The Miami Heat struck gold by drafting Bam Adebayo way down at 14 in the 2017 NBA Draft. Here’s why it looks like the big man is headed for gold of his own.
When the Miami Heat took what we all perceived to be a raw but extremely athletic big man out of Kentucky, we knew we were getting a decade long pro if things broke at least halfway right, but we couldn’t have expected this.
In just his first year as a full-time starter and after patiently waiting his time behind Hassan Whiteside, Bam Adebayo has not only blossomed into one of the best players on this Miami Heat team, but one of the best young players in the entire league.
While we didn’t know what was to come, one person had a destination in mind. That person was Bam Adebayo. Here’s what he told Manny Navarro and the Miami Herald back in June of 2017 after being drafted.
"“I’ve always wanted to be like KG,” Adebayo said. “I looked at it like this [at Kentucky], who would you rather see shoot shots from 15 or 17 feet? Me or Malik [Monk]? I was cool with giving up something I was capable of doing for the better of the team.”"
Well, on top of being an extremely athletic guy, Adebayo must also be clairvoyant. Well, it could just be a result of another one his extremely awesome qualities, his hard-working mentality.
This is so because if you were to take a look at Bam’s stats from this season, his third year in the league, and Kevin Garnett‘s from his third year, you would see that Adebayo and his role model had very similar years.
Bam was averaging 16.2 points per game, 10.5 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.2 steals, 1.3 blocks, and on 57 percent shooting before this season was suspended. KG averaged 18.5 points per contest, 9.6 boards, 4.2 assists, 1.7 steals, 1.8 blocks, and on 49 percent shooting in his third season.
Adebayo was better in some categories and The Big Ticket was better in others. It all balances out in the end though, if not totally leans in Adebayo’s favor because his production is about even, while he goes about it much more efficiently based on the field goal percentage.
Either way you look at it, it has been an amazing third year for the Miami Heat big man and we hope it continues as the NBA looks to resume the season. In any event, as he resumes his year and his career, Adebayo is seemingly on track for great things. You can say that when what you have done looks eerily similar to the work of a Hall of Famer.