The Miami Heat got devastating news on Wednesday afternoon. Injuring his thumb in their last contest on Monday against the Denver Nuggets, Bam Adebayo will reportedly be out six weeks to recover from surgery on the finger.
To be specific, the Miami Heat have said that it’s the “Ulnar Collateral Ligament” (UCL) and that after surgery this “weekend”—”a timetable on his return will be provided post-surgery”.
Here is the most pressing and most important question at this point, with this knowledge in hand.
What are they going to do? Can the Miami Heat survive without one of their top guys for over a month?
The answer is yes, but it won’t be easy. It has to be faced though, they might not be as good and in fact, probably won’t be.
He is a top guy in the league and on both ends of the floor. And while you would like him to be consistently more aggressive on the offensive side of the ball, his overall impact, performance, and level of play can’t be understated.
Let’s dive into a few of the details here.
Though he had failed to hit double-digit boards in six games prior to Monday’s 13, he had been one of the better rebounders in the league to open the year.
This is a really big blow for a Miami Heat team that was and is still looking to, not only, compete for the Eastern Conference throne, but for the NBA Title altogether.
To get down to all the literal ripple effects, Kyle Lowry will certainly need to be better moving forward until Bam returns. Seemingly, trying to fit in since being in Miami, they now need him to revert back to that score-first type of mentality.
While Bam’s everything else can’t be duplicated or replicated by Lowry, he can certainly help quell the scoring impact that will be felt by Bam’s absence. Kyle Lowry isn’t the only guy that might have to put on his boots though.
They’ll be other guys who need to re-emerge. The heavy lifting falls on everyone.
This is also the time where—if Duncan Robinson‘s going to find his shooting, you certainly need him to do it.
Jimmy Butler will keep being himself, though perhaps to a slightly greater extent to account for Bam’s absence. You can also expect Tyler Herro to continue taking advantage of his opportunity, a greater one now and especially with a few added touches.
Lastly and perhaps, most importantly, the Miami Heat will need to get something from the next trio. Between Omer Yurtseven, Udonis Haslem, and KZ Okpala, they’ll have to be able to get some solid minutes.
That’s especially until they get Markieff Morris back and probably still, afterward. P.J. Tucker has been playing some of the best ball of his career, so you’ll need him to keep doing that too.
At this point, they just need the bodies. So, though it won’t be easy and though not maybe to quite the same level of success as they’ve had up until this point, they’ll be ok.
By “ok”, you mean that they’ll be able to hold things steady enough until Bam returns. At least, you want to think, hope, and believe so.