How Bam Adebayo evolved into one of the NBA’s elite centers

Elite Screen-Setter

There aren’t many better screen-setters than Adebayo. He averaged 4.4 screen assists per game in the regular season. He followed that up by averaging 5.4 in the playoffs which ranked third, per NBA.com. Though Adebayo is a relatively small center when it comes to his height, the same cannot be said about his physique. He’s chiseled like “The Thing” from the Fantastic Four and he uses that to his advantage, setting gut-wrenching screens that free up his teammates.

Between his filthy screen-setting and instincts in dribble-hand-off actions (DHO), Adebayo has emerged as one of the league’s best playmaking centers. He continues to grow in reading the game. There are plenty of nuances when facilitating at the nail – when to hand off the rock to a shooter or keep it and make your way to the basket. With these skills, his chemistry with Tyler Herro in the pick-and-roll is impeccable.

They can get it done with Adebayo handing the ball off to Herro in DHO actions. Adebayo can roll and catch rim-rocking alley-oops from Herro, or he can pop after the screen knowing Herro can get the ball back to him in his sweet spot.

Seeing those two break defenses together makes the potential Damian Lillard to the Heat scenario even scarier. Herro is a good pick-and-roll player averaging 0.93 points per possession as the pick-and-roll ball handler. Lillard is elite. He’s averaged a whopping 1.13 points per possession on high volume, per NBA.com. Lillard is one of the greatest deep shooters ever and a potential partnership with Adebayo in the pick-and-roll will present a ton of problems for opposing coaches to try to solve.