The player review series is officially back! We are nearly one month removed from the conclusion of the 2024-25 Miami Heat season, which was one of the worst since the turn of the century. Over the next several (week)days, we will be reviewing how each Heat player performed throughout the 2024-25 season, recapping important numbers, best game(s) and their future outlook with the team. Today, we will starting with Heat captain Bam Adebayo.
Let’s dive into it, shall we?!?
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Brief Overview:
2024-25 stats (78 games):
- 18.1 PTS
- 9.6 REB
- 4.3 AST
- 1.3 STL
- 0.7 BLK
- 48.5 FG%
- 56.1 TS%
Adebayo, 27, had a rocky season. After a brutal first half, he sported the worst field goal percentage and true-shooting percentages of his career with his worst effective field goal percentage since his rookie season.
Up until the new year, Adebayo’s touch inside of 15 feet was off. Thus, he couldn’t find his rhythm offensively, killing his confidence from 3-point range despite being the backbone of yet another top-10 Heat defense.
Well, positive regression ultimately kicked in, as he averaged 21.0 points on 51.3/43.2/81.1 shooting splits since the start of February and was the Heat’s best player during the second half of the season. Unfortunately, this didn’t lend any positive postseason results, and he finished outside the top-5 for Defensive Player of the Year voting for the first time since 2018-19. That said, there were definitely positives to take away, especially from a leadership standpoint that Adebayo carried on- and off-the-court amid Jimmy Butler’s fiasco with the front office.
Numbers To Note:
79 – Adebayo took a tremendous leap as a floor spacer this season. He entered the season wanting to take at least 100 3-pointers. Well, he more than doubled that, attempting 221 while making 79 total triples. In his first seven seasons, he attempted 104 total (23 makes). Not to mention, over his last 35 games, Adebayo made 43.5 percent of his 3.3 triple tries per game. Defenses still weren’t respecting him from deep all that much, but that’s the next phase.
29.5 – However, one of the biggest concerns of Adebayo’s shot profile is his (in)ability to get to the free-throw line. His free-throw rate–the number of free throw attempts per FGA–dipped to 29.5 percent this season, by far the lowest mark of his career. Over his first seven seasons, his free-throw rate sat at 43.0 percent. Adebayo’s done a poor job of getting to the rim and drawing contact, instead settling for a 5-10 foot floater or pull-up jumper. The lack of a true point guard to set Adebayo up better is an issue, but not getting to the free-throw line often when you’re one of the team’s top creators is an even greater issue.
0.62 – While Adebayo’s offensive game took a dip at the beginning of the season, he was excellent defensively (still) for practically the entire season. According to NBA.com’s tracking data, he limited opposing players to 0.62 points per possession in isolation, ranking in the 92nd percentile, the second-best mark in the NBA (min. 50 isolations defended).
Best game?
Believe it or not, you could pick from a number of games. It was very tough. But I am picking his March 5 performance against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Miami still couldn’t get the job done, but Adebayo did his best to put Miami on his back with 34 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and two steals on 11-of-18 shooting and 3-of-5 from 3-point range. The Heat was down Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Nikola Jovic, Kel’el Ware and Andrew Wiggins, yet still nearly upset the Cavaliers on their home floor.
What’s next?
Getting Adebayo a true point guard would help, but what I’m really fascinated with is his fit next to Kel’el Ware and how that will progress. The results were murky offensively when those two shared the floor together, but the potential defensively was tantalizing. Adebayo got back to his pre-2024 days of switching most actions with Ware protecting the rim at an adequate level. The Heat captain ended the season strongly and, hopefully, has more size and two-way prowess around him as we enter the prime years of his career.
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How the Heat can copy the Pacers’ team-building model and return to contentionThe Heat should look for second-draft guys.
This is an outstanding article describing the process Indiana used to build a contending team by trading for lottery players drafted by other teams and giving them a chance to flourish. Similar to what Miami did with Davion Mitchell.
https://allucanheat.com/how-miami-heat-copy-pacers-second-draft
Interesting article in allucanheat.
3 Non-negotiable traits the Heat need in their next star player It starts on offense, but the Heat won’t forget about defense.
https://allucanheat.com/3-non-negotiable-traits-miami-heat-need-next-star-player?utm_campaign=FanSided+Daily&utm_source=FanSided+Daily&utm_medium=email&sc=e0273490fd355e2c28bdb25751d41af65a4dd80936ff00a80be9866c97887955
After watching that unbelievable comeback win by Indiana last night, it suddenly occurred to me that the keys to Miami’s future, in addition to finding that one alpha superstar team leader, is the internal development of the younger players and trades for players on other teams who are underutilized or whose growth is being stifled because they are in the wrong situation/environment (e.g. stuck on the bench playing behind very good players). During these playoffs, I’ve seen several examples of players whose changes in environments unleashed their potential. They don’t all need to be future starters; solid, reliable rotation players are always good to have.
