Miami Heat: Same As Always With Bam Adebayo, Just Be More Aggressive
Even though he basically averaged twenty points this year, he has more to offer. He needs to be more aggressive and that is a notion that has existed among many for quite some time now.
He’ll show flashes of being aggressive for a week or so and then a week later, he’s looking to get his teammates involved more than he should be. Listen, it’s always good to get your teammates involved but you would like him to find a happy medium where he is looking to score and still looking to help his teammates.
Offense
Bam showed promise, at times, this year with his jump shot and he should only be better with time. Personally, you’d like to see him shoot his jumper more often.
It would open up his game more. Adebayo has the speed and a good enough handle for him to take it to the rim, beating slower centers off the dribble more than he does.
He also has good touch around the rim when he looks to finish at the rim. His assists went down due to Kyle Lowry having the ball in his hands more but make no mistake about it, he’s still one of the best passing centers in the league.
He doesn’t look to shoot threes, which is another hot topic around the fan base, but you would like to see him shoot, at least, one triple a game. He needs to change his mindset, not his entire offensive game.
In the playoffs, he had some moments but had some no-show games as well. You just want him to put his head down and go.
Speaking of going, you also wish that he would pursue his coast-to-coast opportunities more often on the break. Besides the mindset, he could also help himself by continuing to develop a post-game.
He just needs a couple of moves down there. At worst, he needs to feel more conformable down on the block.
Defense
There’s not much to complain about for Adebayo on defense. He can guard the opposing team’s best player.
He can switch on to anyone. It gives Erik Spoelstra the ability to play any defense at any time.
Plainly put, he’s a top-three defensively player in the league and it isn’t close.
Season Grade: B-
Adebayo had a really good year through injury and though no one was paying attention to Miami. He lost an All-Star appearance and a potential DPOY of the year trophy though because of it all.
In the regular season, Adebayo had a really good year on both sides of the court. During the playoffs, you needed more from him.
However, as you take a look back at Atlanta Hawks series, he put his focus on defense. The Miami Heat also did not need him to score a ton in that series.
The same was the case against the Philadelphia 76ers, as Adebayo put his focus on defense for that series too. When Joel Embiid came back, he did a good job defending him.
In the last series against the Boston Celtics, he had an up and down series offensively though. They needed that from him then.
In Game 3, he put up 31 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, and four steals. In Game 7, he put up 25 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists.
It’s not his skill or talent, it’s his mindset. He can put up numbers like that more often than not.
He just has to stop being hesitant and look to do it every single night. Year six will be a huge one for him.