CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – His debut at the 2015 National Basketball Players Association Top 100 Camp may have been delayed for 24 hours.
But for the guy increasingly being known “Bam Bam”, there was little hesitation in his dropping a metaphorical hammer on his opposition in the University of Virginia’s John Paul Jones Arena Thursday.
The 6-foot-9 Edrice Adebayo (Pinetown, NC, Northside) is a consensus as one of the very best “power forward-types” in the Class of 2016.
And Adebayo gave a complete demonstration as to why that is the case during his two games with the “Grizzlies” during Day II of competition of the 22nd version of camp.
Adebayo joined what had become a short-handed team (due to no-shows and injury) along with another late arrival in Auburn-bound point guard Jared Harper (Mableton, GA, Pebblebrook).
The Thursday morning matchup with the Wizards provided Adebayo with the opportunity to face off against another of the nation’s very best PFs in 2016 in Villanova-bound Omari Spellman (Granby, MA, MacDuffie).
Spellman was quite impressive the night before when matched against 7-1 Thon Maker.
And he was just impressive against as the Wizards as he used his nifty combination of low-post and face-up moves to score 20 points (hitting nine of 10 shots from the field) while scoring 20 points to go with five rebounds in his team’s 76-58 victory.
But Adebayo – much more vertically explosive if lacking in the kind of low-post savvy possessed by Spellman – showed out quite well too, thank you very much.
Adebayo hit five of 10 shots – including a couple of big bangs – en route to 16 points and three rebounds.
He was even more startling that evening, though.
Hooking up against the Raptors on Court 3 (in an auxiliary gymnasium), Adebayo went for 16 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, three steals and a blocked shot – with just one turnover – in 29 minutes of his team’s 68-56.
Adebayo’s full range of vertical explosiveness and end-to-end speed was on display in that contest via a couple of spectacular follow shots and defensive rebounds; one particular low-post exhibition of power when he backed down a terrific defender (Ira Lee of Los Angeles) and collected an “And 1!” and a sequence in which he out-sprinted the field for an transition dunk.
Harper, among the quickest players in the camp, also adjusted to the settings quickly while averaging 9.0 points and 2.5 assists.
In other camp highlights from Thursday:
*Six-one left hander Shamorie Ponds (Brooklyn Thomas Jefferson) helped the Clippers improve to 4-0, scoring 17 and 16 points, respectively, in victories over the Raptors (94-79) and Cavaliers (63-62).
Ponds is shooting a remarkable .667 (22 of 33) from the field as one of the more “efficient” scorers in the camp and moved into second in the camp to Maker in scoring (he’s averaging 15.5 to Maker’s 17.8).
*Maker (born in the Sudan with the stay in Australia before coming to the U.S.) announced Thursday night that he would remain a “high school” player for the 2015-16 season instead of trying to enroll in college for the coming season, as had been the speculation.
Maker, who attended Orangeville Secondary School in Orangeville in Ontario (Canada) this past season and has had stops at several “prep schools” in the U.S., continued his gaudy stats production Thursday for the Rockets.
He went for 19 points (five of seven from the field), five rebounds, three assists, three blocked shots and two steals in his team’s 61-54 loss to the Cavaliers in the morning.
In the evening he led the squad past the Hawks, 66-48, by way of his 22 points, seven rebounds and two assists (with a block and steal).
Point guard Xavier Simpson (Lima, OH, High) hit just one of eight shots for two points and three steals in support of Maker in the morning.
But the 5-11 Simpson turned in one of the better PG performances of the first two days in the evening with 25 points (11 of 13 from the field while perfect in three stabs behind the arc) with four assists.
*Myles Powell (who is from Trenton in New Jersey but will be attending South Kent Prep in Connecticut in the fall) continued making the most of his late invitation (Wednesday morning) to the camp.
The 6-2 Powell apparently has made it his mission to show everyone in the building why he is one of the best jump shooters – and scorers, period – on the prep ranks.
Powell had 18 points (including four 3s) for the Warriors in a 77-70 loss to the Hawks in the morning then dropped in 21 more (with three 3s) in the evening to help his team edge the Bulls, 73-72.
*Jaylen Hands (a 6-2 PG in the Class of 2017 from San Diego) had quite uncharacteristic performances on Wednesday, hitting just one of 13 shots from the field with eight assists but eight turnovers in the Blazers’ games.
But he bounced back in most impressive fashion on Thursday, averaging 12.5 points (a combined 10 of 16 from the field, including five of six behind the arc) and 3.5 assists – and a single turnover in each game – to help his teams to narrow wins over the Bulls and Wizards.
*Powell’s 6-11 teammate on the Warriors, 6-11 (or so) DeAndre Ayton, has looked every bit the part of being “the best 2017 prospect in the country” as so many have labeled him since shortly after he came to the U.S. from the Bahamas as an eighth grader.
Ayton (the Balboa School in San Diego) averaged 11.5 points and 7.5 rebounds on Thursday with his usual does of plays that leave you shaking your head even if they aren’t quantified in a game’s box score.
Full disclosure: I’m a member of John Lucas’ Player Selection Committee for the NBPA Top 100 Camp.
Action resumes Friday morning with games beginning at 10:45.
The camp wraps up Saturday night.
