Just a few months ago, there were plenty around the association who picked the Miami Heat as one of the teams to beat in the Eastern Conference. But after a 10-11 record to start the season, there is some concern within the franchise that they are built to win a title.
For his part, star big man Bam Adebayo has been the only one holding down the fort defensively for the Heat and apparently wants to do more on the other end as well.
According to Rohan Nadkarni of Sports Illustrated, Bam had to confront his coach, Erik Spoelstra, this season to ask for more opportunities offensively.
“Adebayo would like for Pickup Bam to come out more and admits to bumping heads with Spo on occasion, a healthy tension borne out of Adebayo’s desire to do more for his team,” wrote Nadkarni. “He remembers during his rookie year his coaches being surprised he could dribble so well, and how he had to advocate for himself to be able to handle the ball. These days, the challenge is incorporating what he’s added from the summer into the team’s offense and I have to collaborate with Spo,” the 25-year-old said. “Because he knows I’m ambitious. I want to have a bigger load. I want to have a bigger responsibility on this team, and not just on the defensive end.”
Adebayo is averaging a career-high 20.5 points per game, but Bam wants to take on more. And with his team struggling, it’s no wonder why he wants a little more control.
Miami Heat Growing Frustrated With Bam Adebayo’s Lack Of Consistency
While Bam has already expressed some of his gripes with the team, the Heat are apparently less than pleased with Bam, who has been far from perfect himself.
“When Bam plays aggressive, and when he is playing like he is the best guy on the floor, he is a Top 10, Top 15 player. But he doesn’t always do that, does he? You could see it during the conference finals against the Celtics—when he was aggressive, Boston had no answer for him. That Game 3 up in Boston, he was unstoppable (31 points on 15-for-22 shooting). But then he’d have games where he takes four or five shots. I think there is some frustration from the team that he doesn’t bring that aggressiveness every night. If he is the best player and Jimmy Butler is the No. 2 option and Tyler Herro No. 3, that is a lot better team than when Bam lets himself be the third option,” the Eastern Executive told Heavy Sports.
Together, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo were supposed to run the East. Instead, they are struggling to keep up as much better teams flex their dominance early on.
Needless to say, this crew has a lot to figure out and it could be some time before we see everything come together.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
