Miami Heat: 3 ways Erik Spoelstra needs to utilize Bam Adebayo

Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra has real talent on his hands in Bam Adebayo.

Firstly, I have to preface this entire piece by telling you that Bam Adebayo might be my favorite player on the Miami Heat. And no, I didn’t love him before the team drafted him.

I actually really wanted Malik Monk to drop to No. 14 or for the Heat to grab Harry Giles and subject him to the organization’s legendary regimen.

But as the season progressed, Adebayo started making plays like this…

And the love story instantly began.

Going into the 2018-19 season, I have the mindset that while the Heat may again be flirting with a low playoff seed, this is still the best time to develop the youngsters while letting the rest of the league play out.

Because frankly, no one is beating the Golden State Warriors. No, not even the new Los Angeles Lakers.

However, with that said, there’s a few things I would like to see head coach Erik Spoelstra and the rest of the Heat coaching staff allow Adebayo to do, in order to see just how far he can progress as a player (perhaps turning him into the next Heat lifer).

Spoelstra has always been a great coach in the traditional sense, with the added ability to envision his guys as more than what they may only seem on paper. (This, of course, fits perfectly with his preference for positionless basketball.) So moving forward, he needs to not just develop Adebayo into a franchise center, but also shape him into more than just a one-dimensional 5.

Here are three ways that Spoelstra needs to utilize Bam Adebayo.