The Miami Heat are done playing basketball as apart of the NBA’s regular season, but that doesn’t mean that all of their guys are done playing basketball. With Olympics SZN right around the corner, it’s, once again, time for Team USA to field a team full of great players, NBA All-Stars, and simply put, the best athletes on the face of this green earth.
With that though, one of the Miami Heat’s very own has decided to join this time around. While Jimmy Butler decided that this one wasn’t for him, Miami Heat star big man, Bam Adebayo, has decided to play.
According to NBA scoop-master, Adrian Wojnarowski, Bam will join up. That’s, at least, the word that Woj is reporting.
Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo has committed to join the 12-man Team USA roster for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, his agent Alex Saratsis tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 21, 2021
With that, the roster now features an ensemble of Portland Trail Blazers guard, Damian Lillard, Golden State Warriors forward, Draymond Green, Boston Celtics forward, Jayson Tatum, Washington Wizards guard, Bradley Beal, Phoenix Suns guard, Devin Booker, and Brooklyn Nets forward, Kevin Durant, just to name a few of the already-committed players.
Based on this roster, the winning that they’ll be doing is one good reason for Bam to join this elite company of talent, but there are a few more. Here are three more reasons why joining Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics can only be a great thing for Bam Adebayo and the Miami Heat.
The Miami Heat have a volcano on their hands in Bam Adebayo. Once he learns how to erupt… Pompeii.
The Miami Heat know that the best for Bam is yet to come. However, in order for that to fully be achieved, he has to play more ball.
Simply Needs To Play More Ball
Having a natural feel for the generalities of the game, the running, the jumping, the cutting, the passing, the defending, the balls to the wall effort, he has that. Now, the natural aggression for a player of his quality, not so much.
The more ball that a guy of Bam’s ability to soak things up plays, the better he’ll get. Not only because he steadily picks things up and adds them to his game, but also and simply because he’s seeing more, thus getting more comfortable being himself in those situations.
It’s always been said that experience is the best teacher and the case is no different here. He just needs to play more ball in a competitive environment and what better environment than this one.
That leads right into the next reason though.
Confidence That Olympic Play Gives
For some reason or another, after playing in the Olympic Games, players come back with all sorts of new confidence. It’s like playing in your first All-Star game, but on steroids.
The levels of security and confidence in a player’s game grows tremendously when validated by something like being chosen as an All-Star or Olympic representative. That’s the hope for Bam Adebayo.
There is also this. Playing with American players, most of the NBA talent-pool, you are playing with the best in the world and with few international big leaguers dispersed throughout the tournament.
That means that your team tends to dominate if you are apart of Team USA and most of the time, against inferior competition, which also strokes the ego and confidence. This isn’t a bravado thing, as Bam is among the most humble you’ll find, however, that’s why it’s necessary.
For a guy as meek as Bam can be, he needs to feel the wrath of his own ability in order to be able to tap into it when he wants to and needs to. Lovely though, that leads right into the last reason.
The Miami Heat were swept from the playoffs this season early and Bam has a hand in that. Hopefully, this turns the bitter taste of defeat into a rage to avenge.
The Miami Heat know what they have in Bam Adebayo. He gets it done with his grit, but his talent is too immense to not tap into that as well.
After Playoff Sweep & Lack Of Offensive Output
The guy really has no ceilings. He can do anything he wants to on the floor, it’s just that on too many occasions, it seems, that he chooses not to.
It’s really the weirdest thing in the world. An example that’s been beat in the head by now but rightfully so, he failed to consistently attack Brook Lopez of the Milwaukee Bucks.
For the umpteenth time, there would be Bam Adebayo at the top of the key or free throw line area. There would be a canal of space, created by the wings pulling defense out there and Lopez falling all the way back to the rim, where the gameplan was obviously for him to sit and wait.
With that three feet or so of open area, Bam did nothing. He chose to pass the ball more often than not.
That is a problem and cannot happen if the Miami Heat want to win titles. Bam is better than that, he just has to know it and be that.
Again, playing in these types of situations typically brings out the best in guys and boosts their confidence. Hopefully, he takes this opportunity to do everything that he doesn’t feel comfortable doing during the NBA regular season to get used to doing it in live-game action.
That way, he can bring it to live-game NBA action next season with comfort. Not only will he have the freedom to do that in the Olympics because they are, pretty much, building a team from scratch, which means that skillset-based roles aren’t locked in at the moment but again and also, because they don’t have to worry about being in many close games with the roster they plan to assemble.
It’s not hard. Bam needs to play more.
This is a great opportunity to do so, competitively, in live-game action, with other great talent, and in a confidence building situation. Not only will this all be great for Bam, but when he returns next season, it’ll extremely great for his Miami Heat ball club.