#2: Winning
As I mentioned earlier, great passing (and for that matter good steal/block numbers) don’t necessarily translate into the most important statistical category: wins. However, in Bam Adebayo’s case, they do.
Out of all the players in the 2017 NBA draft, Adebayo has the highest win share at 19.2. For those who lose track of some of these advanced metrics, win share is an estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player. 19.2 is a lot in that short amount of time.
This season alone, Bam Adebayo ranked 9th overall in the entire league amongst all positions in win shares at 8.1. That ties him with stars like Chris Paul and, ahem, Luka Doncic, but more on him in a minute.
Like Arizona State head football coach Herm Edwards will tell you, you play to win the game. Throughout all the statistical accolades, this is what matters most, and Bam Adebayo contributed to more wins for his team than anyone else in the 2017 NBA draft.
To put it mildly, the Phoenix Suns could have used that.