As Sixers' Adem Bona develops, ‘personal coach' Fabulous Flournoy matches his energy  

If Sixers rookie center Adem Bona is refining his game in a near-empty gym, you’ll likely find him with assistant coach Fabulous Flournoy.

It’s a serious compliment to Flournoy that Bona doesn’t worry whatsoever about him keeping up. 

“Fab is great, man,” Bona said with a smile on March 9. “Fab matches my energy … or I would say I match Fab’s energy. Fab has a lot of it. 

“Fab has been big for me coming into the league from college, changing my style of play completely. Fab has been really big for helping me adjust to the NBA style of play and helping me understand what the coaches need me to do with pick-and-rolls, offensively, defensively ... everything. I’ve done everything with Fab.”

International paths to the Sixers 

Many tales can be told about Flournoy.

The New York native is 51 years old, 6-foot-3 and looks like he could still play professional basketball. Thanks to meticulous habits and immense passion, he served as a player-coach for the Newcastle Eagles in England until his mid-40s, when he joined Nick Nurse’s Raptors staff.

Nurse recruited Flournoy to play for his Birmingham Bullets team back in 1996 and he became a legend of the British Basketball League. Flournoy received a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) from Prince William in 2017.

Now he’s guiding Bona, who grew up playing soccer in Nigeria, started with “street basketball” at 12 years old and moved to Turkey at 13. 

The UCLA product is exceedingly eager to learn. 

“I definitely try to match his energy,” Flournoy said Thursday night in an interview before Bona’s rookie-best 28-point performance vs. the Bucks. “He’s very enthusiastic. He loves to work and he has a perfectionist mentality — that he wants to get it right. It’s great to be around. When he’s excited, I get excited. When he’s not so excited, I still stay excited because he’s going through this first year in the NBA, and this whole process and everything is new to him on this level. 

“So he’s enjoying it, but he’s always trying to get better. And sometimes you’ve just got to tell him to relax, take a deep breath, because he wants it so bad. We concentrate a lot on his abilities — his athleticism, running the floor, being a lob threat and rebounding the basketball. … Then we talk about making his free throws and having an impact, and how he can impact winning. And doing his job of being a good teammate, as well as whenever Coach gives him the opportunity to go out there and put on display his abilities.

“For me, it’s just all the time matching that (energy). And it’s easy. It’s easy when you have a player of his ability as well as his enthusiasm.”

‘He’s a 24-hour guy’ 

With the Sixers closing out a dismal, injury-centric season, Bona’s talents have shined lately.

He’s blocked at least three shots in five consecutive games. The 41st overall pick has recorded multiple offensive rebounds in eight straight appearances, too. 

The essence of Bona’s game is that he hunts the ball zealously on both ends. He’s also growing more comfortable with a ton of other tools — shifting into open space around the rim; driving hard downhill off fake dribble handoffs; being positionally sound in drop coverage.

Bona pores over everything with Flournoy. 

“Fab’s a tireless worker,” Nurse said last week. “He’s a guy that’s going to put in the round-the-clock work. And that goes not only to his stuff on the court, but he also spends an awful lot of time with him watching film. Every minute of play that he has, Fab’s going to go over and over and over it with Bona. He’s a 24-hour guy. 

“If Bona’s a little tired after a run of games … they’ll come back at night. They’ll come in during the middle of the day. Whatever they’ve got to do. Fab’s kind of his personal coach there in all phases —  film, on court, games, halftime.” 

According to Flournoy, the typical day includes some playful trash talk. 

“He’ll go through his workout, his strength and conditioning, get his breakfast,” Flournoy said. “Then, at some point in time, I’ll stick my nose in and try to light a fire under him a little bit. I’ll turn around and say, ‘I’m going to take you on the court’ or, ‘I’m going to do this.’ And he has a little giggle at me because, no matter how hard I try, I’m all talk. 

“But it will start in the morning and we’ll do some type of shooting or some type of video work with the game we just had. … We’ll grow it out from there with his bread and butter around the basket — touch, mastering his craft, mastering his footwork. Also, catching the basketball. Ball handling. Not ball handling like dribbling, but ball handling so he can have a feel for the basketball in his hands, because catching and passing, it’s a skill. … We work on video — where he’s supposed to be, his timing, rhythm. We talk about him being a good teammate. And then we’ll have practice. After practice, we’ll shoot. 

“Basically, if he’s in the gym, I’ll go in the gym. I’ve (told him) that whenever he wants me, just let me know and I’ll be there in 5 minutes, 10 minutes.”

