Bam Adebayo becomes second-youngest Heat player to be named Player of the Week
Another week, another Eastern Conference Player of the Week award for the Heat.
Heat do-it-all big man Bam Adebayo was named the NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week on Monday for games played from Dec. 9 through Dec. 15, with Lakers forward LeBron James earning the Western Conference Player of the Week award.
Adebayo’s award comes just a week after Jimmy Butler earned the honor last week. It marks the first time Adebayo, 22, has been named the Player of the Week in his career, and he is the 16th different player to receive the award as a member of the Heat in franchise history.
Adebayo is also the second-youngest Heat player in franchise history to be named Player of the Week. Recently retired guard Dwyane Wade was younger by a few months when he received the honor for the first time in his career in February of 2004.
With Adebayo and Butler earning the honor in back-to-back weeks, it also marked the first time two different Heat players have received the award in consecutive weeks since Wade and Chris Bosh did it in December of 2013.
“I love it. I absolutely love it for him,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Adebayo’s honor before Monday’s game against the Grizzlies. “I love it for our organization. He’s about all the right things. This won’t get to his head. It’s not like he’s doing these things for individual accolades. But I see his process. I was there, like everybody else on the staff, all summer long. He was in our building just putting in a ton of time on his game, his craft to be able to improve. Hopefully, there’s a whole lot more of this to come.
“We don’t want to put a ceiling on him. He’s much different now than he was even just the last time we played Memphis, even just three weeks ago. That’s what happens with young players if they’re really dedicated and committed, and that’s what Bam is. All of this is just about impacting winning. We’ve said that so many times about Bam. But it’s also OK to get recognized for that league wide.”
Adebayo averaged 20 points on 61 percent shooting, 11.3 rebounds, 8.7 assists, 1.3 steals and one block in three games over the past week. Miami posted a 2-1 record during this stretch, with the Heat outscoring its opponent by 33 points with Adebayo on the court.
On top of all that, Adebayo turned in the first two triple-double performances of his NBA career over the past week — a stat line of 30 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in Tuesday’s home win over the Hawks and a stat line of 18 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in Saturday’s road win over the Mavericks.
“I think he does everything better than I do,” Butler recently 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.”
Adebayo is in the middle of a career-best season, entering Monday’s game against the Grizzlies with career-best averages of 15.2 points, 10.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.2 blocks.
“I walked into this thing with a chip on the shoulder after this summer,” Adebayo said last week. “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.”
Following Saturday’s overtime win over the Mavericks, Adebayo’s former Heat teammate Josh Richardson tweeted simply: “Bam is an All-Star.”
The other finalists for the Eastern Conference Player of the Week award that went to Adebayo: Indiana’s Malcolm Brogdon, Charlotte’s Devonte’ Graham, Philadelphia’s Tobias Harris and Detroit’s Derrick Rose.
The Player of the Week awards for Adebayo and Butler aren’t the only times a Heat player has received league-wide recognition this season, with guard Kendrick Nunn named the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for games played in October and November.
This story was originally published December 16, 2019 at 3:30 PM.
