Bam Adebayo needs to be more aggressive with the ball in his hands if he's ever going to cross into elite status as an offensive player in the NBA. Interestingly enough, this admission came at the hands of an old familiar foe, Brian Scalabrine.
But he couldn't have been more right with his dissection of Bam and his offensive game.
"“I think he can be one of the best players in the NBA but he’s just an average offensive player. He has the tools to be a great player. When he drives to the basket, certain players will figure out how to use their body to get a layup, he’ll end up taking a fadeaway jumper. It’s his inability to get 4/5 of those ‘im just bigger than you and im laying the ball up.’ If everything is a jump hook or fadeaway, you’re never going to be an efficient player.”"Brian Scalabrine on Bam Adebayo
What the former Boston Celtics player is detailing is exactly what many Heat fans have criticized Bam for - his lack of aggression at times.
Defensively, there aren't many other players in the league as versatile and dominant as Bam. However, on the offensive end of the floor, there are too many times when Bam is too passive. He settles for too many jumpers, and with his athleticism, he should be finishing at a higher rate inside the paint.
Bam's frustrations on the offensive end of the floor
But when you watch Bam closely on the offensive end of the floor, there are times when he has his defender in no man's land, only to let him off the hook by fading away into a lower-percentage jump shot.
From a fan's perspective, you'd certainly like to see Bam show a little more aggressiveness in those situations. But it may not be that simple.
Considering the amount of responsibility that Bam carries on the defensive end of the floor, it may not be fair to be overly critical of him offensively. However, that's also something that comes with being a star player. It's the territory that Bam has been tiptoeing over the last couple of seasons.
And if the Heat believes Bam to be a superstar player (or pay him to that scale), there's another level that he needs to cross into on the offensive end of the floor.
One that many believe could be accomplished by Bam being slightly more aggressive. Whether that's accurate or not remains to be seen, but it's clearly a narrative that is shared by both Heat fans and foes.