Jimmy Butler Sounds Off with Challenge for Bam Adebayo

Getty Bam Adebayo #13 and Jimmy Butler #22 of the Miami Heat talk during the second quarter against the Boston Celtics

The Miami Heat spent the summer in trade rumors seeking another star to team up with Jimmy Butler after being eliminated in their Eastern Conference Finals matchup against the Boston Celtics. Whether it was Kevin Durant, Donovan Mitchell, Bradley Beal, or DeJounte Murray, the team was linked in trade talks to a number of players. However, no deal was able to get done for the Heat, and one of the only additions they made has been through the draft with Nikola Jovic. 

Although they did not end up adding another star, the Heat seem perfectly fine with running it back. Erik Spoelstra even said at the end of last season that that is what he’d prefer to do. Instead of getting a star, the team hopes to get starlike production from the players currently on the roster who have at times underachieved or been inconsistent offensively, like Bam Adebayo or Tyler Herro. 

Jimmy Butler Challenges Bam Adebayo to Take Bigger Role 

Jimmy Butler, who bears a lot of the load of the Heat’s offense, spoke at the Miami Heat’s Media Day on September 26 about the added role and be more aggressive for the Heat offensively. 

“We know he knows we want him to score more; we want him to be aggressive. He can do it, and he’s going to — He always is and always will be the engine, the key part on both ends of the floor. So we’re going where Bam takes us,” Butler said. 

Adebayo averaged a career-best scoring this season, averaging 19.1 points per game for the Heat. However, at times he struggled to be aggressive on the offensive end of the floor, especially in the playoffs where the Heat big man where he had six games where he scored in the single digits offensively. That’s not enough as the Heat’s second option next to Butler. Adebayo is asked to do a lot on the defensive end, but so is Butler. Bam continuing to develop on both ends of the floor give the Heat another weapon offensively. In his low-scoring games, the problem wasn’t Adebayo missing shots. It was that he wasn’t taking them. 

His aggressiveness offensively and shot attempts are both something that Butler and Adebayo commented we will see more of in the upcoming 2022-23 NBA season. 

Bam Adebayo on Shot Attempts

Jimmy Butler was sure to mention that Bam knows what the Heat want from him on the offensive end, and the All-Star echoed that in sharing his goals for the upcoming season. 

“I’m going to try to get it up this year,” said Adebayo. “I feel like we’re a lot better team when I’m scoring the basketball.”

When asked about the total amount of shots that he will get up Adebayo said he is trying to get to 18 shots per game in comparison to the 15 shots he put up in each outing last season. Adebayo shot over 55% from the field last season, and adding shots can likely help take the burden off of Butler and elevate the Heat to another level next season after almost every team in the Eastern Conference got better this offseason.