Heat's Bam Adebayo drops truth bomb on DPOY snubs

10/05/2024 10:37 AM

As Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo looks to lead as captain for the second straight season, he has other goals besides winning such as finally capturing the award for Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY). While it has been known that Adebayo is working on his three-point shooting, his defense has always been elite as he gets candid about being snubbed for the aforementioned award in the past.

With Miami in the midst of training camp in the Bahamas, the media asked Adebayo about a possible different role than before where with the inclusion of rookie Kel’el Ware, standing at seven feet, that there could be a lineup where he plays the four. The three-time All-Star would say that the move can make him focus on other aspects of his game which could lead to the “goalposts” being moved more for being snubbed of DPOY according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

"It would take a lot more off my plate to do other things," Adebayo said. "So when people move that goalpost for me with DPOY [Defensive Player of the Year] or All-NBA, it's just like I get why they move it — my stats aren't eye-popping. But it's like if I'm guarding one through five and y'all are saying I can't get DPOY, well there's not a lot of DPOYs getting 20 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. And there's not a lot of All-NBA players getting top five in DPOY voting every year. It's just that the goal post moves for me."

Heat’s Erik Spoelstra talks narrative involving Bam Adebayo

Adebayo was on the NBA All-Defensive first team as well as a finalist for DPOY along with San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama, but ultimately lost to Minnesota Timberwolves star Rudy Gobert. Gobert and Wembanyama have the more attractive statistics of blocks, but there’s an argument to be made that Adebayo excels in the advanced metrics plus elite in guarding every position one through five.

Fans are trying to find every avenue for a successful Heat lineup as they prepare for a loaded Eastern Conference this upcoming season. However, if there is one person that will figure out the best rotations for the team, it’s Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra as he even found the discussion of Adebayo playing with another seven-footer confusing.

"Look, I get it that there's a big narrative about that," Spoelstra said. "But Bam has played with bigs before. So I think what everybody is trying to get to is making it an absolute, like it has to be this kind of specific big. I don't know, it's kind of a silly discussion to me. Does it have to be a 7-footer that does what? He's played next to 7-footers. So what's the definition, what are we trying to get to and what's the purpose of this discussion? Sometimes I struggle with that."

Looking at it traditionally, Adebayo solely played the center or five position last season with the tallest player at the four being Nikola Jovic at six-foot, 10 inches, which was more used throughout the second half of last season. Throughout the beginning on the other hand, Spoelstra went small plugging in players like Caleb Martin or even Haywood Highsmith.

Heat’s Bam Adebayo speaks on double-big lineups with Team USA 

Realistically to start the season though, Adebayo will probably play at center next to Jovic as it’s not expected for a rookie like Ware to get that much time until the coaching staff feels like he’s ready despite his showcase during the Summer League. With Adebayo coming off a sizable contract extension, he expects more double-big lineups to happen this upcoming season, though a position name might be too limiting.

"I think it will get explored because it was kind of an idea at the Olympics," Adebayo said. "Obviously, I think that's where a lot of the buzz was coming from. Because it was like, 'How does Bam play the four position? And does he do this, does he do that?' The way I played kind of put it in perspective of, 'No, he's really positionless and can do it all.'"

Like Adebayo mentioned about his gold medal run in the Olympics, people were wondering how he would play alongside bigger players like Anthony Davis and Joel Embiid, which ended up working extremely well. Adebayo was asked by the media if the point came up with Spoelstra, an assistant coach for Team USA, about the star working with bigger players on Miami.

"Honestly, I don't think I had to have that conversation," Adebayo said. "I think it was my teammates and the other coaches who gave him an earful of you're holding him back. So it's hilarious to have that moment with Spo. Then also I feel like it was one of those things where sometimes seeing is believing. Spo was my development coach in the Olympics, so he got to see me work on my game in all aspects."

Interesting scenarios with Heat rookie Kel’el Ware and Bam Adebayo

Adebayo was traditionally a power forward coming out of the University of Kentucky and was used at that to start his NBA career with the Heat, but Spoelstra found more use of him at the center position. While the 27-year old star has humorously complained about it before, it has resulted in immense success for him and the Heat as in the past two seasons, he has played 100 percent of the minutes at center via The Miami Herald.

Now with the inclusion of the Heat drafting Ware to the team, they have added a component the team has not seen in a while which is a seven-footer who is extremely athletic as there is no wonder they selected him with the 15th overall pick. Spoelstra would not answer directly if Adebayo will be in more double-big scenarios as he’s focused on locking down other aspects, especially since Ware’s development is still up in the air.

"There could be, but we'll see," Spoelstra said. "The most important thing is us getting a group that can command control of the game to our identity and at the same time complement each other to be able to lift us to higher levels. We're working through that right now.”

"But certainly Bam's versatility lends itself to have different guys around him,” Spoelstra continued. “That's the most important thing. You can't just have one way anymore. You have to have versatility, you have to have roster flexibility and we feel like this group has a lot of that."

Heat looking to turn heads in the Eastern Conference 

At any rate, there is a lot of avenues the Heat can take with their lineup which could set up a successful season after finishing the last two at the eighth seed. Miami looks to bounce back after losing to the Boston Celtics in the first round of the NBA Playoffs as they were without Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier.

The team wraps up training camp in the Bahamas Saturday and will prepare for the preseason opener next Tuesday, Oct. 8 agains the Charlotte Hornets. The Heat’s regular season starts on Oct. 23 when they take on the Orlando Magic to start the franchise’s 37th year.

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