ALPHA SUPERSTAR
Riley’s job is to recruit a superstar by the summer of 2026. If he fails, he should be fired. PERIOD!
INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG PLAYERS
With few exceptions, most of the better teams have drafted and developed key members of their rotations. In some cases, they were alpha leaders, in others, they were targeted as potentially good rotation players. When a team drafts a player, it is with the implied commitment to giving the player an opportunity to develop and succeed. With the exception of high lottery picks, most drafted players are not expected to contribute immediately as a starter or even as a guaranteed rotation player. This development process does not happen overnight. It takes time.
Miami currently has five players on rookie contracts (Ware, Jovic, Jaquez, Larsson and Johnson). In addition, it is in line for two more picks in the next 13 months. Furthermore, at least one other player (Smith) may be in line for a rookie contract. That is 8 players projected to be on rookie contracts (over half the team). They should all be given every opportunity to develop and succeed. That’s what inexpensive rookie contracts are for. A few may have much higher ceilings than what they have thus far demonstrated. It will take hard work, player growth, skill and physical development, as well as emotional maturity to fully tap that potential. It will also take time. Until they have been given that opportunity, Miami will not know what they have. The worst thing the team can do is fail to give them every chance to develop and succeed before giving up on them, thereby allowing some other team(s) to swoop in and be the beneficiaries of Miami’s developmental system. The best way to evaluate how young players will perform is to give them playing time.
IDENTIFICATION AND PURSUIT OF POTENTIAL HIGH CEILING PLAYERS BEING UNDERUTILIZED ELSEWHERE
There are countless stories in the NBA of players who were “late bloomers.” Players who did not begin to blossom until they were given the opportunity to demonstrate their full potential. Many of those players only “bloomed” after they were traded to a new team. A good example was Davion Mitchell’s progress after being traded to Miami. These potential “diamonds in the rough” are the types of players Miami’s staff should devote increased attention to scouting, evaluating and pursuing, if/when it makes sense.
SHORT-TERM RE-TOOLING PROCESS
Before being able to assemble a truly competitive team, Miami needs to get rid of it’s excess salaries. The easiest way to do that is to allow contracts to expire/not to extend players on expiring contracts. Two exceptions would be Davion Mitchell and Alec Burks, if they are available at team friendly prices. Davion is a quality player who can be utilized as either a starter or second unit PG and as a closer for defensive purposes. Burks can be the team’s inexpensive alternative sharpshooter to replace Duncan Robinson.
The preceding re-tooling process should take one season. By next summer, Rozier, Robinson, Anderson, Highsmith and Love (and their salaries totaling $65.5M) should be off the books. If no trades at all are made, Miami would have a team consisting of:
Veterans Bam, Herro, Wiggins, Mitchell, Burks
Rookie Contracts: Ware, Jovic, Jaquez, Larsson, Johnson, 2025 pick, 2026 pick, Smith.
2 open spots on 15 man roster
$50M+ to pay for a ss
REASONS FOR OPTIMISM IN 2026-2027
If just 2 or 3 of the players on rookie contracts develop into solid starters or rotation players and if Herro is traded for a solid two-way player on a long-term, team friendly contract (such as Dejounte Murray) rather than being extended for 3 years/$150M, the Heat should be in pretty good shape. At that time, Wiggins can be used as part of a trade package for a legit ss.
Yeah pretty much. Honestly I would even tune in to watch the “development season”. I like our young guys as players and they seem likable to boot. Interesting to watch development unfold and EReid is a great host, still a good way to spend a Wednesday night. I’d be happy. Anyway this is part of the reason I’m glad we didn’t get two picks this year (not glad about missing #1 obviously) we have such a logjam of young players/potential players that have not been given runway to show, 2 more would exacerbate the problem
I agree I Man. As long as the team is headed in the right direction. I see 2024-2025 as the bottom, 2025-2026 ascending and 2026-2027 as the dawning of a new age. If Ware and 2 more of our young guys elevate their games, Mitchell continues to improve, we get rid of dead weight, make 2 good draft picks and are in a position to recruit or trade for a SS, I would consider it a very successful year.
This really seems the best way forward. Not that Heat will be any worse or better then past years. This is still a play in team, so we are not talking about tanking, its a transition year, where the main goal should be developing the teams infrastructure. We have no 2 and 3 option, we need to add 2-3 good players through young players development, we need no. 1 option, and a veteran or two on cheap contract for special purposes. And we need a year to do all that.
The one thing we need to do is to add a point guard, if possible, a number one option.
Was hoping Bam would be able to develop some athletic moves going to the basket but I guess his built, his physical structure is not quite made for that. He’s got the typical big man moves but too small at just 6’9″. Defense is still elite but offense is just a bit above average. Learning to play alongside Ware as a pf for a whole season would hopefully improve next season.
Yes, we need to face it. Bam is just not an elite offensive player and will never be.
Nothing wrong with that, still a great player.
instincts and ability more than build.