The Miami Heat probably won’t be making this trade. He just doesn’t fit what they do.
Giannis oftentimes is looking to finish the play himself, whereas Bam is typically looking to create for others, but they are both capable of either action at a high level. They are almost identical and even if you don’t agree there, their playing styles would jive well together because of the vast similarities.
They would be interchangeable on the floor almost. A Giannis and Bam Adebayo pick and roll would be unstoppable. We can stop dreaming now Heat fans, as we have heard all this before but this isn’t about him, this is about Joel Embiid.
Now, take everything you just read about how both Giannis and Bam’s games mesh or are similar, then contrast that with the way that Joel Embiid operates. In order for Joel to be his best self or his most effective, he needs those same spaces that Giannis and Bam could effectively share.
The way he makes things happen isn’t conducive to having to share a great majority of the paint with another big… or even that area above the paint from the free-throw line to the three-point stripe. You know, the areas where Bam and The Freak do work.
For the record, Giannis or Bam could operate the pick and roll as the ball handler with Joel as the roll guy or pop guy, which highlights that tandem’s interchangeability, identical skillsets, and P&R potential. The question is this though.
Could Joel function at a high level with things the other way around, with him as the main ball handler and one of those guys as the other dude?
The answer is no. There, I made it easy.
That is why he doesn’t work so well now in his current spot with Al Horford, but definitely why he wouldn’t work beside any other big, even one with Adebayo’s skillset. That’s one reason why this trade wouldn’t happen, the main one, although I believe that the rest of the pieces sent back in Swartz’s deal were also a bit too much of a price as well.
That’s a story for another day though, as the main tale was told here.
Pat Riley wouldn’t move Bam, first of all and to be clear. Even if Embiid could be had without doing so though, it wouldn’t be a good move for Miami and this has been why.