Bam Adebayo’s shooting woes — especially near the rim — have been one of, if not the most disappointing developments through the first 19 games of the Miami Heat’s 2024-25 season.
Most recently, against the reigning champion Boston Celtics, Adebayo scored 15 points on 6-of-18 shooting, with four of his six made field goals coming in a blowout fourth quarter. Most damning, however, is he shot just 4-of-12 from the paint, including just 1-of-4 at the rim.
Adebayo opened up about his shooting struggles after Monday’s 108-89 loss, hinting that it’s just a matter of time before his shooting positively regresses to the mean.
“It’s human nature,” Adebayo said regarding his struggles. “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 no more than that. I feel like, at some point, the shot is going to turn around, and then it’s up from there.”
For the season, Adebayo’s averaging just 15.6 points, his lowest since becoming a full-time starter in 2019-20, on 41.9 percent shooting–the worst field goal percentage of his career by nearly 10 percentage points.
The crux of the 27-year-old’s shooting struggles hasn’t been from 3-point range or on long 2s–but around the rim.
Adebayo is making just 57.5 percent of his attempts at the rim and 35 percent of his short 2s (~4-14 ft); those marks place in the 16th and 35th percentile amongst other bigs, respectively, according to Cleaning The Glass. Those are also the lowest marks of his career in those respective areas (min. 100 FGA from each area).
For perspective, he shot roughly 67 percent (39th percentile) at the rim and 50 percent (79th percentile) on short 2s last season; in 2022-23, he shot 68 percent (38th percentile) and 47 percent (69th percentile). It’s only a 19-game sample, but this year’s marks are very concerning given he’s not getting to the rim as often, settling for tough fadeaway 2s. His touch is off, and it’s becoming a mental battle.
When over 75 percent of your shot diet comes from those two specific areas, you need to be efficient, which he hasn’t been. It may be a blip in the radar when it’s all said and done, but the Heat needs Adebayo to figure it out sooner rather than later.
We already know that Miami’s been one of the NBA’s worst teams around the rim–and Adebayo has been a byproduct of that. While he has arguably been the Heat’s most impactful playmaker, his shooting woes limit their offensive ceiling–which isn’t very high, to begin with–even if he’s not tasked to be the team’s primary scoring option offensively.
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I think we all have to give Bam a little grace on this one.
For the past few years, he’s been a DPOY candidate, one of the best screen setters in the league, and reliable out of the high post with a dribble-handoff, a pass to a cutter, or an 18-foot jumper. But that wasn’t enough.
We all wanted him to “expand his range” and “start shooting three’s”. People were complaining that he couldn’t score enough. For all the people saying he should play PF, shooting 3’s is a necessary job for a Forward in today’s NBA.
And the amazing thing is, he’s doing it. He’s a top-25 player, in the NBA, and he’s about to enter his prime. But instead of settling for ‘good enough’, he’s completely re-inventing his game so he can play a new role.
So we gotta give him time to figure this out. We’re a month into the season. Joel Embiid has played like 45 minutes. I’ll give Bam all season to figure this out. If he still stinks at shooting 3’s by the start of next season, I’ll start complaining. But for now, I honestly just respect the effort.
https://allucanheat.com/time-miami-heat-trade-embrace-youth-movement
Bam will be OK. He just needs to be moved to his natural position, PF playing next to a 7 footer, like Ware. Add a good true point guard to run the offense and a solid SF and the team has something to build on.
bams not that good offensive player ,remember his shooting % was high because of the alley oops which are not there anymore sun man
Bam’s shooting percentage was also high because he was killing it from mid-range. Last year, his FG% was 54.1%. This year it is 41.9%
Miami needs a good/consistent PG for Bam’s scoring and FG% to go back up. The lobs will be there. Plus, it would help if he was going up against PF’s, which he would eat for lunch, rather than 7+ footers who outweigh him by 10-20-3- pounds. In addition, Spo has him so focused on shooting 3 pointers, it has screwed up his entire offensive game, especially his mid-range shot, which was previuosly very good. Finally, Bam likes to play in an offense that has a nice flow to it. Spo’s recent line-up changes has the offense all out of whack and discombobulated. Everyone is trying to create their own shots and ball movement has decreased.
Spo must get the house in order before Bam to can get his game back together. Spo can’t do that until Riley gets the roster in order so the team can get it’s game back together. The grey clouds of trade(s) and a rebuilding process are hanging all over this team. The players are feeling the pressure of mediocrity and the awareness that things need to change, sooner than later. The ones feeling the most stress are the ones most likely to be traded (Butler, Rozier and Robinson) and maybe to a lesser extent, Bam.