The Miami Heat haven’t necessarily been themselves on defense lately, but they’ve found a way to win games when they’ve needed to. While the offensive production, at times, has been a way to help win those games and even with their lapses on defense, as a team, they have two guys who can make absolutely game changing plays when they need to.
What Bam Adebayo does on a night in and night out basis can never go understated. He guards five positions, switches on to any and everyone, and often times finds himself as the last line of defense for the Heat as well.
It’s a case and set of circumstances that have landed him squarely in contention for the NBA’s Defensive Player Of The Year award. He’s been ranked in the top-four consistently throughout the season and ranked number three in the latest set of rankings for the award.
With that though, that is also his case for an NBA All-Defensive Team, first team bid, right? With Rudy Gobert also being in the top three of the rankings, he and Bam could arguably slot beside one another as the four and the five but either way and logically speaking, the top three in contention for that award has to be first team All-Defense, right?
Bam Adebayo, of the Miami Heat, will get First Team All-Defensive love, but will Jimmy Butler?
That’s, at least, the logical take on it. If those are the people that are highly ranked for the best overall defender in the league, then they would have to make the best teams of defenders, surely?
Beyond even that though, there could also be another take on that. That is that Rudy Gobert shouldn’t be ranked that high, nor is he a first team All-Defensive player, but that is a quibble for someone else.
Also, you could interchange Gobert and The Greek Freak, as they play similarly from a help prospective, which is the reason you might not rank Gobert that high to begin with but again, someone else’s squabble. The next topic though, this one belongs here.
Jimmy Butler, ranked consistently in the second five in contention for that award, is a more murky case. Leading the league in steals, Jimmy Butler has consistently shown himself to be the guiding light for the Miami Heat this season.
Bam is the engine, Jimmy drives the car though. They are equally important and one doesn’t work without the other.
Bam isn’t alone in his defensive prowess all over the floor either, as Jimmy guards whomever needs to be guarded as well, positions one through five. At points this season, Jimmy Butler has guarded centers, like Nikola Jokic, power forwards, like Karl-Anthony Towns, either guard position, and of course, wings.
There’s more to it though, at least one more little thing.
The Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler has been a First Team type defender this season, hands down.
On top of leading the league, outright, in steals, which likely correlates to this next stat, Jimmy also has a unique little other thing going for him that shows just how much he impacts the game for Miami and quite frankly… the other team. On more than one third of the possessions where Jimmy Butler is on the floor for the Miami Heat, he steals the ball from the opposing team.
Think about that? It’s almost insane, if not full-blown.
For players in the NBA this season that have played 40 or more games, 30 or more minutes in those games, and have averaged one steal or better, Jimmy’s steal percentage is far and away the best, specifically at 34 percent. Broken down into thirds, 100 is always 33.3 and well, the math is clear there.
The other top names on that list and all ranked behind Jimmy are: Lonzo Ball (1.5 SPG, 31.0 percent), Draymond Green (1.6 SPG, 30.8 percent), Jrue Holiday (1.7 SPG, 30.6 percent), Dejounte Murray (1.5 SPG, 30.5 percent), Kawhi Leonard (1.6 SPG, 30.4 percent), and Chris Paul (1.4 SPG, 30.1 percent) to name a few.
While there are other factors that can be pointed to, such as consistently guarding the other team’s best player, the fact that he would rank seventh among all wings in defensive rebounds per game, the fact that he is elite at one of the most important and coveted defensive abilities, the takeaway, uses it to absolutely change games for his team, and is by far and away the best at what he does in the league should be enough to guarantee him a first team spot.
That is, when you consider the fact that no other guy at his position, outside of Kawhi Leonard, does it like he does. OG Anunoby is great as well, but he does it differently, which allows a bit more team support but also a another squabble to be had when it comes to who’s better or more valuable there.
This, though, is why Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo should both be in high contention to be on the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team.