ESPN Photo
Former Kentucky players continued to bring in NBA honors as Bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis were named to the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team Tuesday.
Adebayo has become a defensive force for the Miami Heat but this was his first time earning first-team honors after being a second-team selection the previous four years.
Adebayo averaged a career-high 10.4 rebounds, including 8.1 on the defensive end, in 71 games for Miami. He also had 81 steals and 66 blocks. Adebayo also averaged 19.3 points and 3.9 assists per game while shooting 52 percent overall from the field. He made the NBA All-Star for the third time in his seven-year NBA career.
Adebayo has consistently been among the top candidates for the title of the NBA’s best defender in recent years and has finished in the top five of the voting for defensive player of the year the last five seasons.
Adebayo averaged 13 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game for UK during its Elite Eight season in 2016-17 and earned all-SEC honors.
Davis, who led UK to the 2012 national championship, made the first team for the third time and was named to the team for the fifth time overall which is no surprise considering he was the nation’s best defender during UK’s championship season.
Davis, now in his 12th NBA season, ranked third in the league in rebounds per game at 12.6 and second in defensive rebounds per game (9.5), both career-best marks. He was also fourth in the league in both blocks (178) and blocks per game (2.3), while averaging 1.2 steals per contest. Davis averaged 24.7 points per game and shot 55.6 percent from the field.
Davis is a nine-time NBA All-Star, a four-time All-NBA First Team selection (2015, 2017, 2018, 2020), a 2020 NBA Champion and the 2017 NBA All-Star Game MVP.
Davis was named the NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player and the National Player of the Year after leading Kentucky in scoring (14.2) and rebounds (10.4) per game. He also set a single-season record with 186 blocks.
Karl-Anthony Towns recently earned the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award while Tyrese Maxey was named both the KIA NBA Most Improved Player and the recipient of the NBA’s Sportsmanship Award. Cason Wallace was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team
One Response
Bam was the forgotten player with the FRAUD. A good coach would have made him the focal point of the offense instead of letting the guards take all of the shots.