With Bam Adebayo now set to have surgery to repair a torn UCL in his right thumb and miss four to six weeks, the Miami Heat will need major contributions from the rest of their frontcourt rotation.
Given that their lack of size has been their biggest weakness over the past couple of years, this is one hurdle that could derail the Heat's campaign. After getting off to a hot start to their 2021-22 campaign and putting all their shortcomings from last season in the rearview mirror, the Heat have run into a big challenge.
They'll have to implement a sound game plan if they want to remain in the upper echelon of the ultra-competitive Eastern Conference. Now that Adebayo is going to be out for a considerable amount of time, the Heat must rely on their other star players to pick up the slack.
Here are three Heat players who must step up with Bam Adebayo out.
Dewayne Dedmon
As the only true center on their roster, Dedmon needs to play more dominant two-way basketball for the Heat and provide them with some consistent rebounding, low-post scoring, and rim protection. With size being one of their biggest flaws, Dedmon's play on both ends of the floor will be vital to the Heat's success in the coming weeks.
If they want to be successful against some of the bigger teams in the league, then the 6'10” Dedmon will have to be their anchor down low and provide them with elite interior defense and active hands in the paint. With the untimely injury of Adebayo, Dedmon has some big shoes to fill and the Heat will need him to step his game up immensely.
Duncan Robinson
Despite him being one of the NBA's most prolific three-point shooters, Robinson's play this season has been wildly inconsistent and his numbers haven't been all that great either. With season averages of 10.4 points per game on 34.9 percent shooting from the field and 31.8 percent shooting from beyond the arc, it's safe to say that Robinson has definitely had better days.
Granted the season is still young and there's plenty of time for Robinson to right the ship and provide the Heat with an additional scoring punch, but now that they'll be playing undermanned for the time being without Adebayo, it's going to be critical for him to bring his A-game each night. This is especially true if they want to keep pace with the highest-scoring teams in the league.
PJ Tucker
He's one of the best 3-and-D players in the NBA and unquestionably brings a gritty and hard-nosed mentality to the dynamic Heat roster, but now, he'll have to take on a bigger load defensively if the Heat are to stay afloat in Adebayo's absence. There's no denying that Tucker will bring the fight every night for the boys from South Beach as they hope to remain as the third seed in the Eastern Conference.
Even though he's already been a quality addition for the Heat, he'll now need to provide them with more defensive versatility and clutch three-point shooting. In an ideal world, the Heat would not expect this much from Tucker, but given the inconvenience and timing of Adebayo's injury, his elite two-way play is crucial to their success with their All-Star big man sidelined.
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