Kentucky Basketball: Bam Adebayo Could Be Special

Work Ethic

The groundwork has been laid for Bam Adebayo to break out as one of the Kentucky Wildcats’ premier players. He’s a tremendous athlete with power, offensive versatility, and a burning desire to be the best he can be.

According to Larry Vaught of Lex18.com, Adebayo’s remarkable work ethic is a product of how hard he had to work to get here.

"“He comes from a different mindset,” [Adebayo’s high school coach Brandon] Clifford said. “All he knows is to go get the ball and play hard. That’s a product of where he’s from. He’s from an area where he has had to work for everything. That work ethic has been instilled in him. He was raised so well by his mother than no success changes him. “He’s just from a small town here in North Carolina, but since he signed with Kentucky he has become somewhat of a celebrity. However, he’s the same guy I first met. That makes me very confident he will be successful at Kentucky because success has not changed him. He’s so gifted he does not always have to bring it to be successful, but he always does. That’s who he is.”"

High character players who love the game will always have a place at a university—and in the NBA.

The most heartbreaking reality in basketball circles is that countless players have all but one tool for greatness. It’s not a skill that can be developed on the court, but instead something that’s found within.

Fortunately for Kentucky basketball, Adebayo has that final tool: the will to be great.

Finding talented players is a manageable task that, to some extent, every Division I school succeeds in doing. Finding players who are willing to put the work in is a much more difficult task.

Taking that a step further: finding players who are willing to put the work in is far more rare than finding players who have natural talent.

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John Calipari appears to have found one of those special players in Bam Adebayo.