Phoenix Suns select Bam Adebayo in 2017 NBA Redraft

In the fourth pick of the FanSided 2017 NBA redraft, the Phoenix Suns select Bam Adebayo, center/power forward from the University of Kentucky.

FanSided put together a complete redo of the 2017 NBA draft and they pegged yours truly to represent the Phoenix Suns with the fourth overall selection.

You remember 2017. The Suns went with Josh Jackson at number four in a move that most every expert, fan, and talking head at the time praised. After all, Jackson was the hot start out of the University of Kansas, and while he had a few off-the-court and maturity issues, his talent made almost every scout overlook all that.

Obviously, they shouldn’t have. Jackson showed spurts of greatness, but ultimately was not the franchise-caliber player and personality the Suns felt they could wait on to develop and mature.

Before the start of this season, I did my own redraft of the 2017 redraft and had the Suns grabbing De’Aaron Fox out of the University of Kentucky. Clearly, he was the player that could have completely reshaped the Suns as we know them now. He was the most dynamic point guard in the class and would have been exactly what the Suns needed in their point guard-less recent history.

However, in this redraft, Fox went second overall to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lake Show picked Fox over who the team actually chose in 2017 but later ditched, Lonzo Ball.

So with Fox off the board, it really came down to two choices: Lauri Markkanen or Bam Adebayo.

As this site has stated before, Markkanen would be a great fit for the Phoenix Suns…right now. If Markkanen is available this offseason, the Suns should definitely try to parlay their first-round pick with a few non-essential assets to try to obtain him. The stretch-four is exactly what the Suns could use.

However, in 2017, before the Deandre Ayton era, the Suns really needed a versatile, high-caliber big man to hold down the paint, so I went with De’Aaron Fox’s teammate at the University of Kentucky, Bam Adebayo.

Adebayo took a couple of years to come into his own, but this season, he did exactly that. Bam made his first All-Star game this season, averaging 16.2 points, 10.5 rebounds, and an incredible 5.1 assists per game. Add in 1.3 blocks and 1.2 steals per contest and you see Bam was worthy of his All-Star bid.

Of course, the pessimist in me makes me think if he were drafted by the Suns, he wouldn’t have developed in the All-Star he is, but this is an imaginary redraft, so I choose to live in whichever fantasy world I want.

In an upcoming post, I’ll break down exactly how Bam could help the Suns, but for now, I will stick with the fact he is a versatile big man who made the All-Star team in his third season and pick him in this theoretical redraft with confidence.