The story behind the Heat’s ‘more aggressive and more assertive’ NBA All-Star Bam Adebayo

Miami Heat president Pat Riley knew exactly what he was doing when he used part of his season-ending news ress conference in June to challenge Bam Adebayo to become a bigger part of the offense. Riley knew Adebayo could be more and needed to be more on that end of the court.

But Riley’s challenge wasn’t only issued to Adebayo. It was also directed at Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.

“It was probably not issued as much to Bam as it was to Erik,” Riley said this week to the Miami Herald. “I remember one of the great lines that I ever heard when I was coaching and I was having a conversation with Hubie Brown and he was coaching the Knicks at the time with Bernard King and a couple other guys. He said his main job as a head coach was to make sure that his top-three scorers got 15 to 20 shots a night. You know, there’s a lot of truth to that.”

With Brown as his head coach, King attempted 23.7 field-goal attempts per game during the 1984-85 season. Riley didn’t expect Adebayo to get anywhere close to that number after averaging 13 shot attempts last season.

But Riley set the target for Adebayo at 15 field-goal attempts per game this season. Then Adebayo raised that bar when he revealed just before the start of the season that his goal was to put up 18 shots per game.

“He probably thought it was time to become not selfish, but more aggressive and more assertive,” Riley said. “He can do it, and he did it.”

Adebayo, 25, is in the middle of the best offensive season of his NBA career, as he heads to Salt Lake City to take part in his second NBA All-Star Game on Sunday at Vivint Arena (8:30 p.m., TNT). He’s the Heat’s lone All-Star this season.

Adebayo is averaging career highs in points (21.6 per game) and field-goal attempts (15.7) while shooting 54.4 percent from the field and 80.5 percent from the foul line, to go with 10 rebounds and 3.3 assists while providing his usual elite defense in his sixth NBA season. He has reached the 30-point mark in 19 games during his NBA career, and 10 of those games have come this season.

Adebayo is statistically the Heat’s most important player. Miami has outscored opponents by a team-best 3.4 points per 100 possessions with Adebayo on the court and has been outscored by a team-worst six points per 100 possessions when he hasn’t been on the court this season for an eye-opening on/off differential of plus-9.4.

“His improvement has not been incremental, it’s been over the top this year,” Riley said.

IN THE PAINT

Adebayo is scoring in a variety of ways. He has teamed up with guard Tyler Herro to form one of the most effective high-usage pick-and-roll duos in the league, he can attack defenders in transition and he’s very good in isolation situations.

But there’s one common theme with most of Adebayo’s looks, as 90.6 percent of his non-free-throw line points have come from inside the paint this season. He enters the All-Star break ranked second in the NBA in total paint points behind only Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo.

“The development of the offensive part of his game, in specific, to be able to score on a lot of those shots in the paint, that was born out of the last three years in the playoffs and what teams were forcing us to have to make,” Spoelstra said. “We still need his playmaking, we still need his ball-handling, still need all the things that he’s done really well to help diversify our menu. But for us to really reach our full potential offensively, he has to score the basketball for us, and he has to be assertive.”

As additional layers of Adebayo’s offensive game have emerged, so has a signature shot. His go-to shot has become a high-release in-the-paint jumper that he can get off against almost any type of coverage, especially against drop coverage when the opponent’s center sags off him to protect the rim. It’s a coverage the Bucks have used to slow Adebayo in past playoff matchups when a less decisive Adebayo would often pass up the open midrange look.

That trademark in-between jumper has led to Adebayo putting up an NBA-high 417 non-rim paint shots (7.7 per game) this season. And he has been relatively efficient on that high volume, too, shooting 49.4 percent on those looks, which ranks fourth best in the league among the eight players who have attempted at least 300 non-rim paint shots this season behind Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox, New York’s Jalen Brunson and Utah’s Jordan Clarkson.

And Adebayo’s efficiency continues to trend in a positive direction. He’s shooting 51.4 percent on non-rim paint shots since the start of December

Last season, Adebayo attempted five non-rim paint shots per game and shot 45.2 percent on those opportunities.

