Stan Van Gundy’s old criticism of Bam Adebayo is looking harder to dismiss by the day.
The Miami Heat are carrying their biggest expectations since the Big Three era, but their captain has opened the season with his slowest start in two years. That matters even more now, with the franchise drawing real attention again and Giannis Antetokounmpo able to opt out of his contract in the summer. In a stronger Eastern Conference than usual, an 0-4 start is already enough to set off the alarms.
Adebayo admitted he knows he’s playing poorly, but he also said he feels like he’s being made a scapegoat. The numbers and the results have made that a tough sell.
He has been outplayed by Paul Reed, John Collins and P.J. Washington when he’s supposed to be a renowned $50 million player.
He isn’t the only reason Miami is winless, though, since Tim Hardaway Jr. and Klay Thompson have also struggled badly. Still, plenty of the blame for the 0-4 hole lands on him.
Davion Mitchell added to the pressure after Monday’s game, saying at the post-game press conference that Adebayo needs to be more aggressive and stay out of the spaces Antetokounmpo is occupying. It was a blunt assessment, and it says something about the frustration inside the locker room that Mitchell put it that directly.
Meanwhile, ESPN analyst Jorge Sedano recently called Adebayo a top-20 player or better on Five on the Floor, but that kind of praise doesn’t square with how he’s looked. When a player loses confidence offensively, it’s hard to sell the idea that he belongs in that elite tier. Adebayo has been a very good player, but the reputation has always seemed bigger than the production.
Against the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, he missed all five of his 3-point attempts and let that affect his aggression, even with Dwyane Wade sitting courtside. Wade had already said on his podcast before the game that Adebayo and Antetokounmpo needed a conversation similar to the one Wade and LeBron James had after the 2011 Finals meltdown, when they got on the same page. The message was clear enough: Erik Spoelstra and the committee have to get the Heat’s best players aligned.
Adebayo’s offensive issues have become impossible to ignore. He has no go-to move and isn’t accurate enough from the midrange, which is why Van Gundy’s old point keeps resurfacing. Adebayo is averaging 11.8 points on 40 percent shooting, numbers that are rough for a big man and far below what Miami needs from him right now.
Those numbers should rise eventually. But the Heat needed him to be a threat immediately, and they are not going to take the next step toward contention while he’s dragging them down.
In Other News...
Spoelstra Just Put Miamis Bam Adebayo Problem In Focus
Erik Spoelstra has made it clear the Heats Bam Adebayo conversation is not just about the big mans shot chart, but about how Miami can better put him in position to score. Spoelstra acknowledged his own role in helping Adebayo become more aggressive offensively while still leaving room for open three-point looks, especially when he shares the floor with Giannis Antetokounmpo. The bigger point is less about asking Adebayo to change who he is and more about finding cleaner ways to get him involved.
For Miami, that makes the discussion around Adebayos recent offense more complicated than a simple shot-selection debate. Spoelstra wants more scoring opportunities for him without stripping away the perimeter touches that can open up the rest of the game, and the challenge is figuring out how to balance those priorities within the Heat offense. It is the kind of issue that can look straightforward from the outside, but inside the film room it is usually tied to a lot more than whether a shot goes in or out. [Read more 🡒]
Erik Spoelstra Just Zeroed In On Miami's Biggest Early Problem
The Heats slow start has been about more than just empty possessions and missed shots. After four straight losses to open the season, Erik Spoelstra pointed to schematic issues as the main reason Miami has looked out of sync, especially when the game settles into halfcourt possessions and the offense has to create something against a set defense. Even with a faster tempo, the broader numbers have painted an ugly picture, with Miami sitting near the bottom in net rating, offensive rating and defensive rating.
For a team that has long made its living on structure, timing and details, thats the kind of problem that cant be brushed aside as early-season noise. The Heat have been playing with pace, but the efficiency has not followed, and the gap between movement and production is already shaping the conversation around what needs to change. Spoelstra has identified the issue; the next step is finding out whether Miami can actually fix it before the losses start piling up even further. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Just Got Pulled Into A Wild Karl-Anthony Towns Trade Idea
The Heats 0-4 start has already put the early Giannis Antetokounmpo experiment under a harsher spotlight than anyone in Miami expected. After a blockbuster deal brought Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis over from Milwaukee, the bigger question has quickly become how the roster pieces actually fit, especially with Bam Adebayo in the mix and the offense still searching for a clean rhythm.
Amid that uneven opening, some analysts have kicked around a far bigger shakeup involving Adebayo and Tim Hardaway Jr. for Karl-Anthony Towns. It is only speculation at this point, but the fact that such an idea is even being floated says plenty about how urgently the Heats early-season problems are being viewed, and how much attention any possible frontcourt answer is going to draw from here. [Read more 🡒]