Although the 2023-24 season didn’t treat the Miami Heat nicely, it definitely helped in building Bam Adebayo’s brand. The franchise cornerstone became a 3X All-Star, 2X Olympic Gold Medalist, first team All-Defensive member and a Defensive Player of the Year finalist all in one year. His on-court efforts have even resulted in earning a key to Florida and being named the Heat’s captain.
Adebayo is going into his age-27 season and right at the beginning of his prime years. It is fair to say the best is far from here yet out of the veteran big man, but there is one crucial award he hasn’t officially earned yet which has baffled Heat Nation; Defensive Player of the Year honors. This past season is the closest he has gotten to the honor, finishing top three in the voting.
However, there are strong arguments to be made that not only did Adebayo potentially get robbed of the award this year, but even several times in past years as well. The Heat’s assistant coach Caron Butler recently spoke on SiriusXM NBA Radio to address this:
“When you talk about versatility, when you talk about a two-way defender, I mean, it’s a crime that he hasn’t won Defensive Player of the Year.”(- Caron Butler)
The impact that Adebayo brings to the Heat goes well beyond the typical box score numbers. Surely he puts up star worthy performances of a typical 20/10 on nearly 60% shooting, but the two-way versatility is something that Miami is blessed to have leading their squad. He is the only big man (and maybe even player in general) that could guard 1-5 at an elite rate.
His presence is always felt on that end of the floor, whether it is switching onto guards like Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving or holding his own against Nikola Jokic. Adebayo has matured into a truly generational defensive talent that has little to no flaws on that end.
The same can’t be said for the actual winner of the Defensive Player of the Year in Rudy Gobert. The multi-time winner of the honors was ironically exposed of his defensive flaws in this past postseason.
If coach Erik Spoelstra can find a way to unleash him at a more natural power forward position, it could only make his stock higher. His size and length would wreak havoc as a regular player out on the perimeter. Unfortunately that is a lineup change that really relies on 7-foot rookie Kel’el Ware’s development.
Coach Butler’s stance on Adebayo’s defense is something Heat fans are too familiar with. There are not many that can go out and do what Adebayo does on a nightly basis, yet he does it and continues to get better as the years go by. “Versatility” and “two-way” are terms that Heat brass tend to fell in love with when it comes to their players.
Those are also the two words that describe Adebayo’s game the best.
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