By LARRY VAUGHT
By the midway point of Bam Adebayo’s freshman season coach John Calipari was convinced he was going to be a lottery pick.
Calipari told anyone who wanted to listen that Adebayo could shoot the ball better than he had been able to show at Kentucky and had other skills that would translate well to the NBA.
Calipari was right. Miami picked him with the 14th pick — Adebayo was hoping to go to Charlotte at No. 11 where teammate Malik Monk went to be closer to home and his mother, Marilyn Blount — and in his third season with the Heat he has blossomed into a rising star.
He made the NBA All-Star Game this year and won the Skills Challenge which features an obstacle course that tests shooting, passing and ballhandling. However, that success did not change him and his successful play in the playoffs did not either.
“Bam is so genuine, so authentic, he’s real,” Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He has a great competitive humility about him. He is a totally different personality in between the lines. He’s as fierce and nasty as anyone in this league, and you get him outside those lines, he’s been raised the right way.
“His mother (Marilyn Blount) had a big deal to do with that. She raised a fine young gentleman, one of the best competitors on this planet. And he just continues to get better because he works at it, and he doesn’t get comfortable thinking that he doesn’t need to work to get to a higher level.”
The Miami coach says Adebayo was the player his team wanted to draft in 2017 and was hoping he would still be available.
“He always talks about guys that he’s played with previously in AAU basketball. Bam Adebayo is the anti-AAU player. I’ve got to look up those records. I don’t think he played AAU because he’s wired differently, which we like,” Spoelstra said.
Former Tennessee standout Grant Williams, who now plays for the Boston Celtics, has know Adebayo his whole life and knows how talented he is.
“He does a good job of playing with the guys around him. He’s surrounded by a bunch of shooters, so when you get so focused on them, next thing you know, it opens up slips or fake handoffs for him,” Williams said.
Williams said it’s hard to explain just how much Adebayo has improved from high school until now.
“Back when we were younger he was somebody you could predict where he’s going, maybe take a charge or be in position. As a guy as strong as myself I was able to be physically not be pushed around as much,” Williams said. “But now you kind of have to guard a lot of different things. His hook shot from his right hand. He’s explosive going both ways. He’s able to not only physically muster his way through, but also athletically he moves I think a little bit better than he used to. He’s kind of got his body in shape.”
Kentucky fans did not always like Williams and often got frustrated with the way he took charges and also seemed to get fouled so often. However, he gets along well with Adebayo.
“We always tease each other, or I tease him more so, because I’m always like, ‘Oh, what’s the record in our career?’ But then next thing you know, he’s done a good job of getting that thing either back to even — I don’t know what it is now — but it’s definitely an experience that it’s cool to be able to be in this position with him, playing against him,” Williams said.
Boston coach Brad Stevens appreciates the dilemma Adebayo causes for opposing defenses now. He said not to underestimate how good Adebayo is at faking handoffs to teammates to create shot openings.
“Bam does so many good things because he catches it at the elbows or where he wants with a live dribble. It’s really hard to switch when the guy still has a live dribble because he can quickly spin and get out of it, and Bam has got a great feel for that,” Stevens said.
Calipari never misses a chance to tout his players and the NBA playoffs turned into a showcase for former UK players coached by Calipari. However, he even outdid himself a bit with his praise for Adebayo on ESPN.
“I see Bam creating a new position in the NBA: a ‘point-center,’” Calipari said. “That means you do everything. He guards five positions. He has a huge impact on games.”
Adebayo understands how his role has expanded and what comes with that.
“People say I am the heart and soul of this team and when you have that type of responsibility you have to back it up,” Adebayo told NBA.com’s Rebecca Harlow. “The beautiful thing about us is we don’t care about feeding the hot hand. We don’t care who gets the glory.”
That’s what makes Adebayo so endearing to teammates and coaches.
“I love Bam Adebayo and everything he stands for as a competitor. That’s why I think he’s developing into one of the great winners in this league,” Spoelstra said. “That’s much different than saying you’re just one of the best players in this league. He is one of the best players, but he’s going to become one of the best winners in this league, because it matters to him. He’s willing to take responsibility.”
Former all-SEC defensive lineman Dennis Johnson thought Mark Stoops was a good coaching hire for Kentucky. However, Johnson never thought Stoops could build the depth that he has.
“They have size and athleticism and now have the depth, too, so they can equal up with everybody they play,” Johnson, now the head coach at Woodford County High School, said. “I thought if he (Stoops) got enough time he could turn things around. He is hard-nosed and a tough defensive coach. He’s been even better, though, than I thought.”
One reason is the way Stoops and has staff have developed talent. Johnson noted that UK believes it is 10-deep in the defensive front this year.
“They do a good job finding talent and then developing that talent and that’s tough to do in college where the majority of teams we are playing ranked higher than us in recruiting,” Johnson said.
