Heat's Erik Spoelstra gets 100% real on Bam Adebayo's 'monumental responsibility"

03/27/2025 06:47 PM

MIAMI – As Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo lead the charge against Jimmy Butler and the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday, it was a clear display of how significant he means to the team on and off the court. Being the Heat’s captain for the past two seasons since the retirement of Udonis Haslem, his leadership goes way beyond his performances on the court as head coach Erik Spoelstra delved deep into it.

Heat’s Erik Spoelstra on Bam Adebayo’s “monumental responsibility” 

Before Miami hosted the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night, Spoelstra spoke about Adebayo’s command of the team and how crucial he is in keeping them together. Spoelstra would go as far as to say that he is “unquestionably our emotional leader” and that the team feeds off many of Adebayo’s attributes.

“We always talk about and I mentioned it to him, I mentioned it also to the team about him, he’s unquestionably our emotional leader,” Spoelstra said. “We feed off his emotion, we feed off his leadership, we feed off his voice, we feed off his inspiration and that’s a monumental responsibility. I’m always thinking about him, I want him to be able to recharge his batteries, you know, on the day in between, because it’s different if you’re the emotional leader for the team and everybody’s looking to you for that type of energy.”

“Well you gotta recover, because other guys can just show up for the game and just play,” Spoelstra continued. “They’re not responsible for bringing that kind of emotional leadership to the rest of the group and that’s fair. I mean, everybody has different roles. He’s embraced it, he wants all of this, you know, and he’s doing a tremendous job with it and he’s finding different ways to recover on the off days, to make sure that he has that kind of energy the next time, and I see him getting stronger with more energy as it’s going on which is amazing to see.”

Erik Spoelstra on Bam Adebayo's leadership.

"He's questionably our emotional leader. We feed off his emotions, we feed off his leadership, we feed off his voice, we feed off his inspiration and that's a monumental responsibility…" #HeatNationpic.twitter.com/GDT6cATek3

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) March 27, 2025

Erik Spoelstra on the Heat’s “process” with 10 games left 

While the Heat downplayed any extra motivation against Butler and the Warriors, it was an energizing win led by Adebayo who finished with 27 points and eight rebounds, showcasing his versatility on both sides of the ball. It would lead to a consistent defensive performance and a lights-out shooting game where they made 68 percent from beyond the arc, the highest this season in the NBA and in franchise history when the team attempts at least 25 threes.

As Miami was in a 10-game skid before the last two victories, Spoelstra kept saying that the “process” was improving despite the bevy of losses and fourth-quarter meltdowns. He would say to ClutchPoints that they’ve “been making great strides” offensively, though there is more “work to do” in regards to the late-game situations.

“Our process really starts defensively,” Spoelstra said. “Offensively, we felt like we’ve been making great strides, we still have some work to do in fourth quarters of close games, but there are large segments of these games where it’s a lot more coherent, the thought process to our offense and how we’re getting to what we’re getting to, is much better. We’re seeing improvement, that always helps when the balls going in, you know, like it did the other night, but I felt really good about the progress three weeks ago. It just feels like you know the momentum is going in the right direction.”

Asked Erik Spoelstra about the "process" he spoke about during the skid and where it is coming off of last game.

"Our process starts defensively, offensively, we felt like we've been making great strides. We still have some work to do in fourth quarters…" #HeatNationpic.twitter.com/FTnZTJCwfa

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) March 27, 2025

At any rate, the Heat are 31-41 which puts them 10th in the East before Thursday’s contest against Atlanta, looking to win three straight.

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