Part 3 of a series: How the Miami Heat landed Bam Adebayo and Chris Silva
For a team to jump from mediocre to a top-eight record in the league, as the Heat has done in 2019, you need a serendipitous concoction of sound decisions and good fortune.
The Heat has made smart, savvy pickups in its power rotation in recent years, selecting Bam Adebayo in the 2017 NBA Draft and snagging Chris Silva after this past June’s draft.
In part 3 of a 3-part series on five key young Heat players, we examine how Miami landed Adebayo and Silva:
THE BACKGROUND ON THE ADEBAYO SELECTION
In light of Atlanta forward John Collins’ ongoing 25-game suspension, a very strong case could be made that Adebayo (chosen 14th) was the best pick between 14 and 30 in that 2017 draft, with Collins (19th) and Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma (27th) also in that discussion.
We’ve been told that Miami really liked Collins, but as we reported before that draft, a medical issue essentially took him off Miami’s board.
The Heat also strongly considered then-UCLA forward T.J. Leaf but believed Adebayo “had more of the Heat mentality” than any player under consideration, plus the athleticism and defensive relentless that this organization craves.
When Miami brought Adebayo in for a pre-draft workout, there were several things they noticed.
Among them: How he moves his feet, which the organization believes is crucial defensively. Even before he played a regular-season minute, a Heat official told me that summer of 2017 that they were convinced Adebayo would eventually be able to defend wings and multiple positions.
Months after the Heat drafted him, Erik Spoelstra said: “I’m still stunned by a young man this large and athletic and explosive that can move his feet and be that light on the ground.”
During that workout, Heat officials saw Adebayo was in a great shape, which checked another box that’s of paramount importance here. They saw the athleticism and relentless motor which had been clear when evaluating Kentucky tape.
And when he drained 60 of 100 threes in that pre-draft workout, that left Heat officials even more convinced that he could become a starter with a high ceiling.
Before his workout, the Heat asked Adebayo: “What’s your range?” He answered: “Three-point range.”
Then, as I noted in an October 2017 piece, Heat executive Chet Kammerer said he asked Adebayo: ‘If you shot 100 threes from the corner, how many would you make?’ He said 60. ... He then shot 100 threes in his workout, and he made 60. If he had made 40 or 50, that would have been good.”
Heat president Pat Riley couldn’t help but think of one name as he watched Adebayo’s workout: six-time All-Star Shawn Kemp.
“There were other bigs available that had specific skills, but there were other things we didn’t like about them,” Riley said then.
“Obviously I’m a big fan of what John [Calipari] does from a coaching standpoint at Kentucky. He comes from a great system. But just also, when we sat and talked to [Adebayo] for an hour, you get sort of blown away by his story and his background, his motivation and why he is here. We felt he was the best player at that time on the board. One day, this jersey is going to be hanging up in the rafters.”
Still, we’re told Leaf was a consideration into mid-June because of his shooting. But by early the week of the draft, Adebayo had emerged as Miami’s clear preference.
And in my October 2017 piece, Kammerer noted: “In all our research, teammates always talked about him [as the player] who worked the hardest on the team. That’s a question we asked a lot. I asked teammates who is the hardest worker on your team. John Calipari said a couple times last season that the hardest working player in our program is Bam. When you put a guy who competes and loves the games with that work ethic, he’s got a lot of upside.”
Adebayo is one of only three players averaging 14 points (13.9), 10 rebounds (10.3), four assists (4.0) and a block (1.2) and a steal (1.4) per game. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Karl-Anthony Towns are the others.
What’s more, players Adebayo defends are shooting just 38.7 percent, compared with 46 percent overall.
Among starting power forwards, only Anthony Davis is holding opponents to a lower shooting percentage. And if compared with centers, Rudy Gobert is the only one holding opponents to a lower shooting percentage than Adebayo.
Making that more impressive, of course, is Adebayo’s success defending skilled wings, including Russell Westbrook (1 for 7 against him this year) and James Harden (5 for 13).
No wonder TNT’s Charles Barkley this week called Adebayo a “monster” and one of the most underrated players in the league. “He’s the heart and soul of our team,” Jimmy Butler said.
THE BACKGROUND ON THE SILVA SIGNING
From what we’re told, Silva’s pre-draft workout at AmericanAirlines Arena left quite an impression.
“His effort stood out,” one Heat on-court staffer said. “His physicalness and toughness and competitiveness stood out. It’s not like he put on a shooting demonstration but everyone said, this guy is a fierce worker and relentless. And he does it all the time.”
A member of the Heat’s front office has a good relationship with South Carolina coach Frank Martin, and Martin strongly endorsed Silva.
The Spurs also strongly pursued Silva, and he needed to make a decision between Miami and San Antonio at 2 a.m. on draft night. Why did Miami get the nod?
“They’re both great organizations,” he said. “The Heat was where I wanted to be, the culture and everything. It reminded me of home in South Carolina.”
A call from Heat vice president/basketball operations Adam Simon also pushed him toward Miami.
“He told me they were really excited to have me and the team saw me reaching my fullest potential,” Silva said. “Hearing those words hit me right in the heart.”
He said no Spurs coach or executive reached out to him and instead contacted his agent, Tony Dutt.
Even though Martin coached Udonis Haslem and holds the Heat organization in high regard, Silva said Martin never advised him on whether to sign with the Heat or Spurs.
“Coach Martin just gave me advice to do what I did all four years in South Carolina and that’s what I’ve tried to do,” he said.
By early in training camp, Miami knew Silva had a special motor and a knack for grabbing offensive rebounds. Comparisons to Haslem were raised by the staff. The Heat gave him a two-way contract at the end of preseason and hasn’t once sent him to the G-League because he’s too valuable here.
If Silva had enough minutes to qualify, his 19.6 rebounds per 48 minutes would rank fifth in the league, behind only Hassan Whiteside, Ed Davis, Andre Drummond and DeAndre Jordan.
Miami very likely will convert his deal to a standard contract as soon as the Heat can, under parameters of the hard cap, in mid-January.
“I love the kid,” Spoelstra said. “I love his story, his dedication.”
Here’s part 1 of the series on how Miami landed Kendrick Nunn.
Here’s part 2 of the series on how Miami landed Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson.
TV CHANGES
Decisions made this week by the NBA, ESPN and TNT will affect four Heat games:
TNT dropped next Tuesday’s Hawks-at-Heat game and replaced it with Denver-Philadelphia. Fox Sports Sun picked up that Heat game.
TNT added the Jan. 28 Boston-at-Heat game, to be held here during Super Bowl week, and dropped Golden State-Philadelphia.
ESPN moved the Dec. 13 Lakers-at-Heat game from 8 p.m. to 7 p.m. as a result of dropping Golden State-at-Utah (a Mountain time zone game) with a Central time zone game (Clippers-at-Minnesota) as the second game of its double-header.
ESPN moved the Dec. 18 Heat-at-Philadelphia game from 8 p.m. to 7 p.m. as a result of dropping Golden State-at-Portland (a Pacific time zone game) with a Central time zone game (Boston-at-Dallas).
Here is my Thursday piece on college players that Dolphins fans need to watch this weekend in conference championship games.
Here are my Thursday Hurricanes nuggets, primarily on recruiting.
This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 6:50 PM.
