Bam Adebayo
Bam Adebayo can follow up a tremendous sophomore season with an even better third season in 2019-20. He wrested the starting center job away from Hassan Whiteside and made him expendable as he was shipped to the Portland Trail Blazers in part of the four-team blockbuster sign-and-trade deal that brought Jimmy Butler to town from the Philadelphia 76ers, and now he’ll have a full season to build upon that success.
He averaged 11.8 points and 9.1 rebounds per game when he joined the starters, and a Miami Heat team that went 39-43 on the season was 16-12 when he was in the starting lineup. When he played with the starters, the Heat outscored their opponents by 5.9 points per 100 possessions, and again this was a team that had a net rating of -.6 on the season.
With workouts this summer planned with both Chris Bosh and Giannis Antetokounmpo, Adebayo is sure to have more tricks in his bag by the time training camp begins in September. Although even just another season at the same level as last season will be exciting for the Heat, Bam Adebayo has the most potential to excel far beyond what we’ve seen from him already.