HASLEM: ADEBAYO ‘RIGHT WHERE HE NEEDS TO BE’
Heat captain Udonis Haslem explains the biggest misconception about Bam Adebayo’s offensive game entering Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals.
The Miami Heat doesn’t evaluate center Bam Adebayo based on shot attempts and points. Teammates and coaches appreciate Adebayo for everything
else he provides on the court.
So when the outside conversation regarding Adebayo’s offensive aggression finds its way into the locker room, those within the organization disregard it.
“I don’t pay attention. They don’t know what the hell they’re talking about,” Heat veteran and
team captain Udonis Haslem said to the Miami Herald ahead of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Sunday night. “95 percent of people don’t know what they’re talking about when it comes to being aggressive. He can’t just go out there, put his head down and go forward. He’s got to get other guys involved. Bam’s heart is in the right place. He’s trying to do the right things.”
In Friday’s Game 6 win over the Boston Celtics at TD Garden, Adebayo finished with just six points on six shots and committed four turnovers. That’s not the type of production many have come to expect from a player on a max contract like Adebayo.
But it was Adebayo’s rebounding, screening, dribble handoffs and rolls to the basket to keep the Heat’s offense flowing that
teammates and coaches noticed more than his points and shot attempts.
Adebayo, who is also considered one of the NBA’s best defenders, closed Friday’s win with a game-high three screen assists (a screen for a teammate that directly leads to a made field goal by that teammate), the third-most potential assists on
the team (any pass to a teammate who shoots within one dribble of receiving the ball) with four and a team-high three offensive rebounds.
Adebayo, 24, entered Sunday averaging the fourth-most screen assists in the NBA this postseason with 3.6 per game behind only Phoenix’s Deandre Ayton (5.4 per game), Chicago’s Nikola Vucevic (4 per game) and Utah’s Rudy Gobert (3.8 per game). Adebayo’s screens have resulted in 8.4 points per game for the Heat in this year’s playoffs.
“That he can’t score. That’s not true,” Haslem said of the biggest misconception about Adebayo’s offensive game. “That’s not the case. We just put a lot of responsibility
on Bam. Often times when you got a guy like Bam who’s creating so many triggers and offensive plays for people, he’s just a roll to the rim guy. A lot of guys that create triggers like Bam and get everybody involved, their only job is just to roll to the rim all the time. He’s also got to get everybody involved and figure out things for himself.
“So one of the biggest misconceptions is that he can’t score. That’s not true it all. It’s not that he can’t score. He wears a lot of responsibilities. He’s got to get our shooters involved, he’s got to get other guys involved and he’s got to think about scoring. For him, he just carries a bigger burden than most guys at his position.”
But the reality is Adebayo’s scoring and shot attempts are down in the playoffs. He averaged a
career-high 19.1 points on 13 shot attempts per game in the regular season and entered Sunday’s Game 7 averaging 14.2 points on 9.1 shot attempts per game this postseason.
Adebayo said he’s focused on “being more assertive, picking my spots in the flow of the game” moving forward.
When asked where Adebayo has grown most offensively this season, Haslem pointed to his “confidence” and “understanding the things that he can do and the advantages that he has.”
“A lot of the time when I watch film with him, I just try to point out the advantages, how different defenders are going to guard him and what advantages he has versus different guys,” Haslem said. “Whether it be strength, whether it be athleticism, whether it be quickness, whether it be a
back down, whether it be a face-up. Pinpoint certain guys in pick-and-rolls where you want to get that matchup, where you want to get that switch, slipping out of the pick-and-roll and creating a trigger. Those are all of the things. Right now when it comes to Bam, it’s more about chess. It’s not the physical part of it. It’s more about playing chess out there.”
There’s still plenty of room for Adebayo to grow as an offensive player. He has become a more consistent midrange shooter in the past two seasons, but his post-up game remains a work in progress.
Then there’s the threepoint shot that Adebayo has yet to incorporate into his offensive repertoire. He attempted just six three-pointers in the regular season and didn’t make any, but the belief is that will become a more consistent part of his skill
set in coming seasons.
“It’ll come. It’ll come with time,” Haslem said of Adebayo’s outside shot. “Right now, he’s right where he needs to be. Creating for us, getting down there in the paint and being a monster. But the outside shot and the jumpers, those things will develop and will come.”
HERRO UPDATE
Guard Tyler Herro, who was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the year this season, was available to play in Sunday’s seriesdeciding game after missing the previous three games with a strained left groin.
Herro, 22, was listed as questionable on the injury report before the Heat announced that he’ll warm up with the intention of playing on Sunday about two hours before tipoff.
“Right now it’s all hands on deck,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said prior to Game 7 when asked about the team’s decision to clear Herro. “He passed his testing with the trainers. He’s really been working diligently the last few days. Each day he’s made significant improvement, and he was able to do
shootaround this morning but more importantly he was able to do things in the training room and pass those tests to be available.”
HEAT’S FINE
The NBA announced Saturday that the Heat organization was fined $25,000 for violating league rules regarding team bench decorum.
The NBA explained the fine in a statement: “On multiple occasions, several players stood for an extended period in Miami’s team bench area, stood away from the team bench, and were on, encroaching upon or entering the playing court during live game action” in the Heat’s Game 6 win in TD Garden on Friday.
“At the end of the day, it just shows how much support your teammates have for you to the point that we get fined,” Adebayo said. “But that’s the will to win. Everybody on the sideline wants us to win and I got some of the best teammates.”