Why Bam Adebayo is struggling, plus 2 more observations from Heat's loss to Knicks

Three observations from the Miami Heat’s 116-107 loss to the New York Knicks at Kaseya Center on Wednesday night.

Bam Adebayo doesn’t know where his offense should come from anymore.

Last season, Adebayo’s bread and butter on offense was his free-throw line jumper. He relied on stepping into that shot off pick-and-rolls to get into rhythm and expose opposing centers in drop. 

But the Heat relied too much on mid-range shots last season and spent the preseason expunging them from the team-wide shot chart. Bam seems to be the one affected the most. He’s averaging just 11 points this season and took just seven shots against the Knicks as he was thoroughly outplayed by Karl-Anthony Towns.

Bam doesn’t know where his shots will come from anymore. What used to be a situation for him to get to his sweet spot is now a more efficient look for someone else. 

Nine times out of 10 last season, Butler would have found Adebayo for his mid-range jumper on this pick-and-roll. Watch Adebayo on this play. You can almost see him expecting the ball.

Instead, Butler drives deeper, swings it to Terry Rozier, Adebayo clears out and the Heat get a layup. That’s better offense! But it also explains why Bam isn’t getting as many shots.

The Heat have been told not to take mid-range shots. Tyler Herro recently said he doesn’t think he saw a single mid-range attempt at practice in the preseason. Spo’s voice is ringing in Adebayo’s head on this possession. He has his mid-range jumper and only the smaller Cam Payne is in front of him. He wants to rise up over him, but Spo is telling him no. He hesitates, and instead of getting an in-rhythm jumper, Adebayo turns it over.

Other times, Adebayo just looks unsure about where to be. Here he is with his hands on his hips, spaced out above the break as he watches Rozier go to work. 

Bam isn’t a 3-point shooter (or, at least, he hasn’t been). He should have his hands out, ready to catch and shoot. That’s what shooters like Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson do when waiting for the ball. If he’s out there in shooting position, maybe Rozier gets him the ball. Instead, Rozier takes a tough turnaround jumper.

Something has to give. Spoelstra could make an exception for Adebayo to take those mid-range jumpers, but that could open the floodgates to inefficient offense. Putting him in the dunker spot for tip-ins and layups would hurt the spacing. Asking him only to stand beyond the 3-point line doesn’t play to his strengths, and takes Miami’s best offensive rebounder away from the basket.

This is not an easy fix as the Heat’s offense veers away from the exact shots that made up Adebayo’s diet. The reasoning behind the change is sound, but the team’s franchise player is struggling because of it.

"That’s on me to get Bam in his spots where he can feel more comfortable,” Spoelstra said.

Tyler Herro is figuring out where he fits in.

On the flip side, no player has adjusted to life in Miami’s five-out offense as seamlessly as Tyler Herro. 

It took a couple of games, but he’s embraced being a catch-and-shoot threat. He’s gotten better and more efficient. After taking five and seven 3-point attempts in Miami’s first two games, Herro took 12 in the Heats’ win over the Pistons on Monday night and erupted to go 8 for 13 from deep against the Knicks.

At first, Herro was slow to get into his shot. He often hesitated, wanting to take a rhythm dribble before shooting.

He adjusted by incorporating a rhythm hop into his jump shot.

 Now, he’s much faster getting off that shot. Herro is a rhythm player who, in the past, used bouncing the ball to get into a groove. Adjusting to playing off the ball isn’t as easy as it sounds, but Herro has been quick to embrace it.

The schedule gets tough.

After dropping their first two games against last season’s playoff teams, the Heat enter one of the toughest stretches of the season.

They’ll head to Mexico City to face a Wizards team that just swept a home and home vs the Hawks, an then it’s almost all playoff teams from last season between now and Thanksgiving: Home vs the Kings, at Phoenix, at Denver, at Minnesota, at Detroit, at Indiana (twice), vs Philadelphia, vs Dallas and vs Milwaukee.

We’ll know where the Heat stand by Turkey Day.