The Heat’s new dynamic duo: Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler. A closer look at the pairing.
There are 12 NBA players averaging at least 15 points, six rebounds and four assists this season. The Heat has two of them in center Bam Adebayo and wing Jimmy Butler.
The only other team in the league with two players averaging those numbers? The Rockets, with the backcourt duo of James Harden and Russell Westbrook.
“They are both playing at a really high level,” Heat big man Kelly Olynyk said of Adebayo and Butler. “Jimmy has been unbelievable. Bam has just been doing everything, offensively and defensively. They’re just instrumental in our success on both ends of the floor. You see the growth in Bam. You can see the maturity and caliber of player that Jimmy is, especially in big moments.”
It has been awhile since the Heat (18-6) had two All-Stars around their primes. Probably not since the Big 3 era, when LeBron James, Dwyane and Chris Bosh were taking annual trips to the All-Star Game together.
But at this pace, Adebayo and Butler could be the Heat’s next All-Star duo. Adebayo is averaging 15.3 points, 10.5 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.2 blocks, and Butler is averaging 20.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, seven assists and 2.1 steals this season.
In Tuesday’s overtime win against the Hawks at AmericanAirlines Arena, Adebayo and Butler became the first pair of Heat teammates in franchise history to record a triple-double in the same game. The 22-year-old Adebayo finished with 30 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists for the first triple-double of his NBA career, and the 30-year-old Butler finished with 20 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists for his third triple-double of the season and the seventh triple-double of his NBA career.
“This duo is incredible. It’s fun,” Adebayo said, with another potent duo in Anthony Davis and James coming to Miami when the Lakers face the Heat on Friday night. “We’re just enjoying each other’s success, and when you do that, everybody eats.
“Also, it’s a center [Adebayo] and a shooting guard [Butler]. It’s usually two wings or two guards. You got a big and a guard getting two triple-doubles in the same game. That doesn’t come around the league often. We just got to keep this thing rolling.”
With Adebayo and Butler on the court together, the Heat has outscored teams by 148 points in 583 minutes this season. When they haven’t been on the court together, the Heat has been outscored by nine points in 589 minutes.
“I walked into this thing with a chip on the shoulder after this summer,” Adebayo said. “It’s a big step for me as a leader, and that’s what Jimmy wants me to be. He wants me to be a leader. He wants to be able to, when we need a bucket, if he doesn’t have it then throw it to Bam and he’ll make a play. That’s how we feed off each other.”
What makes the Heat’s new dynamic duo unique is both players’ ability to do so much on the court, which was proven by their simultaneous triple-doubles Tuesday.
While creating so much offense with their passing and scoring ability, they’re also two of the league’s best defenders at their positions.
Adebayo, who has yet to earn the NBA’s All-Defensive honor, is holding those he has guarded to 39.6 percent shooting this season (6.6 percent worse than those players’ usual combined shooting percentage). Butler, who has made the NBA’s All-Defensive second team four times in his eight seasons, is limiting those he has guarded to 37.7 percent shooting this season (6.8 percent worse than those players’ usual combined shooting percentage).
With Adebayo and Butler on the court together, the Heat has posted an elite 100.8 defensive rating and a quality 111.9 offensive rating.
The similarities between the two has led coach Erik Spoelstra to refer to Adebayo as the “center version of Jimmy” multiple times recently. But Butler didn’t exactly agree with that reference.
“I think he does everything better than I do,” Butler said of Adebayo. “I have the ball more, so I get to shoot more shots. But when you’re talking about defending one through five, he does that. You talk about pinpoint passes, he does that. Finding guys in rhythm, knowing the scouting report of everybody. He’s scary whenever he’s locked in like that. His energy, his preparation is contagious. He’s making sure everybody around here is doing that. So to say he’s a version of me, no. I hope everybody is a version of him.”
What did Butler know about Adebayo before joining the Heat this past summer?
“I knew about him like where he’s from and where he went to school,” Butler said. “But I didn’t know that he was this. That’s what we were talking about on the bench, ‘Don’t settle. Keep chasing greatness. Be the best player that you can be and be the best big they’ve ever had here.’”
Butler has already proven he’s an All-Star talent, as he has made the All-Star Game four times in his NBA career. But Adebayo is still trying to make a case for his first All-Star Game appearance, and he’s making a strong case so far this season.
“All-Star caliber player,” Heat forward Derrick Jones Jr. said of Adebayo. “We have a few of those players on this team.”
