South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Butler opts to bet on Bam
Through wager, Heat star urging center to shoot 3s every game
MIAMI — Heat center Bam Adebayo is coming off a careerhigh 24-point scoring output, but he has already been challenged to take the next step in his offensive development.
In fact, it happened before Adebayo established that new career best Friday night against the Washington Wizards. Heat swingman Jimmy Butler started a bet with Adebayo that anytime the
6-foot-9 third-year player out of Kentucky doesn’t shoot a
3-pointer in a game, he owes Butler $500.
Adebayo, who was added to the Heat’s injury report Saturday with a groin contusion ahead of Sunday’s 6 p.m. tip at AmericanAirlines Arena against the Chicago Bulls, did not deliver a
3-point attempt Friday. “Bam owes me $500 because he did not shoot a 3 last game,” Butler said.
It does not seem like a winning proposition for Adebayo, who has attempted six 3s in Miami’s 22 games this season, but therein lies Butler’s challenge to urge him to stretch the floor even more than he already has, expanding his shot into the midrange this season.
“Literally before the game,” said Adebayo of when he was told of the bet he apparently didn’t have to agree to, “but he didn’t pass me the ball. I was in the corner, so does he owe me [500]? I was open. He just didn’t pass it.”
Butler admitted he may be up to such shenanigans.
“If you see him wide open in the corner and I don’t throw him the ball,” he said, “you know it’s because I don’t want to give him
$500.”
But Adebayo’s not concerned that Butler’s on-floor decisionmaking will be affected as Butler has notched triple-doubles in two of his past three outings.
“Nah, I don’t think it’ll be like that,” Adebayo said. “We’re just having fun, trying to keep each other on a higher standard, give each other more challenges as we
Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler believes center Bam Adebayo, above, can positively impact a game in several different ways.
go on in this career.”
With Butler pushing Adebayo with his off-the-court fun, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra also sees similarities between the two.
“He’s like Jimmy,” said Spoelstra of Adebayo. “He can impact winning and do it in a lot of different ways, and it might not be scoring.”
Asked if Adebayo can be seen as a center version of himself, Butler replied: “I don’t see Bam as a center at all, to tell you the truth. We talk about it being positionless here.”
It’s a notion that falls in line with why Butler wanted to challenge Adebayo to shoot more often.
“Centers nowadays shoot 3s, but centers don’t really shoot 3s,” Butler said. “But that just goes to show that guy’s capable of playing any position, guarding any position.
“When you’re talking about guys that break out with the dribble, he does that. Initiate offense? He can do that, [plus] pass the ball [and] score.”
Adebayo’s development this
season has come through the transition of assistant coaching from Juwan Howard, now leading his alma mater Michigan, to Malik Allen.
“I think it’s a perfect fit, just in terms of Bam’s drive to get better and his willingness to work every day,” Spoelstra said. “He’s open to coaching, and Malik has such a tremendous work ethic and builds a relationship with guys where he trusts them. He’s willing to roll up his sleeves and work with Bam every single day to help him become his best version.”
Adebayo said he hurt his groin Friday when Wizards guard Ish Smith ran into him.
“I’ll see how I feel in the morning,” Adebayo said. “Get with the staff, and I ain’t never really ran away from anything.”
In addition to Adebayo, Justise Winslow is questionable for Sunday’s game with the lower-back strain that kept him out Friday.
Heat guards Dion Waiters (illness) and Goran Dragic (groin strain) and forward KZ Okpala (Achilles strain) remain out against the Bulls.
FSU generally got positive reviews from ESPN College Gameday analysts Saturday morning amid reports the Seminoles are poised to hire Memphis coach Mike Norvell.