Miami Heat’s Bam Adebayo receives shocking placement among best centers ranking

After a very unusual, slow start for Miami Heat’s Bam Adebayo, in addition to the first half of the season being filled with drama, he eventually reverted to playing as arguably the best overall player for the team.

A significant reason for his resurgence in productivity was the emergence of Kel’el Ware entering the starting lineup and moving Adebayo to a power forward role whenever they were on the court together. As he enters his ninth season, he may have become even more underrated in the league. According to HoopsHype, they have Adebayo ranked No. 8 among centers.

“One of the most unique players on this list, Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo is undersized, at least height-wise, for a center, standing at 6-foot-9 (and that official listing might be a bit kind to him),” the article wrote. “Adebayo makes up for that by having a stout, strong frame and ridiculous quickness for a 5.”

If Ware remains the full-time starter at center, Adebayo’s reps at the position will mostly come from Erik Spoelstra staggering them throughout the game, especially when Nikola Jovic or Andrew Wiggins potentially play as the power forwards. HoopsHype believes Adebayo’s best chance to move up the center ranks would be to continue developing his perimeter shot.

“Adebayo also just had the best three-point shooting season of his career, hitting 35.7 percent of his attempts on nearly three nightly attempts, and is an adept rebounder,” the article continued. “Last season, the former Kentucky Wildcat was one of just six players to put up an 18/9/4 stat line, along with Antetokounmpo and the No. 1 player on this list. If Adebayo can continue to develop that last part of his skill set, he could make his place in this ranking look bad by the end of next season.”

ESPN explains Miami Heat’s most significant weakness isn't what you think

Even though Jimmy Butler often coasted during the regular season, there were several aspects the Miami Heat desperately lacked outside of him on their roster.

The Heat losing Butler was always going to be difficult to replace, considering his consistent and increasing production in the postseason. One significant value the roster has struggled to replicate without him has been his ability to get to the free-throw line. ESPN’s Kevin Pelton breaks down why the Heat’s offseason moves may lead to improvement in that area for the upcoming season.

“After trading Jimmy Butler III, the Heat's perimeter-oriented attack struggled to get to the line,” the article wrote. “Only the Celtics had a worse free-throw rate after the All-Star break, and Miami attempted just 13.3 per game in a first-round sweep by Boston, second lowest in playoff history ... ahead of the 2024 Heat (12.0). Adding Norman Powell (4.4 FTA per game) should help.”

With the emergence of Tyler Herro’s first All-Star appearance, a career high of 4.2 attempts from the free-throw line became an underrated part of his game. Unfortunately, Bam Adebayo’s transition into a more perimeter-oriented playstyle and increased three-point shooting led to the lowest free-throw rate of his career. Powell’s three-level scoring ability and an internal improvement from their younger core players should lead to higher production drawing fouls this season.

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