Miami Heat president Pat Riley witnessed firsthand how his once-promising player Bam Adebayo blossomed into a legitimate star in 2019-20 NBA campaign. The 6-foot-9 big man made it to his first All-Star team last February and blossomed into an unstoppable force come playoff time to help lead Miami back to the NBA Finals.
While Bam's massive improvement caught the eye of Riley, the legendary executive claimed he needs to evolve his game further in his fourth season for the Heat to have a chance of winning it all.
“He’s a multi-faceted player right now and his game needs to expand,” Riley described Adebayo, per The Miami Herald's Barry Jackson. “And it will expand because he is a player that’s willing to work at it. We know what he can do, and I don’t think Erik Spoelstra would have put him in the situations as the main trigger man in our offense as a point-center, unless he had great confidence in his ability to handle the ball and make plays as a passer. He didn’t do that his rookie year. He didn’t do half of the things that he does now. And that’s just through steady work and growth, development, and confidence.”
At just 23 years old, Bam Adebayo has certainly yet to scratch the ceiling of his full potential. Still, it's already quite clear that he has all the tools to be one of the league's best big men in the coming years. Adebayo came into the league as an extremely raw prospect out of Kentucky in 2016. He slid all the way to the 14th pick that draft, allowing Miami to snag the then limited, defensive-minded center.
After fighting to get his minutes in his first two years a pro, Adebayo relished a bigger role this year and rewarded coach Erik Spoelstra's trust. He averaged 15.9 points, 10.2 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.1 steals, and 1.3 blocks in 72 games.
Bam's impact on both ends on the floor shined when the lights were the brightest, as he catapulted the 5th-seeded Heat to the top of the talent-stacked Eastern Conference. Most pundits believe (especially Riley) that the Heat could have given the Los Angeles Lakers a much better fight in the Finals had Adebayo and Goran Dragic not been compromised by injuries.
Pat Riley, meanwhile, sees big things in store for Adebayo in the future. The Heat brass, however, must bring in the big bucks to ensure Adebayo's game expands in South Beach and not anywhere else.
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