Heading into the first year of the Giannis Antetokounmpo era, there are many questions about their guard situation, and understandably so. However, Bam Adebayo may, in fact, hold the key to making the Giannis experiment work from its onset.
Because if the spacing is going to be right for the Heat, especially right off the bat, that onus may fall on Bam's shoulders more than anyone else. It's going to be his ability to continue to emerge as a consistent 3-point shooter that could end up answering one of the Heat's biggest Giannis-era questions thus far.
Can the Bam-Giannis pairing work? If the answer to that question is going to be "yes," then Bam is going to have to be efficient enough on the perimeter to create enough spacing for Giannis in the paint.
Can Bam be a good enough 3-point shooter next to Giannis?
And there are questions about whether Bam will be able to develop into that level of co-star next to Giannis. Even despite his improved shooting numbers, the concern from NBA analyst Jason Timpf is quite fair.
“Bam has a interesting recent track record as a shooter. He’s taking [a lot] of them, he’s not making them. It’s either going to be hard work pays off and he starts making shots, or it’s going to continue to be incremental...He’s just not good as a touch player. I’m skeptical Bam will develop into the type of shooter that Giannis needs”
Again, these are fair criticisms from Timpf, and he's not wrong. If the Heat are going to be as good as they want to be with Giannis, Bam is going to need to play a big part in that success. And there's no guarantee that he can reach the form he needs to.
Bam's big drop in 3-point shooting last season
The real concerning numbers from Bam came last season. After a significant increase in 3-point attempts last year, Bam was nothing short of average. In fact, there's even an argument to make that he was below league average from 3-point range. Considering he was attempting almost six per game, that's not great.
Bam shot 31.7 percent from 3-point range over the course of last season, a stark drop from the 35.7 clip he posted the previous two seasons.
When Giannis was at his best in Milwaukee, it was with Brook Lopez, who was admittedly already past his prime, hitting on a 35-plus percentage clip. That has to be at least the goal for Bam heading into this upcoming season.
Can Bam have a bounce-back season from deep? If he's going to put the Heat's offense in a position where it can be successful with Giannis, he's going to need to. And, honestly, that's an even bigger question (and concern) than who will get the bulk of backup point guard minutes for the Heat.
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