Ranking the Heat's No. 2 scoring options of the Jimmy Butler era
By Brennan Sims
2. Bam Adebayo 2023: 20.4 PPG; 2018: 18.7 PPG
Like Herro, Bam Adebayo is one of two players to be the second-leading scorer after Butler twice. Bam cracked 20 PPG one of these years, but the types of shots he took showed his vast improvements.
During Bam's rookie and sophomore campaigns, he shot 45 long midranges. He almost tripled that number in 2023, making 45% of these long 2-pointers. This added versatility made Adebayo a serious scoring threat. Teams continued to sag off him while he buried middies. His skill improvement didn't halt there: Bam now has a tight handle that allows him to get by most of the five men tasked with stopping him.
If you consider yourself an aesthetically-pleasing-scoring lover, Bam doesn't quite fall into the Joel Embiid/Hakeem Olajuwon tier, but he's right below them. If you love pretty buckets, you'll enjoy Bam's dream shake.
His scoring consistency always stems from his rim-running foundation. Bam will beat his man up the court for uncontested dunks if all else fails. Adebayo is also a lob threat, even though he's undersized for a center at 6-foot-9. Hopefully, he and Terry Rozier can connect on plenty of alley-oops this year. Rozier is a tough guard with no fear, similar to the Dragon.