July 14, 2025
LAS VEGAS – Adem Bona flashes his wide smile as he listens to my question. He seems glad somebody noticed.
"Last night's game was, I think, the closest I've been [to the court] while you've been playing," I told Bona. "What stood out to me was how loud you are defensively. Is that something that you've always carried with you, or is that something that's been coached into you: that you need, as the center and rim protector, to be vocal?"
As fans began to hit the exits in the low-intensity minutes of a blowout loss, Bona's screams with instructions for teammates only became easier to parse for the few remaining in attendance at the Thomas & Mack Center on Thursday night. But it was crystal clear in the media seats behind the basket all night long.
“I mean, I'm always a loud person," Bona said with a laugh. "But also I've always wanted to be loud, make my presence felt on the court, defensively and offensively. And last night I felt like we really needed that. We needed guys to get directions because most of us were playing together for the first time.
"So guys need to understand the direction, understand the game plan, defensive plan. So I needed to be vocal. And it doesn't even matter, whatever game we're playing, I still need to be vocal. Whether it's an NBA game, a G League game, a pickup game. I’ve got to be vocal to be the anchor of the team.”
After the Summer Sixers held a practice at a warehouse-turned-gym in Las Vegas on Friday afternoon, Bona sat down with PhillyVoice to reflect on his rookie season, discuss his offseason work and much more. And while Bona's first NBA campaign after being drafted in the second round came on a team that had its championship aspirations devolve into a putrid 24-58 record, the Sixers' downward spiral in 2024-25 became massively advantageous for Bona.
When Joel Embiid was ruled out for the remainder of the season near the end of February, it was immediately clear that Bona – whose minutes to that point largely came whenever Embiid was sidelined – was in line for steady playing time for the duration. Bona and the Sixers were extremely optimistic about how it could accelerate his development.
Bona's motor never stops running, he has stellar length and his athletic capabilities at his size are hard to come by. But he needed to adjust to the mental side of the game, refine his decision-making and become a more disciplined rim protector. If those things click, the Sixers have an extremely valuable player on their hands.
"We'd be talking about him as like, ‘Hey, can Adem contribute this year?" in a normal year. In a normal year, he probably doesn't play last year, and it was just one of the positives of last year," Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey said on Friday morning. "We didn't have a lot of positives, but one of the positives was Adem and Justin [Edwards] and Jared [McCain] and all these guys got pretty significant minutes they normally wouldn't have gotten. And I think Adem, especially at the end of the year, got the confidence of Nick and his staff.”
The strides Bona made in the final weeks of his rookie campaign were clear. His defensive discipline improved dramatically, helping him stay out of foul trouble. He continued getting better making 4-on-3 reads when the guard he screened for got blitzed. But more than any individual basketball skill, Bona developed confidence. Not just in his individual skill, but in the fact that he knows exactly what the team wants him to do.
“I think that that helped me a lot. Guys like me, rookies, we don't tend to get much minutes like that. We don't tend to get much opportunity to spend that much time on the floor," Bona said. "I think that helped me a lot, gave me a lot of experience and a lot of understanding of the game, and I think that helped my development tremendously. It helped me grow and helped me understand what the team wants from me. It's also kind of like a tryout: All the work I've been putting in practice, I had a chance to put it on the floor in the game in live time. So I think that kind of helped me a lot.”
The word that Bona continued coming back to was "patience." It is not hard to fathom someone with his makeup – physically, athletically and mentally – becoming too eager. So, when asked what the biggest lesson that he learned was during his rookie season, Bona's focus was there.
“On the court and off the court, it’s probably more patience," Bona said. "Stay ready, be ready when being called upon. I started getting minutes later during the season and I felt like I learned to be patient until my time was called and I capitalized on it. And now I also feel like I learned my role and defined my role on the team. I would say those are the two biggest takeaways I had from last year.”
Anyone who has watched Bona play has seen a jaw-dropping dunk or block. But asking around about Bona with the Summer Sixers, everyone – new teammates, old teammates and coaches alike – wanted to talk not about his revered work ethic or any of his marvelous physical and athletic gifts, but his voice.
Dominick Barlow has been on the Sixers for just a few days. But, as a vocal player himself, he has been impressed by the way Bona talks on the floor.
"He's very vocal. He's loud. Deep voice," Barlow said. "Sounds like a 35-year-old man."
Judah Mintz, meanwhile, is in the midst of his second Summer League run with Bona, whose early season time in the G League also overlapped with Mintz's.
"Man, he's loud every single possession, every single timeout," Mintz said. "We need him. We need his energy. When we're down, he's the one that picks us up. He's been that leader for us... He's always been vocal, he's always been energetic and had a chip on his shoulder. But I think he's more confident in his abilities... He's definitely gotten better in my eyes."
Bona knows, even in exhibition games, he has a different level of responsibility on the Summer Sixers. He is one of the most experienced players on the team, even with just one full NBA season under his belt. On a team that has to be put together hastily, and is largely comprised of players without much experience together, a big like Bona must be a stabilizing force.
"It's so important," Summer Sixers head coach T.J. DiLeo said. "...They've got to talk to teammates. They've got to be able to tell a teammate when he did something wrong. They've got to be able to put their arm around a teammate's shoulder and bring them up. That's what leaders on a team do."
How much progress has Bona made in that respect since this time last year?
"A lot. A lot. He gained some confidence as well, he started to learn how to play and what we want to do," DiLeo said. "And now that he knows what we want, his voice has come out... It's been good for him to grow into that role."
It's easy for Bona to shout commands at his teammates in Summer League. It is natural to him, and he gets to be the veteran here. Doing it in NBA games, when he has less experience than just about every teammate, was much more difficult to get used to. But to accomplish what Bona wants to accomplish – for himself and for his team – there is no other option.“It's definitely a challenge. Being a rookie in the NBA, there's kind of a little hold back where there's a lot of guys older than you on the team," Bona said. "But as the season went on and as I started playing more, I started being more vocal. I'm getting back to myself, to be able to talk to guys and communicate with them, where they don't feel like I'm yelling at them, but trying to give instructions, you know? And also, I want to be able to do more this year, when I get back with the team, to be more vocal, be able to anchor the defense. That's my goal.”
Follow Adam on Twitter: @SixersAdam
Follow PhillyVoice on Twitter: @thephillyvoice
