Adem Bona: What if a guy is just good at something?

Adem Bona was a standout last season at UCLA, but as their season faltered, how did Bona perform?

I’ll admit it, I am a sucker for some Adem Bona. A guy who seems like his goal is to outwork every guy on the court every minute with his tools? Sign me up. Bona measured in at 6’8” with a massive 7’4” wingspan, and has a super chiseled build. But after this season I have a lot more questions for Bona than I did after last year. Last season on a loaded UCLA team that had 4 NBA players including Bona (which was probably my favorite team to watch in the country), Bona was strictly limited to a role as a rim runner, as Jaime Jaquez, Amari Bailey, Tyger Campbell, and even Jaylen Clark were all asked to do the creation, and Bona would get thrown transition lobs and defend his ass off. This year UCLA struggled, a lot of the top European recruits they brought in struggled, and their replacements at the guard position struggled, and UCLA was the 12th worst high-major offense in the country. This added a lot of questions for Bona’s tape in particular, and the big man was asked to create a lot more for himself. Let’s break down some tape and figure out what this all means.

Translatable Skills

When you turn on Bona’s tape he clearly stands out as a hard worker. His rebounding numbers don’t pop, but the tape does, and I would contribute his weaker numbers to one of UCLA’s few skills being their team rebounding. He isn’t elite, but having Bona out there isn’t going to kill you on the board. He always dives for loose balls, and you will never see him take a rep off.

The other skill Bona possesses that stands out is his defense. Earlier in the year with the arrival of 7’3” Spanish product and future NBA prospect Aday Mara, Bona was resigned to playing the role of a bigger 4. In this role, he was able to use his length and strength to compete with wings who aren’t elite ball handlers. He was also outstanding this season at protecting the rim. Bona is an awesome vertical athlete who had the highest standing vertical of all players at the combine and had the highest running vertical among big men. And he doesn’t just get high off the floor, Bona gets up and gets up quickly, as well as being able to pop off and pogo stick for a second time. UCLA ran quite a bit of hedge and recover, and Bona showed the ability to get back to the rim quickly. Bona also posted an exception steal rate of 2.7% which ranked 5th among all high major centers. A lot of times a center with a high steal rate can mean nothing, but Bona very clearly has aggressive and large hands (we will get to that) and is good at getting them in passing lanes, as well as his motor very clearly helping his get his hands on the ball.

The large flaw with Bona’s defensive game is the fouling. He fouled out an astonishing 7 times this season, including fouling out in 13 minutes against UC Riverside of all teams. Bona has to clean this part of his game up. This will be slightly less of an issue in the NBA due to the upped physicality this season, along with him playing bench minutes, but Bona outright has to improve here. While I mentioned before his hands can be aggressive and he gets steals, he often gets way too aggressive with his hands and fouls.

UCLA and the Danger of Bad Offenses

Oftentimes this season I turned on UCLA games hoping to watch their top recruits play basketball, and I was outright appalled at the level of their offense. Frequently you would see turnovers, late shot clock iso or bad post-ups, and even, the dreaded, terrifying, catch-and-shoot long two. I try to put these horrors of this UCLA offense behind me, but as I did this second deep dive into Bona’s tape, I realized how much of an issue he was. He posted 2.5 turnovers per game while offering nothing as a passer. Whether by design or freelance (likely design, as if a player does something Mick Cronin doesn’t want they likely get pulled and Bona was a mainstay of the rotation) Bona would constantly go to the block for post-up after post-up. Bona is a wonderful dunker, but he struggles to finish when he can’t just dunk it over a defender, and that was no clearer than in his post-ups. He struggles with his touch off the glass and doesn’t have a good feel for how to bump his defender. He still finished 67% at the rim on non-dunks, but he had 39 dunks this season, finishing them at a monster 95% rate.

However, as I mentioned many times in this article, Bona’s hustle still stands out on offense. He can run the floor and score, primarily via dunks, when he is fed by his teammates. If he is down low he can use one quick pound dribble in space to score, or get thrown lobs while using his length and explosiveness, or fill lanes in transition. Bona is also a great screener just due to his shredded frame and willingness to be physical.

This is Bona’s main contribution on offense, and alongside a smart, creative guard, Bona can contribute by getting efficient shots at the rim.

Outlook and Projection:

Bona is someone I tend to buy sticking in the NBA for a long time off of his tools, but he needs the right fit for him to be a backup center. I currently have Bona at number 40 on my board, and I think getting him in the second round as a player who can potentially contribute quality regular season minutes from day one can be incredible value. Teams in that range that make sense for Bona would be Memphis, Houston, and Charlotte, three teams that play at a higher pace with creative guards who can get Bona good looks. Houston in particular excites me, as Sengun slows the pace, but having Bona come in to replace him and up their pace with Amen Thompson and Jalen Green could be a fun fit, as well as his projecting to get playing time early there.