Adem Bona Scouting Report

Rich Stayman

Jun 15, 2024

Name: Adem Bona

Birth date: March 28, 2003

Height/Weight: 6’8 ¼/243

Wingspan/ standing reach: 7’3 ¾/9’0

Hand size: 10

Position: C

Pre-Draft team: UCLA

Tools: Defensive versatility, rim running ability

Background: Racked up PAC-12 awards: 2x All PAC-12, PAC-12 Rookie of the Year in 2023, 2024 PAC-12 Defensive Player of the Year. Grew up playing soccer. Born in Nigeria but represents Turkey in international play after moving to Turkey as a 13 year old.

Season stats: 12.4 PPG 6 RPG 1.2 APG 1.1 SPG 1.8 BPG 2.5 TOPG 3.6 FPG in 26.5 MPG on 59/0/69.6

Pros:

Outstanding footspeed defensively; can switch onto guards and wings
Good shot blocking timing
Effective in the P&R offensively
Strong, NBA ready frame
Developed more ball-skills to get quick drives to the rim against broken defenses as a sophomore
Has a good drop step and some post moves to bully smaller defenders
Does a good job playing multiple elements of drop defense
Great motor that keeps him in plays defensively, and always gets him into strong box outs
Great screener that can land hard screens and roll hard, creating some gravity
Good recovery ability
Uses high hands every time in the post, giving him more avenues to create turnovers

Cons:

Doesn’t have great hands
Gets into foul trouble too often hunting home run blocks/defensive plays and using his hands too much/too aggressively
Plays too fast defensively and struggles to slow himself down, leading to reckless fouls
Can force shots up too often
Negative assist to turnover ratio
A bit undersized for a center
Can be susceptible to pull-up jumpers in a way to prevent drives

Swing Skills:

Shooting development
Post defense

Summary:

Adem Bona is a rim-running big man that will make his guards better as a P&R target offensively, while providing defensive versatility.

Offensively, Bona’s best value in the half-court comes from cuts and rolls off of screen actions. With a wide frame that allows him to set suffocating screens, he is quick to explode from a standstill into a roll for easy rim scoring opportunities, which can create P&R gravity. On top of scoring, Bona can make quality reads out of the short roll, which is a must for any dominant roll-man in today’s NBA. Bona’s ability to impact the game, on both ends, without scoring is an impressive way to make his teammates better as a big man. He can create mismatches with strong screens that also take away second lines of defenses, and his gravity on rolls help collapse the defense. With better guards and passers surrounding him in the NBA, Bona should have more success than his 29th percentile ranking for P&R roll-man offense suggests.

Defensively, Bona thrives in drop coverage, being more than a wall near the rim and in the paint. He is versatile in drop defense, always moving and being an outstanding second line of defense. With good mobility, he can also handle switches and is not a liability as a defender. With his strong and long frame, he can easily control possessions as a defender, both near the rim and by playing physically against ball-handlers.

Teams will need to determine if his tendency to avoid ball-handlers getting to the rim by easing up on potential jumpers off the dribble was a Bona tendency, or a coaching initiative. Additionally, Bona’s post defense is a question mark for some teams. His 6’8 without shoes listing makes him undersized as a post defender, and some of the strongest bigs in the PAC 12 bullied him inside too often, despite being well-built. With high hands and making himself as big as possible on almost every play, as well as good fundamentals, can he avoid foul trouble in the post and consistently win post up matchups as a defender? That is the question scouts are asking themselves in the pre-draft process.

Ultimately, Bona’s foul trouble and over-aggression is the single biggest swing skill in his game, which could easily negate all of his defensive strengths. If he can stay on the floor, he has an easy path to offering value on the defensive end with an easy role on offense.

There is some Usman Garuba to Bona’s game, with more scoring upside away from the P&R and more explosion and aggression as a roller. A jump shot could be in his future, given his free throw percentage slightly below 70% on good volume this season, which would allow for him to return first round value. Again, the question mark around his readiness to play right away is how he can control his foul trouble and avoid offensive mistakes.

Projected draft range: 25-55

Expected role: Rim-running, P&R big with versatile defensive value

Unplayable if: Jump shot never takes a serious turn for the better, making him difficult to play in playoffs, or easy to remove his value from the game easily via switches and strategic mismatches.

Exceeds expectations if: Free throw percentage is a proper indicator of his shooting upside, and he can stretch the floor even just as a mid range shooter. On top of that, if his defensive tendencies, including aggression and habits against certain shot types, improve then he can be an ideal low usage big.