No shortage of fun 

When the spotlight’s on, it’s obvious Bona loves to play. He grins after and-one layups, celebrates teammates’ highlights and radiates joy.

Bona’s also happy on the court when it's an off night and no fans are watching. 

“At this point, that’s a big tradition for me,” he said last Sunday. “I’ve been doing that since college. I go back in the gym at night. I just feel like it’s more peaceful, more clear-minded. It’s time to pay more attention to details. … I just go back and work on the things I need to work on — my touch, my free throws, things that the team needs me to do better. It’s just more peace of mind … no pressure, no anything. Just work on my game.”

To Flournoy, it’s important that the work isn’t a dull slog. 

“It’s really not work, so I kind of find it hard to describe it,” he said. “It doesn’t feel like work. I try to build a relationship with him upon trust. I’ve got his back, he’s got my back and we’re not going to BS anything. We’re going to have the good conversations. I’m not even going to say the hard conversations, but good conversations about where he’s at, how well he played, what he needs to improve, what we’re looking at, how he can help this team be successful and how he can help himself be successful. It’s an everyday process and it doesn’t stop. 

“As he would say, ‘Let’s get money, Fabo!’ We’ve got this great relationship where we talk about Bona in the third person. Well, he starts it, going, ‘Bona needs to rebound! Bona makes free throws! Bona’s automatic! Bona blocks shots! Bona makes plays!’ When Bona makes a play on somebody or if he dunks on them, they got ‘Bona fide!’ If he dunks on them, it’s Bona fide!

“Like I said, it’s not something I’d equate to being 24 hours, in the grand scheme of things. It’s nothing. It’s just trying to be available to him as much as I possibly can, and that’s whenever he needs. ... You’ll never get the rookie season back again, so just trying to instill good habits and have him understand that it’s work, but work can be fun. Enjoy your craft. And hopefully, with all this that we’re doing, he’ll have a long and fruitful career ahead of him.”

Switching on ‘Super Saiyan strength’ 

Of course, very few players have multi-decade careers like Flournoy’s.

He passes along his knowledge about “how to manage your body” and much more. 

“Not ever dial it down, because I don’t ever want him to tone it down,” Flournoy said. “But I want him to be very intuitive about where you spend your energy ... because he has a lot of energy. For all the Dragon Ball Z fans, he has some of that Super Saiyan strength. He can turn Super Saiyan with the abundance of energy. But also making sure you channel it the right way, making sure you take the time out to take care of your body, maintain your body. 

“Understand OK, we’re not going to do any dunks (today); we’re going to spend some time on shooting. It’s a fast, athletic game, but we’ve also got to break down his shooting. We’ve also got to break down his touch. We’ve also got to understand and study the game, in terms of studying what other teams are doing, studying your position. All that counts in terms of being able to have longevity. It’s one thing being skilled and athletic and just playing 5-on-5. It’s another thing having that and also understanding schemes, understanding your impact, and being able to interpret what’s (happening) on the fly … reading the defensive situations. On offense, what are your triggers? What are your counters? 

“That’s all encompassed in being able to have longevity, along with what you eat … and recovery. We have the best staff to help facilitate all that within the organization to make sure he’s keeping that energy and running that engine really high, really fast, and putting on display what he does best.”

The same Bona every day

For now, Bona just turned 22 years old and is sharpening his sense of self in the NBA. 

While Flournoy doesn’t gloss over any detail, he wants Bona to trust his instincts. 

“The teaching moments come within his natural ability,” he said. “We’ve been in the gym, we’ve been in the lab and we’ve worked on something. He’s seen something. Now we’re going to go out there and take it to the court. Now we’re actually going to bring it to the game. … So we’re not experimenting. 

“We’re sticking to his bread and butter — running the floor, rebounding the basketball on both ends, protecting the rim and being a lob threat. Those are the things that got him here, so we’re sticking to that, and then we build on that. … And we take the video and dissect the clips. Sometimes we’ll have a long video session where we watch the whole game in its entirety, whether he was in or not, so he understands the flow of the game and how he can impact those situations when he comes in. It’s also trying to make sure that he’s a student of the game.” 

As Bona’s rookie year winds down, the duo will keep dissecting. And, regardless of results, energy won’t be a problem at all. 

“I wouldn’t say it’s hard because that’s who I am,” Bona said Thursday. “As a team, we need to keep the energy consistent with the ups and downs we have in the locker room and with the injuries. 

“I’ve just got to be the same guy every day and bring the energy.”