Getty Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo will play in his first Olympics Games this summer in Tokyo.
Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo will be playing in his first Olympics this summer in Tokyo. The 23-year-old rising star enjoyed a breakout campaign in 2021 which saw him post a career-best 18.7 points per game while finishing fourth in Defensive Player of the Year voting.
Adebayo’s future remains bright after signing a five-year, $163 million max contract extension in 2020. He is a key building block for the Heat organization, a guy team president Pat Riley thinks highly of and urged head coach Erik Spoelstra to “evaluate how he uses” him. His value on the defensive end goes without saying, but his offensive game has improved dramatically over his first four NBA seasons.
Haha.
According to USA Basketball executive director Jerry Colangelo, Adebayo was selected for a “specific job” as Team USA seeks their fourth straight Olympic gold medal. The organization announced its full 12-man roster for Tokyo earlier this week. Jimmy Butler — Adebayo’s teammate in Miami — declined an invitation to participate.
“Bam, we’ve always liked. He is a young, athletic guy, he can run the court, he is a shot-blocker, he plays above the rim,” Colangelo told reporters on a conference call. “So a young guy like that is very, very important. Everybody has a role and he has a specific job to do and I’m sure he’ll do it well.
“I think every team needs some newcomers and if they’re young, athletic guys who can play, that’s a big part of it. But it’s a youthfulness, it’s exuding confidence, it’s a whole bunch of things that a newcomer like him can bring.”
The 12-man roster for Team USA is set 🇺🇸
Will the United States take home gold for the fourth consecutive Olympics? 🥇
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Riley Teases Bigger Role for Adebayo
If you didn’t understand the relationship between Riley and Spoelstra, you might think the Heat president was criticizing the head coach for not using Adebayo properly. Spoelstra rarely put two big men on the floor together, preferring to surround Adebayo with floor spacers to who he could kick the ball out for easy threes. That meant a lot of bench time for 6-foot-8 rookie Precious Achiuwa.
However, Riley threw out the proposition of changing that philosophy next season during his end-of-year “State of the Heat” press conference. Adebayo’s game may benefit from having another big man out there.
“I think Spo has to evaluate a little bit how he uses Bam,” Riley said. “If Spo really likes to use Bam with a stretch five or a four, you might have to change it, you never know. He might have to think about: What’s going to be the next thing in the NBA that you will require, that will require you to get somebody to stay with that kind of play?”
Pat Riley on Bam, “I think Spo has to evaluate a bit how he uses Bam.” Mentions the balance of facilitating the offense and being a primary scorer.
There’s a chance Miami could bring back veteran center Dewayne Dedmon next season as well. He was better than advertised — 7.1 points, 5.4 rebounds per game in 16 contests — down the stretch. That means more lineup combinations for Spoelstra to weigh.
“Look it, the game is fast-paced, guys are jacking threes from halfcourt and guys are taking bad threes that five years ago, guys would probably be on the bench for taking those kinds of shots,” Riley said. “And, so, that’s the game, because that skill level has been taught to such a high degree, and such a degree of efficiency, that you have to defend a team that likes to have a lot of room that allows players to go to the basket.”
Bam Adebayo man. Takes the switch vs. Beal, guards him 1v1, keeps the drive in front, stays down on the shot fake and gets the block.
Duncan Robinson Eyed for Team USA
Adebayo will be the only Heat player represented on Team USA, but there was talk of adding another one: Duncan Robinson. According to Five Reasons Sports Network, Robinson was “seriously considered” for one of the final roster spots on the squad. He would “presumably” have filled the spot taken by Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love. Robinson is one of the best young shooters in the league and averaged 13.1 points per game in 2021 while shooting 40.8 from three-point range.
As the Team USA roster appears finalized, I can report that Duncan Robinson was seriously considered for one of the final spots on the roster, per league source.
Presumably in place of Kevin Love. @5ReasonsSports @5OTF_