Heat’s Bam Adebayo stuck in ‘one of those stretches that sometimes you can’t explain’
In recent days, Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo recorded the ninth triple-double of his NBA career and also grabbed 20 rebounds in a game for just third time in his NBA career. But one thing Adebayo hasn’t been able to do so far this season is find a way to break out of one of the worst and longest shooting slumps of his career.
After averaging 18.7 points per game while shooting 54.7 percent from the field over the previous five seasons since becoming the Heat’s full-time starting center, Adebayo has averaged just 15.6 points per game while shooting 41.9 percent from the field through the Heat’s first 19 games this season.
Adebayo entered Tuesday with the league’s second-worst true shooting percentage (a shooting percentage that also factors in the value of three-point field goals and free throws) among the 91 players with at least 200 field-goal attempts this season. Only San Antonio Spurs rookie Stephon Castle ranks below Adebayo in this category among this group.
“Everybody is not going to have a great game every game. It is what it is,” said Adebayo, who has shot better than 50 percent from the field in each of the first seven seasons of his NBA career prior to this season. “For me, it’s not losing confidence in who I am. It’s not overthinking the game too much because then you’ll start making other mistakes. It’s one of those things where I’m just missing shots. I don’t really look at it any more than that. I feel like at some point, the shots are going to turn around and it’s up from there.”
But Adebayo, 27, didn’t snap out of his shooting slump during Monday night’s ugly 108-89 loss to the Celtics at TD Garden that dropped the Heat’s record for the season to an underwhelming 9-10.
With the Heat missing star Jimmy Butler because of right knee soreness, the Heat needed Adebayo to take on an even bigger offensive role than usual. But Adebayo finished Monday’s 19-point loss with just 15 points on 6-of-18 shooting from the field, 1-of-4 shooting from three-point range and 2-of-2 shooting from the foul line.
That stat line was actually even worse before Adebayo scored 11 fourth-quarter points when the Celtics were already in full control of the game. He only totaled four points on 2-of-12 shooting from the field through the first three quarters of the game.
One of the strangest aspects of Adebayo’s inefficient shooting start to the season has been his inability to make touch shots around the basket. After shooting 57.3 percent from inside the paint (68.1 percent at the rim and 50.1 percent on non-rim paint shots) last season, Adebayo is shooting a career-worst 45.4 percent from inside the paint (58.1 percent at the rim and 36.7 percent on non-rim paint shots) this season.
Not even Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has an explanation for what’s going on with Adebayo’s shooting so far this season.
“How do you not like a lot of those restricted area shots? He’s built a career being able to make those shots and make those look easy,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat returning home to face the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday at Kaseya Center (7:30 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun and NBA TV). “It’s just one of those stretches that sometimes you can’t explain.”
One explanation could be the change to Adebayo’s shot profile, as the Heat has worked to limit the amount of non-paint two-point midrange shots it takes this season. That has Adebayo’s shot diet including fewer midrange shots and more three-point shots, and he’s shooting 18 of 54 (33.3 percent) from three-point range this season.
Adebayo, who is under contract with the Heat through the 2028-29 season after signing a three-year maximum contract extension worth $166 million this past summer, admitted “when you’re trying to do the right thing, you’re going to end up overthinking every once in a while.”
“During training camp, we had a drill where certain areas of the court counted less,” Adebayo said, referring to Heat coaches changing the scoring format in training camp scrimmages so that layups, dunks and threes were worth three points and midrange shots were worth one point. “So it’s that imprint in your mind. From a fan’s standpoint, it’s like: ‘You’re open.’ But it’s the way the offense and the way we want it to look, that’s what we’re trying to get to.”
But that change doesn’t explain Adebayo’s shooting struggles around the rim.
“Just tell him to keep playing his game,” Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. said of his message to Adebayo. “Just continuing to speak confidence his way, words of encouragement, just tell him to keep going. Anything we can do because we’re not going to be who we need to be without Bam. So just continuing to feed that confidence into him, knowing that we got his back no matter what.”
While Adebayo’s scoring and shooting efficiency have dipped, the metrics say he’s still one of the NBA’s top defenders. He entered Tuesday ranked 17th in the league in defensive win shares (an estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player due to defense) and 14th in the league in defensive estimated plus-minus (estimated impact on defense per 100 possessions) this season.
“I don’t think he’s struggling, honestly,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said when asked about Adebayo’s shooting slump. “I think he’s playing a great brand of basketball. He’s continuing to impact the game on the defensive end. He’s gotten two triple-doubles in the last three days. Missed shots are one thing, but he continues to find ways to impact the game. His scoring, he’ll continue to get his looks and he’s going to make his shots. We know what he’s capable of. So I don’t think he’s struggling.”
Adebayo, who is a three-time NBA All-Star, is averaging 9.8 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.7 steals per game this season. He’s also averaging a career-high 2.7 offensive rebounds per game.
“I think the beauty of his game is he’s still able to make an impact,” Spoelstra said of Adebayo following Monday’s loss in Boston. “We saw that last night [in Sunday’s loss to the Toronto Raptors] with his defensive impact when he was on the floor versus off the floor, getting 20 rebounds, getting three games in a row where he almost had triple-doubles. So he’ll work his way through it and I’ll really get to work on seeing more ways we can help him.”
That’s because Spoelstra knows the Heat can’t maximize its roster if Adebayo is an inefficient scorer, regardless of how much he impacts the game on the defensive end.
This story was originally published December 3, 2024 at 10:32 AM.
