Bam Adebayo has been one of the most impactful defenders in the NBA for the last four seasons. Unfortunately, he just doesn’t seem to be getting his rightful recognition. That pattern continued with Adebayo receiving zero votes for being the best defender in the NBA in the 2023/24 NBA GM Survey.
This infuriated Erik Spoelstra, who went on a lengthy rant about the disrespect shown to Adebayo’s defensive abilities.
“That one is just unbelievable to me. I think Bam is the best defensive player in the league and I just can’t understand why he’s not recognized for how impactful he is on that end of the court. So, he’s just going to have to prove it again and just do it this year until everybody notices. I think that’s a good award to go for. A lot of awards, I think potentially can get in the way of winning. I think that one is a great one and I don’t think he’s going to take himself out of anything. I think he just has to be who he is, do what he does, and just be that dynamic force on that end of the court. Then I think he’s going to get recognized for that and hopefully, we’ll have a great defense this year and he leads us on that end of the court.”
I asked Erik Spoelstra about his impressive showing in the GM survey and he ended up talking about Bam Adebayo not getting a single vote for best defensive player in the NBA. Classic Spoelstra. pic.twitter.com/W5ossXpKog
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) October 10, 2023
Adebayo has been named to the All-Defensive Second Team for four seasons, never making it to the First Team.
The first three selections were because he was behind Rudy Gobert while he was perennially winning and contending for Defensive Player of the Year. The other came last season when Adebayo fell behind Brook Lopez, who had a resurgent shot-blocking season.
Erik Spoelstra Thinks Stats Are Why Bam Adebayo Doesn’t Get His Respect
Erik Spoelstra has been advocating for Adebayo as one of the best defenders in the NBA for years now. He made a comment during the NBA Playoffs about Adebayo’s defense not being acknowledged by media members or fans because he doesn’t hunt for statistics like blocked shots or finding ways to impact the box score.
“He’s arguably been the best defender in the league now for a handful of years. He doesn’t necessarily get acknowledged for that because he’s not putting up the big shot blocking numbers or whatever metrics they look at.”
Adebayo averaged 20.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.8 blocks last season.
There are very few help defenders better than Adebayo and there is basically no POA defender that can defend the perimeter and the paint at Bam’s level. It’s time we give him the respect he deserves, even though he isn’t stacking up big block numbers.
Bam Adebayo Being Ignored Because Everyone Underestimates The Miami Heat
In the last four seasons, the Heat have been the best team in the East twice and among the two best teams in the Conference thrice. Despite that, they are always ignored by the flashier teams that surround them. Adebayo has previously spoken about the lack of credit the Heat get for their achievements.
“We’ve been to two Finals in the last four years. We’ve been to three Eastern Conference Finals in the last four years, and I don’t think anybody else in the East has done that in the last four years. And we’re doing it with 60% of our roster being undrafted… That should be a bigger story than it is.”
This summer has been objectively poor for the Heat, as they missed out on Damian Lillard and saw the Bucks and Celtics get materially better. But the culture of the franchise always creates rotational players even when they look paper-thin. That’s what they’ll hope to do this season as they try to stay afloat in a tough East.
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