Miami Heat players who could win an NBA Award: Bam Adebayo (Defensive Player of the Year)
Bam Adebayo is one of the best defensive players in the NBA. He is a super athletic center who can guard positions one through five.
Last year, he had a great defensive season which ended in him making the All-Defensive Second Team. However, many feel as though he was snubbed from being top three in Defensive Player of the Year voting.
The big man finished fourth in DPOY voting last season. Rudy Gobert, the eventual winner, Ben Simmons, and Draymond Green finished first, second, and third, respectively.
Players who finished below him in the voting include Giannis Antetokounmpo, Clint Capela, and Joel Embiid. This puts Adebayo in a very elite club of defenders.
Adebayo actually received more first-place votes than Green did. He got one first-place vote, while Gobert and Simmons got the rest of them.
In total, Adebayo got one first-place vote, seven second-place votes, and 13 third-place votes. All of these votes added up to 31 total points.
With the defenders the Miami Heat have on the roster, they could easily end up being the best defensive team in the NBA. Adebayo will be the anchor of that defense.
Being the leader of one of the best defenses in the NBA is how Gobert and Green won their DPOY awards. Adebayo is in the perfect situation to win the award in this way as well.