MIAMI (AP) — One of Bam Adebayo’s favorite plays of the season was during a game Miami played at Charlotte in early February, when most of the things that happened didn’t show up on a stat sheet.
It was late in the first half. Adebayo started the possession guarding Mason Plumlee, then switched onto LaMelo Ball after a screen. Ball couldn’t get past him, so he flipped the ball to Terry Rozier. Adebayo was waiting for him, too, so Rozier gave the ball up to Miles Bridges. With the shot clock running down, Bridges tried to drive on Adebayo.
Didn’t work. Adebayo blocked the ensuing layup try with ease.
“I guarded three dudes in one possession,” Adebayo said, forgetting that it was technically four. “And a fan watching it would be like, ‘OK, Bam got the block.’ They probably didn’t see the rest of it. That’s the thing with defense. It’s more than who’s got the most steals or the most blocks.”
A panel of media voters will decide later this month on the NBA’s awards for this season, and Adebayo isn’t shy about saying that he thinks he merits consideration as the league’s defensive player of the year. It’s a tough club to break into with perennial candidates like Utah’s Rudy Gobert, Golden State’s Draymond Green and the Milwaukee duo of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday all obviously worthy, plus with Boston’s Marcus Smart and Phoenix’s Mikal Bridges deservedly getting plenty of attention this season as well.
The Eastern Conference-leading Heat, who still try to prioritize defense even in this era of higher scores than a decade ago, say Adebayo is equally — if not more — deserving, with Miami coach Erik Spoelstra insisting that his center makes an imprint on the game “like few can in this association”
“We want him to put his fingerprints on the game defensively in all different kinds of ways, in a lot of different schemes and guarding really every position, one through five,” Spoelstra said. “That’s legit….