Miami Heat: KZ Okpala and Omer Yurtseven may get the call from Spo
With the Miami Heat being without Bam Adebayo for the next six weeks or so (and Jimmy too for the next few games with the tailbone injury), at max you hope, they’ll need to look to get production out of all of the rest of their guys. While Dewayne Dedmon, P.J. Tucker, Jimmy Butler, and the return of Markieff Morris should all provide relief and help in his absence, this is definitely a situation of the all-hands-on-deck variety.
That’s exactly what the Miami Heat have to treat it as. Losing a guy like Bam Adebayo, one averaging nearly 19, 10, and three assists on the season, it’ll take quite a bit to replace and replicate his production.
It’s not only that with him though. The Miami Heat will also need to figure out a way to mimic his impact on the game.
While that seems nearly impossible, if you know and recognize all that Bam does for this Heat team, it isn’t that impossible.
The Miami Heat will need everyone on the roster to do more with Bam Adebayo going down. That includes KZ Okpala and Omer Yurtseven.
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Actually, according to Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and per the Miami Herald, there is a guy on the roster that hasn’t played that much that can actually do some similar things—his words, not ours.
"“We have to figure that out. I’m not totally sure right now,” Spoelstra said when asked about Okpala filling Dedmon’s role off the bench while Adebayo is out. “Defensively, he can do a lot of similar things to what we do with Bam.It’s a different skill set for us offensively with him at the five. That’s something that I’m going to have to figure out.”"
Those were words spoken about the not frequently used, KZ Okpala. They’ll certainly need to get something out of him with Bam down, but he may not be the only one.
Though he doesn’t seem ready yet and especially on the defensive side of the ball, the Heat may have to see if they can squeeze some minutes out of Omer Yurtseven. Kyle Lowry certainly seems up for the idea of both he and KZ getting their shots.
"“They got to play,” Lowry said of Okpala and Yurtseven. “This is a professional league, you have to be prepared to play. You got to stay ready to be ready, and always just be ready to go.”"
Next. 3 players with the most work do to in Bam Adebayo’s absence. dark
As stated, the Miami Heat need all of their guys to step up and especially those big men to help immediately fill the Bam void. They’ll need the rest of the guys to step up too, like Yurtseven and Okpala, perhaps even capitalizing on an opportunity along the way.
Who knows?