Heat’s Bam Adebayo named All-Defensive second team

Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo was named to the 2022-23 NBA All-Defensive second team, the league announced Tuesday. It marks Adebayo’s fourth consecutive All-Defensive team selection.

Adebayo, who finished fifth in Defensive Player of the Year voting this season, helped anchor a defense that ranked ninth in the league in defensive rating. He joins Boston’s Derrick White, Memphis’s Dillon Brooks, Golden State’s Draymond Green and Toronto’s O.G. Anunoby on the second team.

Named to the first team were Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez and Jrue Holiday, Memphis’s Jaren Jackson Jr., Cleveland’ s Evan Mobley and Chicago’s Alex Caruso.

Adebayo had 12 first-team votes and 27 second-team votes to total 53 points on the weighted ballot. He was a distant second at center behind Lopez, who garnered 85 first-team votes totaled 181 points. This is the final season that All-Defensive teams will be selected by position.

Adebayo has long been regarded as one of the top defenders in the NBA and received the fifth-most votes for this season’s Defensive Player of the Year award behind winner Jackson, Lopez, Mobley and Green.

He joins LeBron James (2010-2014) as the only players in franchise history to be named to the All-Defensive team four times. Dwyane Wade was named to the All-Defensive team three times (all on the second team), and Alonzo Mourning and P.J. Brown each received the honor twice.

Jimmy Butler was the only other Heat player to receive All-Defensive votes, with three first-team votes and 17 second-team votes.

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