MIAMI — Bam Adebayo is no stranger to chaos, having started his career amid the failed experiment with Hassan Whiteside, the departure (and return) of Dwyane Wade, the suspensions of Dion Waiters and eventually, less than three years after his arrival, an almost complete remake of the roster.
That made the eighth-year center, amid this most uneven of seasons, keenly aware of what was needed in the captaincy role he inherited from Udonis Haslem in 2023.
So through Jimmy Butler’s petulance and trade, through the acquisition of three rotation components at the Feb. 6 NBA trading deadline, and through the push that extended the franchise’s playoff run to a sixth consecutive season, Adebayo consistently found himself stepping up to basically keep the franchise upright.
“Man,” Adebayo said as he let out an extended sigh, “I would say I handled it as professional as possible, and my teammates know that. But also, I tried to handle it where I’ve banked so much equity with every last one of ’em that I can have personal conversations with them and let them know, ‘Some of this we’re going through just because we got to go through it.’ ”
While 2019 remains the lone season Adebayo has missed the playoffs in his NBA career, this season ended with somewhat of a lottery feel, with the Heat blown out by the Cleveland Cavaliers in a first-round sweep.
If last week’s record Game 4 loss to Cleveland was the final humiliation, it’s not as if there hadn’t been plenty of wobbles to that finish line. Through those wobbles, the Heat nonetheless somehow survived the play-in round.That, Adebayo said, was a source of pride.
“It was telling them also understanding that we are expected to play; we are expected to win. If we don’t win, figure out how we can win,” he said of that final scramble to at least make the playoff field. “And I feel like that they handled that the best way they could.”As for Adebayo’s season, it was an uneven ride, offensive struggles early and late, all while remaining the anchor of a defense that featured little quality at the point of attack.
To coach Erik Spoelstra, it was again a case of his big man stepping forward as needed.
“I love seeing his leadership feet put to the fire, and that’s what it was,” Spoelstra said. “He’s accepted the captainship, for sure. But it’s one thing to do that when things are going well and you’re playing well. At the beginning of the year we weren’t playing well and he wasn’t playing his best basketball, and yet he was still rolling up his sleeves and leading.
“I thought that was a big step for him. There’s a lot of guys in this league that wouldn’t do that, that would love to blame and point fingers and all that.”
