Adem Bona | Scouting Report

Who am I? I’m Kuzey, 19. I’ve been writing about basketball since I was 9. I have been working in Eurosport Turkey for the last 1 year. I have written on various sites and magazines before. I’ve been working as a freelance scout for three years. I’ve mentored a few clubs. I have interviewed dozens of prospects such as Theo Maledon, Deni Avdija, Henri Drell, Aleksej Pokusevski, and dozens of notable basketball people such as Luis Scola, Dimitris Itoudis, Joan Plaza, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Derrick Williams. I live in Turkey, I go to all the Euroleague and Youth League games. Anyway, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and feel free to DM!

Personality

Excellent.

I had the chance to speak several times with him, he behaves like your friend. He is sincere, really loves the game and knowledgeable. But he’s a bit “overly” excited. For example, the reason his having surgery in the past month was excessive while dunking. Sometimes he does not listen to the coach’s warnings in the match. However at the end of the day ,he is always like a “student”.

His teammates love him very much. Koç Ufuk Sarıca always teaches him something. He has a good relationship with the fans in Pınar Karşıyaka.

Frame Overview

Great. Exceptional athlete, both laterally and vertically. Quick footwork, smooth hip turns. Has a good balance on core strength. Long arms with a large catch radius on lobs. Dunk machine thanks to his wingspan, hip mobility and long arms. Good rim protector thanks to his body balance. His body base is good. But lack of muscle on his shoulders.

Finishing

He is monster of the paint area. Can finish through contact. Nice job using his length to get close to the basket when his momentum is bringing him there. Nice and soft touch with either hand. Good finisher as a roll man. Will try to dunk whenever he has a chance. Sometimes it pushes the position too hard during double team. Good offensive rebounder (timing-footwork-second jump). Misses some passes on drives to the rim, ending in forced looks.

PnR

The ninth symphony. He can play PnR all over the court. His roll timing is perfect. After the roll, he can give extra pass thanks to his wide court vision, but he usually goes to the basket. Overwhelming and dominant. His first step is strong. His second step is smooth, so Bona can change direction and find a better angle.

High level PnR player who is a bigtime vertical gravity threat. He charged quickly into his jump and can use tools very well. (have to improve his hands, but he has shown some nice body control on lobs elsewhere catching inaccurate passes and making the finish)

Post up

Not very good in terms of moves, but his very soft touch and quick leaping ability lends well to efficiency. Thanks to his hip mobility, he can create space for dribble. Shows flashes of baseline spin and reverse moves, but get out of control at times and end up with a bad angle to shoot.

Shooting

Not a good shooter, for now. Nice and high release mechanics but he usually cannot show. End of the day, I’m not buy his shot. Maybe he can be better at mid-range. Like Jan Vesely. But I don’t think he will be a good shooter in general. Because his real “myth” is athleticism, painted area dominance, and speed.

Handle-Passing

Mechanical handle. He is not someone who has the handle, creativity, or speed to break guys down off the bounce but… But he’s good when he has to handle sets such as the stagger, UCLA 12, while C is on top. When he gets around the rim after the roll, he makes a good handle towards the base and (like Ja Morant) can sometimes give creative passes.

Rim Protection

Master of block. High-level rim protector who does an awesome job using his length to make things difficult. Shows flashes of both awareness and quickness getting off the basket. Sometimes he leaps too quickly into fake positions.

PnR Defense

Average. Takes bad angles giving ballhandler a paint to attack thanks to his hip mobility, footwork, IQ and fast-eye coordination but not consistent. Needs work here

Off Ball Defense

Great! When his man is setting a screen off ball, Bona takes a good position and manages team defense. But slow to recover to the open man who is out three-point line.

ISO Defense

Average. Flashed ability to def bigs in space. However he’ll likely have issues trying to keep up with the quicker bigs who tend to play in space more. Bona is fast and mobile. But when he defends athlete bigs like himself, he sometimes has problems due to “excitement, lack of position information”. Average ISO defender against guards after switch. Sometimes a surprise blocker, sometimes a crossover star.