Revamped lineup has Bam fired up
Optimistic Adebayo: ‘On paper, we look like we’re really good’
KENDALL — As he sat on the bench during summer league in Las Vegas just over a week ago, Bam Adebayo wasn’t sure what to make of the Miami Heat’s next incarnation.
Saturday, as he worked his youth clinic at Riviera Prep Academy, the third-year center, appreciated that he now might be part of a finished product, with Heat trade target Russell Westbrook dealt to the Houston Rockets and with the Heat no longer viewed as pursuing Chris Paul.
“I can’t tell you that right now,” he said of the offseason machinations by Pat Riley and the front office that sent out Hassan Whiteside and Josh Richardson and brought in Jimmy Butler and first-round pick Tyler Herro. “But on paper we look like we’re really good. So we’ve just got to fulfill that and go out there and play our hardest and just complete.”
With Richardson and Whiteside gone, the third-year center said he expects a different atmosphere in the locker room.
“Instead of J-Rich and the goofiness, it’s kind of Jimmy Butler,” he said, with Butler known for his driven approach. “So it’s kind of more serious. He’s older than us.”
He compared Butler’s arrival to the role held last season by
now-retired Dwyane Wade.
As for Herro, the initial impressions of the fellow Kentucky product were positive as Adebayo sat on the bench and assisted the Heat coaching staff in Las Vegas.
“I feel like he’s a fast learner,” he said of the shooting specialist taken at No. 13. “He wants to soak in information. When I was talking to him in summer league, it seemed like he really wanted to learn, and he went out there and changed it. So I feel like he’ll fit in with us.”
As he prepared for his second camp session of the day, Adebayo joked of growing old.
“I’m 22 now. I’ve got to wake up and stretch now. That’s the first thing. I’ve got to stretch,” he said with a smile.
Among his birthday greetings was an Instagram post from Heat mainstay Udonis Haslem that read, “I’d be lying if I said I’ve had or could ask for a better young fella!!! As much as you nag, aggravate, and antagonize the hell out of me, you make it a joy to come to work every day. The way you see the game. The way you approach the game. Who you play for. Why you play. And how you reach your goal of getting there all falls in line with the young UD. Although different styles we not that different at all kid.”
Adebayo said he was moved by the words.
“First of all,” he said, “that is the first time UD has said that much about me, and it just happened to be on my birthday. I love UD. He’s like my brother. So it kind of hit the heart a little bit, got a little tearyeyed. It was a good, heartfelt and I probably won’t get that again until my 23rd birthday.”
With that, Adebayo moved on to working with the youths at the event run by his foundation.
“Growing up, I never had anything like that,” he said of the clinic that included scholarships for local players.
“You never know, I might say one little thing and it might impact that one kid in an unbelievable way. One of these kids might grow to 6-10.”
And then, the player who in many ways now stands as the face of the Heat’s power rotation, had to face the music in terms of the questions from those seated in the gym.
He joked he already had to answer one similar to the youth who earlier this week questioned the legality of James Harden’s stepback move at a similar Harden event.
“He said, ‘You know you traveled on this,’ ” Adebayo related. “I was like, ‘Yeah, we play in the NBA; we can get away with it.’ ’’