Johnson coached UK center Drake Jackson at Woodford County High School and also coached UK offensive tackle Landon Young — along with 2020 NFL first-round draft pick Jedrick Wills of Alabama — in middle school.
Johnson talks to his former teammate, UK defensive line coach Anwar Stewart, about how Jackson and Young are doing and likes what he hears and sees.
Johnson, who also played in the NFL, remembers how hard he was on Young and Wills in middle school just like his father was on him because he saw their potential.
“I could see them being where they are now. But think about having two kids on the same middle school team who end up in the NFL,” Johnson said. “We went to some big national tournaments with a team I put together and won. We just wore people out up front even though we just had 17 or 18 players.”
Johnson knew Jackson would do well in college because he was so serious about football in high school
“He always had a lot of questions about why we do this and always wanted to watch video. I knew he would transition well to college because it’s more about technique and scheme,” Johnson said. “Some guys are good in high school because they are big and athletics but he understood why we did what we did.
“He also always played with good leverage even though he was bigger than other player. He would just go do his job the right way. If he ever got hurt, God forbid, you would see a huge difference in UK’s play. He’s that good.”
Will he play in the NFL?
“I don’t know how long his arms are to get the leverage you need in the NFL,” Johnson said. “But I think he will. He’s a grinder. He might not be a starter but he will be able to play multiple positions and teams like that. He is smart and knows fundamentals. He’ll find a way to get a spot.”
It took only a few hours last Saturday for Kentucky’s early-season schedule to suddenly look a lot more difficult.
Not only did Kentucky lose 29-13 at Auburn, but new SEC coaches Lane Kiffin of Mississippi and Mike Leach of Mississippi State had offenses combine for 1,225 yards.
Kiffin’s Rebels lost 51-35 at Florida but amassed 613 yards. Sophomore quarterback Matt Corral completed 22 of 31 passes for 395 yards and three touchdowns with just one interception and also ran for 50 of the Rebels’ 170 yards. Elijah Moore had 10 catches for 227 yards, the second most in Ole Miss history.
How good was the offense? Florida has only given up more than 613 yards twice — 672 by Alabama in 2014 and 629 to Nebraska in the 1995 national championship game.
Kiffin, the former head coach at Tennessee, brings Ole Miss to Lexington this week.
Mississippi State’s offense was even ore productive as the Bulldogs gained 632 yards in a 44-34 win at LSU. Stanford transfer K.J. Costello was 36 of 60 passing for 623 yards and five touchdowns. Leach, a former UK offensive coordinator who had been coach at Washington State, convinced Costello playing for him at State would help get him to the NFL — and it might based on the first game.
The Bulldogs had just 16 rushing attempts, and five of those were sacks of Costello when he was trying to pass.
Three receivers — Kylin Hill, Osirus Mitchell and JaVonta Payton — all had over 100 yards. Hill, an all-SEC running back last year, rushed only seven times for 34 yards but had eight catches for 158 yards and a 75-yard touchdown. Mitchell had two touchdown catches and 183 yards on eight receptions. Payton had 122 yards.
Leach will make his return to Lexington on Oct. 10 and his team figures to be 2-0 since it hosts Arkansas this week.
Landon Young thought married life would be an asset for him during football season. So far it has been even better than the senior offensive tackle thought after marrying Haleigh Johnson in June.
“My wife tries to hold me accountable, make sure I get proper rest and have no distractions outside football when I am going to football,” Young said. “I am extremely blessed with my wife.
“Every single day reminds me why I chose to get married. It did take pressure off me.”
Young said the two have had time to “get comfortable living together” by going ahead and getting married during the pandemic.
“We are comfortable being married. It has let me just focus entirely on football,” Young said. “I am not saying marriage is taking a back burner to football but it has been good.”
He met Johnson in class at Kentucky and she had no idea he was a football player. Now she has become his biggest fan and says he’s glad he has not had to worry about “trying to surprise here with an engagement ring” during football season.
Quote of the Week: “It is no one’s fault we are in a pandemic. We cannot predict the future with this virus whether that’s this December or next December. My hope is they are not trying to end this series because it is important for this state that we play,” Kentucky coach John Calipari on Louisville not wanting to host UK this season.
Quote of the Week 2: “I would get his input on all the draft candidates every year. I always thought he was very insightful and he knew the players extremely well. So I thought when we had the opportunity to get him that just made a lot of sense on a lot of different levels,” New York Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau on hiring former UK assistant Kenny Payne in an interview with the New York Post.
Quote of the Week 3: “We’re planning on that November 25th start. But there’s a lot of time to go, and just like we’ve seen in football and in soccer and in volleyball and in cross country for our fall sports, the need to continually be attentive and continue to be prepared for adjustments and remain flexible,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey on the start of basketball season.