MIAMI — Bam Adebayo could hardly believe his eyes when he looked at the box score after Tuesday night’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
It wasn’t his 31 points that surprised him, his team’s 32 assists or the combined 41 points the Miami Heat got from their backcourt of Kyle Lowry and Josh Richardson with leading scorers Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro out due to ankle injuries.
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It was his 27 shot attempts (of which he made 13) that forced him to do a double-take. That’s the most he’s ever put up in his NBA career.
When Adebayo first entered the NBA in 2017, the thought of him attempting that many shots (plus seven free-throw attempts) in a single game was unimaginable. The Heat selected him with the 14th pick in the 2017 draft because they were intrigued by his defensive prowess and fiery on-court demeanor.
But once they got Adebayo in their building, they found his offensive skill set impossible to overlook. The passing vision, soft touch and ballhandling were all there and unique for a player his size. He just needed the motivation — and the belief within himself — to show off those skills more regularly.
Over the last seven seasons, Adebayo’s teammates and members of the Heat’s coaching staff have relentlessly pushed him to be more assertive. To play with more confidence. To dominate the way they all know he can. That’s why the 27 shots Adebayo attempted on Tuesday night were not just a reflection of his team needing additional offense with Butler and Herro out. They also were a sign of how much his mentality has evolved over the years.
“Shoot the ball. I feel like that’s been my evolution,” Adebayo said. “It sounds very, very simple, but I came into this league as a defender. To this point, I’ve never taken 27 shots (in a game). I feel like the progression’s been, ‘Shoot the ball, worry about everything else later.’”
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His teammates no longer need to plead with him to be aggressive. Now the longest-tenured Heat player in his eighth season in town, the 26-year-old Adebayo understands his responsibility as one of the team’s pillars, and he’s taking on everything that comes with that responsibility without fear.
Adebayo is averaging career-highs this season in points (23.3), rebounds (10.3) and usage percentage (28.0) to go along with his trademark defensive versatility. His ascension, which had been gradual before accelerating this season, has played a key role in allowing Miami (10-8) to stay within striking distance of the top of the Eastern Conference despite injuries to Butler, Herro and 2023 breakout playoff performer Caleb Martin.
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As Adebayo’s fearless mentality has emerged, his offensive game has matured over the years. He’s developed a better understanding of how and when to pick his spots. Before, his game was defined by brute force and athleticism. Now, there’s more nuance — more savvy with every shot he attempts, more thought behind every decision he makes.
“The progression is being able to be confident in being patient and knowing he can get his shot off, he can get to his spots,” Heat guard Kyle Lowry said of Adebayo. “He can get to where he needs to at all times.”
That’s mostly come across with the way he’s generating his offense this season. Early in Adebayo’s career, most of his contributions resulted from others creating shots for him or getting putbacks on offensive rebounds. The Heat have empowered him as more of an offensive hub every season. But his passing and shot-creation skills have risen to another level this season, especially when defenses give him too much space.
Per Cleaning The Glass, 45 percent of Adebayo’s field goals this season have been unassisted, a career-high. That number has gradually increased in each of the past four seasons, to the point Adebayo can operate with the ball in his hands regardless of where he is on the floor.
In particular, Adebayo’s comfort in the low post has grown exponentially. When teams throw bigger, bulkier centers on Adebayo, he has become more willing to use his quickness to get around them with ease. When they defend him with smaller players instead, he relentlessly overpowers them.
Nearly 23 percent percent of Adebayo’s offensive possessions this season have been classified as post-ups, according to Synergy, representing by far the most he’s operated on the low block in his career (his previous high was 16.4 percent in 2021-22).
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Adebayo’s more proficient post scoring creates an even bigger dilemma for opposing coaches strategizing to stop him. He’s drawing more double-teams than before, which further opens up his passing skill. He’s also better prepared for nights like Tuesday when he had to put his imprint on the game without ballhandlers like Butler and Herro around to make his game easier.
Those subtle improvements are part of how very good players cross over into elite status. Another key is to add more elements to their games to combat opponents keyed in on taking away whatever that player does best.
One clear way Adebayo has evolved his game is represented by his career-high 7.3 free-throw attempts per game average this season. When teams try to match or even exceed his physicality, he’s become much shrewder at using that aggression to his advantage.
Over the long haul, though, Adebayo’s greatest improvement in the past few seasons is his midrange shooting proficiency. Many of the moments when the Heat have struggled in the postseason in recent years have featured Adebayo being unable to take advantage of teams that dared him to take those 10-15 footers instead of allowing him to get more looks around the rim.
The Milwaukee Bucks, with their oversized front line, have used this strategy repeatedly in their playoff battles with Miami over the years. Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez parks himself in front of the rim on Heat pick-and-rolls and dares Adebayo to trust his jumper. At certain times — particularly in Milwaukee’s four-game sweep in the first round of the 2021 playoffs — these tactics have strained Adebayo’s confidence. His indecision when those shots were available ended up hurting the Heat more than if he just missed those shots over and over.
Now, Adebayo is making it difficult for anyone to roll with that strategy, and the way he lit the Bucks up on Tuesday offers further proof. According to Cleaning The Glass, 66 percent of Adebayo’s shots have come from the midrange this season, a career-high. That has corresponded with a career-low 33 percent of his looks coming at the rim, a number the Heat would prefer to be higher — and expect to be once Butler and Herro play more consistently. But Adebayo’s willingness to take those open shots is a positive sign of his growth. Once the postseason arrives, the best players in the game are the ones who can knock those two-point jump shots down with consistency and zero hesitation.
The result is that Adebayo is hitting 45 percent of his midrange jumpers this season, making him one of 14 players leaguewide to eclipse that percentage while attempting at least 100 such shots this season. Eight of the other 13 players on the list have made an All-NBA team before.
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“I know he’s embracing all of this, and this is the respect you get when you’re a great player in this league. You get the kitchen sink of schemes thrown at you,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Probably, for the first handful of years, he wasn’t necessarily schemed against, except for the pick-and-roll. Now, because of everything he’s added to his game, you can’t just let him operate in space — in the low post or at the elbows. You have to come up with some kind of plan. … Ultimately, that’s good for us.”
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Adebayo’s been close to reaching that superstar status in the past, but his offensive limitations have kept him from snatching up one of those All-NBA spots. As he continues to improve in all of those areas, the chances of him breaking through grow each day, especially because he carries a defensive responsibility on top of his offensive growth that separates him from so many of the league’s other greats.
“I can probably count on one hand the guys in the NBA that can do the things he’s doing right now,” Richardson said. “I think he should be a lock for All-NBA this year. He’s been carrying a lot of the load for us.”
Since the Heat failed to put together a trade to bring Damian Lillard to his preferred destination this summer, much of the NBA world has wondered how they would get another offensive star who could take some of the load off Butler’s shoulders. The Heat indeed made a significant effort to add Lillard, but once he went to Milwaukee instead, they felt no need to panic and jump into another deal. They maintained confidence in Adebayo developing into that type of offensive engine.
And Adebayo has no plans of slowing down his progression anytime soon.
“I’ve improved and I’ve gotten better,” he said. “I’m not looking to go backward.”
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(Top photo: Jeff Haynes / NBAE via Getty Images)
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