The rise of Bam Adebayo

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Pay attention to Erik Spoelstra’s news conferences for long enough, and you’ll find yourself picking up on certain terms that tend to crop up over and over. “Spoisms” some have called them.

“Skirmishes” and “multiple efforts,” “get to our game” and “ignitability,” a slew of others: They’re turns of phrase that one of the sport’s best head coaches and most scrupulously attentive tacticians returns to as he tries to express precisely what he wants and values — what he’s seeing and feeling, what he’s looking for out of his Miami Heat.

One Spoism uttered multiple times during Miami’s second-round series against the New York Knicks, and that stretches back a lot farther than that? “Whatever’s necessary. Whatever’s required.” It’s a mantra of adaptability, perfect for the utilitarian environment of the NBA playoffs, where the level of competition is too ferocious to be precious about what you’re willing to do in pursuit of a W.

It’s a hand-in-glove fit for the vaunted hard-nosed “Heat culture” that has defined the franchise ever since Pat Riley went south for the summer and never came back. It’s the North Star of a roster that, as you’ve surely heard by now, features a league-high nine undrafted players — guys who’ve dug their careers out of the mud, earning their way into rubbing (and sometimes exchanging) elbows with highly touted prospects through sheer tenacity and competitive will.

It’s also probably why Spo loves Bam Adebayo so much.

Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (13) brings the ball up the court in the first half of Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals against the Celtics in Boston, Wednesday, May 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

There are players in the NBA who can guard star-level offensive talents at all five positions, and toggle between a handful of defensive schemes — switching, dropping, blitzing, icing, show-and-recover, zone, you name it — without missing a beat. There are players who can bring the ball up the court and initiate the offense, serve as an offensive hub from the elbows, work either end of the pick-and-roll, splash…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-playoffs-the-rise-of-bam-adebayo-215038058.html?src=rss

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2023-05-22 21:52:06

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