Bam Adebayo is not the player the Miami Heat thinks he is

Bam Adebayo isn’t the player that the Miami Heat thinks he is. 

After his breakout season during the 2019-20 campaign, the expectation rose for Bam Adebayo. He was no longer viewed as simply the answer at the center position (with Hassan Whiteside gone). Instead, he was now viewed as the Miami Heat‘s next possible superstar.

While he has shown promise on that front, in the three years since his breakout season, Bam hasn’t made the complete leap that the team expected him to make. Bam has been good but has continuously struggled to show any type of comfort as a go-to scorer and over the past two postseasons, has often shied away when the team has needed him most.

This is not a knock on Bam. He’s been a really good player for the Heat. He’s one of the most versatile defenders in the league and probably should’ve won the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award last year. But I also think it’s fair to say that Bam may not be the player that the Heat thinks he is or can be.

Bam Adebayo is really good but he’s not a superstar

There’s a very real chance that Bam has already hit his ceiling as a player. Even though he’s just 25 years old, it’s hard to see where the tangible improvements are going to come in his game. For the sake of this article, we’ll focus on the offensive end since he’s one of the best defenders in the league.

Bam’s offensive game is one that has been debated many times. He’s a great passer for his size and position and can handle the ball and initiate the offense. Those are all great skills that he possesses. At the same time, he’s too passive at times and is not a good post player against smaller players, and refuses to shoot 3’s.

His jump shot is streaky and too often looks forced when he’s taking it. I’ll put it this way. Most of the time when I watch Bam player, I see a player that’s trying to fake his way into being a good offensive threat.

I simply don’t believe that he believes he can be a No. 1 offensive player. And he may have the physical ability to do so, but he doesn’t have the confidence for it. Just look at the pure raw numbers this season: he’s off to an incredibly slow start and is taking fewer shot attempts than last season.

Bam is averaging 14 points (on 12 shot attempts per game) and nine rebounds on 46 percent shooting from the field and a career-high four turnovers per game. In part because of Bam’s inconsistent start to the season, the Heat is 1-3 through their first four games of the season.

Looking at his postseason performances in the last couple of seasons, the warning signs are even greater. Against the Boston Celtics in the conference finals last year, Bam scored 10 points or less in four of the seven games. And we all know what happened two seasons ago when the Heat was swept out of the playoffs against the Milwaukee Bucks. Brook Lopez played off Bam and dared him to shoot the mid-range jumper. He simply refused to do so.

Let’s get something clear: Bam is a really good player. An all-star caliber one too. But I think it’s only fair to adjust the expectations for his career. He’s never going to be a superstar. He’s never going to be a legit No. 1 option on a really good team. He’s not the player the Heat has billed him up to be.