fox third in the 2017 NBA redraft.

Not a lot tends to go right for the Phoenix Suns, holders of the fourth pick in this draft. In this draft, they selected Josh Jackson who was an unmitigated disaster. He now plays for the G-League affiliate of the Memphis Grizzlies, or at least he does when he’s not suspended.

A blessing has fallen into the laps of the Suns in this redraft. Instead of picking Jackson, the Suns are delighted to pick Bam Adebayo.

The Phoenix Suns select Bam Adebayo fourth in the 2017 NBA redraft.

Adebayao, Tatum and Mitchell are pretty clearly the top three players in this draft class, and they could have gone in any order most years. This particular year, it seemed as though there was a specific goal for each of the first few teams in the draft. The Miami Heat remain fortunate that Bam Adebayo was available for their slot, and they’re much happier he went 14th rather than fourth.