Bam Adebayo’s list of responsibilities growing. And Heat makes Love, Zeller signings official
With Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo taking part in his second NBA All-Star Game on Sunday night, his impressive basketball resume keeps growing. It’s a resume that has earned the respect from coaches and players around the NBA as one of the league’s rising stars.
But Adebayo, 25, is learning that type of resume comes with great responsibility, including some that are out of his comfort zone like serving as one of the Heat’s vocal leaders.
“Everybody responds to Bam,” coach Erik Spoelstra said, with the Heat in the middle of the All-Star break before reconvening for practice on Thursday in Miami and then resuming its schedule on Friday against the Bucks in Milwaukee. “He doesn’t say something all the time. But when he does say something, everybody is paying attention. He’s growing in that role.”
Unlike most of what the relatively reserved Adebayo does on the court, leading with his voice doesn’t come natural to him. It’s a skill he has had to learn over his six NBA seasons after he was drafted as a 19-year-old in 2017.
“I’m getting older now — it’s funny that I say that,” said Adebayo, who finished his second All-Star Game appearance with four points and one assist in 24 minutes on Sunday night in Salt Lake City. “But being in the league six years and being under [Udonis Haslem’s] wing for six years, I’ve really gotten out of my comfort zone to be really assertive with my voice. Because when I was younger, I didn’t know what to say in the huddle.
“But having so much experience — going to the NBA Finals, going to the Eastern Conference finals twice, being an All-Star, playing all these games and having these clutch games — you learn what to say in certain moments because you’ve been there.”
The fact that Adebayo is averaging career highs in points (21.6 per game) and field-goal attempts (15.7) while shooting 54.4 percent from the field and 80.5 percent from the foul line, to go with 10 rebounds and 3.3 assists while providing his usual elite defense this season only helps his credibility among his teammates. He has reached the 30-point mark in 19 games during his NBA career, and 10 of those games have come this season.
Longtime Heat forward and captain Udonis Haslem noted that Adebayo’s vocal leadership skills are “getting more and more organic, and he’s getting comfortable doing it.” With Haslem in his 20th and final NBA season, he has been preparing Adebayo to take over as the Heat’s next leader when his playing career comes to an end in a few months.
“That’s what we’re looking for from Bam,” Haslem said. “The more he does that, the less I have to do and that’s the goal. To get him into that leadership role and to be able to lead with his words, but also by example and even lift the level of play of everybody around you, which he has the ability to do. That’s just a powerful thing.”
Spoelstra has also continued to push Adebayo to use his voice more on and off the court.
“The next step as you get older in this league and when winning really matters to you as a great player, which it does to Bam, then you start holding everybody accountable, including the staff,” Spoelstra said. “I want it to be important to everybody. Whenever we go through a prep, film session, a practice, a game, a huddle, I want to hear his voice because he is the anchor of our defense and he has to make it as important to each one of us as it is to him. He’s starting to find his voice now, particularly with this year’s team.”
When Haslem enters retirement at the end of this season, Adebayo will be left as the longest-tenured Heat player on the roster. He’ll need to take on an even bigger leadership role in the post-Haslem era.
Adebayo believes he’s ready for that responsibility. But he’ll do it his way.
“I try to do it one-on-one just so nobody feels like it’s rubbing somebody the wrong way or anything,” said Adebayo, who is in the middle of the second season of his five-year, $163 million max extension with the Heat. “I can just go up to them one-on-one and we can have that conversation. It’s not good or bad, it’s just we’re going to have the conversation to see what you see. I feel like that’s the biggest thing for younger players. I feel like their nerves get to them and a simple conversation can help.”
HEAT ANNOUNCES SIGNINGS
With veteran forward Kevin Love clearing waivers on Monday at 5 p.m. following his buyout agreement with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he formally signed his new contract with the Heat on Monday evening.
The Heat used the remaining $3.1 million of its bi-annual exception to sign Love for the remainder of the season. Love will be an unrestricted free agent this upcoming offseason.
The Heat also announced Monday that it signed veteran center Cody Zeller, who agreed to a prorated minimum contract for the remainder of the season worth about $500,000. Zeller will also be an unrestricted free agent this upcoming offseason.
After the signings of Love and Zeller, the Heat’s roster is at the NBA maximum of 15 players on standard deals and two players on two-way deals. The Heat remains about $1.2 million away from crossing the luxury tax threshold and is now hard capped at the apron of $157 million after using the bi-annual exception to sign Love.
This story was originally published February 20, 2023 at 11:03 AM.
