Miami Heat star big man Bam Adebayo has teased the Heat about expanding his shooting range beyond the 3-point each of the last few seasons.
While he always possessed good shooting form, it’s never a featured part of his game, entering the NBA as a rim-runner and vertical spacer before slowly expanding his range. Though during the latter stages of last season, he showed glimpses as a 3-point shooter. Miami’s 6-foot-9 All-Star big attempted a career-most 42 total 3-pointers last season after hoisting 62 combined 3s over his first six seasons, knocking them down a respectable 35.7 percent clip.
Heading into his 8th season, Adebayo, 27, is looking to more than double last year’s volume from beyond the arc.
“Yeah,” Adebayo responded to Brendan Tobin during Media Day, while playing dominoes, when asked if he would attempt 100 3s. “Sometimes I think seein’ is believing. And I think Spo seeing me–while being my development coach in the Olympics–was kinda like, yeah, it kinda clicked a little bit, you know?”
Bam Adebayo believes Erik Spoelstra trusts in his 3-pointer now and plans on getting up at least 100 three point attempts this season pic.twitter.com/KUiSOpiktJ
— Brendan Tobin (@Brendan_Tobin) October 2, 2024
Bam didn’t start taking 3s consistently until the 65-game mark last season, when he began a five-game streak of taking-and-making at least one triple. Over his final 17 games, he attempted 28 3s–or 1.6 per game–canning them at a 50 percent clip. He cooled down in the postseason, only making two of his 10 attempts in five games against Boston.
Let’s do the math. That’s 1.7 triples per game (over 22 games) for Adebayo, who’s played in roughly 88.1 percent of the Heat’s available regular season games since entering the NBA (72 games over an 82-game season, on average). If he keeps up that same pace from deep, should he appear in 72 games, he would attempt roughly 124 3-pointers.
Adebayo hoisting roughly 1.5-2 3-pointers per game appears like a perfectly realistic goal–as is attempting at least 100 3-point attempts. The requisite spacing will be needed depending on the developmental trajectory of rookie center Kel’el Ware–plus who shares the floor with him (i.e. Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, Terry Rozier, Jaime Jaquez, etc.).
According to Cleaning The Glass, over his last four seasons, he’s graded in the 96th percentile or greater (amongst other big men) in mid-range frequency and 95th percentile or greater in short mid-range (~4-14 ft.) frequency, which are largely contested looks. That’s not an efficient shot diet–especially since Butler, Herro, Rozier and Jaquez operate in similar spaces on the floor.
If he’s not canning 3s at an efficient clip, it becomes moot–spacing, no matter the volume, would be compromised. Though that’s not necessarily the case with Adebayo, who sports a consistently repeatable release with good shooting touch and balance when he’s able to spot up.
Bam Adebayo consistently spacing the floor could change the complexion of the Heat offense, opening up alleyways for his aforementioned teammates–among others.
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It makes sense. He attempted 9 3pt shots over 8 games for Team USA at the olympics. His shooting percentage was 33%.
And shooting 14/28 over the last 17 games in the regular season?
If he can keep making those shots with such accuracy (I’ll take anything over 33%) it will help so much.