Heat’s Bam Adebayo explains why Defensive Player of the Year snub is ‘disrespectful’
Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo made it clear in recent weeks that he believed he should be named the Defensive Player of the Year this season. But on Monday afternoon following the Heat’s practice at FTX Arena, Adebayo learned he wasn’t even one of the three finalists for the honor.
The finalists for the NBA’s six major individual awards were announced Sunday night, but Adebayo said he didn’t learn that he was left off the list of finalists for the honor until the next day because he “deleted social media” and “I don’t watch TV.”
The finalists for the Defensive Player of the Year award: Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, Phoenix Suns guard Mikal Bridges and Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart. On Monday night, the NBA announced that Smart was voted this season’s Defensive Player of the Year.
“Disrespectful, honestly,” Adebayo said Monday afternoon ahead of Tuesday’s Game 2 of the Heat’s first-round playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks. “I feel like I can do anything that two out of the three can do besides the fact that I can’t teach height. But they all three play on TV more than me, so I would expect that. They get more TV games and they get more exposure. People like to talk about them more. Nobody wants to talk about us. So it’s whatever at that point.”
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said he was “stunned” to learn that Adebayo did not make the list of finalists for defensive award.
Adebayo finished fourth in the voting, which was done by a panel of 100 media members. Adebayo received 13 first-place votes, 17 second-place votes and 12 third-place votes to finish behind third-place Gobert, second-place Bridges and first-place Smart.
One of the popular arguments for leaving Adebayo off the list of finalists is the fact that he played in just 56 of the Heat’s 82 regular-season games. He missed 22 games from the start of December until mid-January because of thumb surgery.
Gobert played in 66 games, Bridges played in all 82 games and Smart played in 71 games this regular season.
“I don’t know what people are watching and he has played enough games, so I don’t want that as an excuse either,” Spoelstra said. “That’s probably the one disappointment of the year and that’s a shame. But if he just continues to do this, eventually you give people no choice but to recognize what he’s capable of doing.”
Adebayo had a strong case to be included on the list of finalists as the anchor of a Heat unit that closed the regular season with the NBA’s fourth-best defensive rating.
The Heat allowed just 104.9 points per 100 possessions with Adebayo on the court in the regular season, a defensive rating that would have ranked first among NBA teams. The Heat’s defense is 6.6 points better per 100 possessions when Adebayo is on the court compared to when he’s not, which is the eighth-best differential in the league among those who have played 1,500 minutes, according to Cleaning the Glass.
“The frustration is we don’t get as much TV games as they do,” Adebayo continued. “That’s the only thing that’s frustrating because I feel like if I had as many TV games as them, it wouldn’t be I’m not a finalist and this, that and the third.”
In addition, no NBA player switched more screens during the regular season than Adebayo’s 17.5 switches per 100 possessions, according to Second Spectrum. That’s a big reason why the Heat switched the second-most screens in the league, behind only the Boston Celtics.
Adebayo isn’t just switching for the sake of it, either. He’s doing it because it usually leads to a defensive stop, as the Heat allowed just 0.9 points per any possession involving an Adebayo switch. For perspective, the NBA’s top defense (the Celtics) allowed 1.06 points per possession this regular season.
Also, among the 22 NBA players who defended at least 90 isolations during the regular season, Adebayo ranked third with just 0.72 points allowed per each of those possessions.
Adebayo spent the past few weeks campaigning for the Defensive Player of the Year award and hasn’t been shy about expressing how much the honor would mean to him.
“Just because I came into the league and I started playing off of defense,” Adebayo said of why he wants to win the award. “That’s one of the things that stood out to my coaches that drafted me into the organization that I could play defense and get a stop. So in my opinion., why not try to get an award that you got here off of.”
Adebayo, who is still expected to be named to one of the NBA’s All-Defensive Teams for a third season in a row, said the perceived snub is “at the top” of his list of things motivating him during the Heat’s playoff run.
“I think he’s totally driven by winning, first and foremost,” Spoelstra said of Adebayo. “That’s what makes him really unique, particularly for a young emerging star. His focus is on winning. But I think it’s a byproduct of winning. Usually you get some individual accolades, as well. I think that would have been well deserved. But we’ll move on and we got bigger things to focus on.”
The Heat was represented on the list of finalists for two other awards.
Heat guard Tyler Herro was named a finalist for the Sixth Man of the Year award, along with Phoenix’s Cam Johnson and Cleveland’s Kevin Love. And Spoelstra is a finalist for the Coach of the Year award, along with Memphis’ Taylor Jenkins and Phoenix’s Monty Williams.
“I thought it was just unfortunate that Bam wasn’t one of the last three finalists for Defensive Player of the Year,” Herro said. “I just don’t think that anyone in the league guards one through five like Bam can. I think to this point, he has proven his worth as a Defensive Player of the Year. It was just unfortunate to see that.”
DRAFT SLOT SET
The NBA announced Monday that the Heat won a random drawing with the Golden State Warriors to claim the 27th overall pick in the June 23 draft. The Warriors will pick at No. 28 overall.
Miami and Golden State finished with the same regular-season record at 53-29, forcing the tie to be broken to determine their draft slots.
With its 2023 first-round pick previously traded, the Heat must make a selection in the first round of this year’s draft because NBA teams are not allowed to be without consecutive first-round picks. But the Heat can trade the player it picks this year after the selection is made.
The Heat does not currently have a second-round pick in this year’s draft.
INJURY REPORT
The Heat listed Adebayo (left quadriceps contusion), Dewayne Dedmon (right ankle sprain), Haywood Highsmith (left hip flexor strain), Markieff Morris (left hip flexor strain) and P.J. Tucker (right calf strain) as questionable for Game 2 on Tuesday. Gabe Vincent is listed as probable with a right big toe contusion.
None seemed to be held out of Monday’s Heat practice, which is positive news regarding their status.
The Hawks again ruled out Clint Capela (right knee hyperextension) and Lou Williams (low back discomfort) for Game 2. Bogdan Bogdanovic (left ankle soreness) is listed as probable.
This story was originally published April 18, 2022 at 2:00 PM.
