If you’re tired of the Nikola Jokic-esque performances from Bam Adebayo (I know I am), then boy do I have the video for you! Forget about the passing, forget about the comparisons to some flabby dude from Serbia, this is the kind of performance that makes the Dwight Howard comparisons from earlier in his career seem scarily prophetic. Forget new-school bigmen. This is old-school.
Adebayo’s thought process during this game must have went something like this: “why would I pass the ball when I could just run in and dunk it?”. There’s fun to be had setting up your comrades and being a good teammate, but at least for this landbound highlight-creator, it seems like a lot more fun to be had dunking it at every opportunity.
As well as being the kind of performance that evokes long-forgotten Dwight comparisons, this is also the kind of performance that wins All-Star games. In an All-Star game situation, he’s not going to be the one handling the ball, mostly. Everyone on the court (mostly) will be adept at creating their own shot, and won’t need to run handoffs with him. But if he can just dunk it 10 or 15 times while no one plays any defense until the fourth quarter (I still don’t know how this new format works but I assume they’re still allowed to dunk), his team should get the victory.