Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo claims he was not disappointed by Team USA's decision to cut him during their training camp.
Adebayo was released by Team USA alongside Thaddeus Young last August following their intra-squad scrimmage. Meanwhile, USA Basketball then promoted both Marvin Bagley III and Derrick White to the senior team.
While some players would be disappointed by the decision, Adebayo is different. In fact, he was thankful for the opportunity to learn from the coaches and from his NBA peers.
“Just the atmosphere, because everybody that comes from different teams are like No. 1 or No. 2 options,” Adebayo said, per Anthony Chiang in the Miami Herald. “So just being out there with a lot of guys and just hearing the stories from the locker room, their perspective and just sharing mine. It’s just like a cool ordeal.
“It wasn’t tough at all. I knew where I was going, I was going back to Miami to work on my game.”
The third-year big man will enter the 2019-20 NBA season as the undisputed Heat starting center after the team traded Hassan Whiteside to the Portland Trail Blazers in the four-team sign-and-trade for Jimmy Butler.
A new-look Heat team minus Whiteside and future Hall of Fame shooting guard Dwyane Wade might have enough pieces to compete in the regular season, but skeptics remain steadfast in denying Miami a top-four seed in the Eastern Conference. After all, teams like the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets, Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers figure to be tough competitions.
Regardless, Bam is expected to be a big part of the Heat going forward.
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