It’s a unique go-to shot for a player such as Adebayo to develop, with Toronto’s Pascal Siakam as the only other frontcourt player in the league who has attempted more than 300 non-rim paint shots this season. Big men usually rely on more opportunities at the rim.

“More so just taking the shot and just sticking with what I committed to at the beginning of the season. That was 18 shots per game,” Adebayo said when asked if the uptick in efficiency from that area of the floor stems from an improved shot or simply just assertively stepping into more of those looks. “Having that mind-set and obviously taking great shots, and it’s one of those shots that I’ve developed and it’s become automatic. And coach wants me to shoot that shot. So when you have the whole coaching staff backing you on certain shots, you have to shoot them.”

A MEDITATIVE STATE

Adebayo has made the shift in offensive approach look easy. The goal was set in the offseason, and he has executed the plan to take another step forward this season.

But Adebayo has been intentional about putting himself in a position to succeed, introducing a tool to his off-court pregame routine that has helped him take on the mental challenges of taking on a bigger scoring role: meditation.

“I used to think meditation just wasn’t for me,” Adebayo said. “I just felt like my brain wouldn’t shut off when I would try it by myself. But now we actually have somebody who comes along with us every now and again. We talk about it and we have this app we use. I feel like when I first started doing it, I felt the immediate shift just going into a game with straight clarity. There’s nothing in my mind but focusing on basketball and let the chips fall where they may.”

Adebayo meditates before every game about one hour before tip-off. He has felt the difference, especially in his ability to quickly move past negative outcomes during games instead of allowing them to affect his play.

“I think years in the past, I miss a couple shots and I start to get in my mind and I start to get in my head,” he said. “I think this year, I’ve done a better job. Meditation just gives me that clarity. I got comfortable with being like, ‘All right, I missed a couple shots. So what?’ Rather than last year or years in the past, where it was like: ‘I made that shot 1,000 times. I shouldn’t miss that shot.’ Now it’s just kind of like, all right, you missed it but move on. I feel like that’s been the best thing in my career at this point.”

Riley has noticed the difference in Adebayo’s on-court persona.

“When you’re in a high-expectation situation and you have to perform every night, anxiety becomes a big part of it unless you can find a way to relax it and get rid of it and feel confident,” Riley said. “I see a player who has that state of mind now out there. He’s not shaking his head, his body language is fine. He misses a shot, he gets it back. A lot like Jimmy Butler, he doesn’t really argue too much with the officials. He doesn’t show that kind of frustration that leads to more frustration.”

FOUNDATIONAL PLAYER

Even with Adebayo voted into his second NBA All-Star Game and expected to be in the conversation for his first All-NBA selection this season, Riley doesn’t believe he has reached his ceiling yet. That’s not surprising, considering the Heat’s nickname for Adebayo is “No Ceiling.”

Adebayo will likely incorporate the three-point shot into his game one day, and there’s room for him to become an even more efficient offensive player.

Riley’s hope is that Adebayo’s growth continues to come in a Heat uniform. Adebayo is only in the middle of the second year of his five-year, $163 million max extension with Miami, and the organization’s plan is to keep him far beyond that contract.

“It’s been a blessing to have him,” Riley said. “I go back to [Alonzo Mourning] and Zo was a franchise face and then Dwyane [Wade] along with Udonis [Haslem], and now I look at Bam the same way because of longevity. I see Bam here, I hope, for his whole career.”

Nearly six years ago, just one day after the Heat selected Adebayo with the 14th overall pick in the 2017 Draft, Riley set high expectations for the then-19-year-old prospect as they stood alongside each other to pose for photos during Adebayo’s introductory news conference.

“One day,” Riley said that day, “this jersey is going to be hanging up in the rafters.”

When asked about that comment now, Riley calls it “wishful thinking” at the time. But, while still early in his NBA career, Adebayo is on track to turn what was a wish into reality.

“A franchise always is built around players who have stayed here forever,” Riley said. “Just like Udonis and Dwyane and Zo. I’m not discounting any of the other players that we’ve had in Eddie Jones and Brian Grant and Caron Butler, [Shaquille O’Neal], LeBron [James] and Chris [Bosh]. But these are mainstays, these are foundational pieces that you just never trade them, you never get rid of them. They just stay, that’s it and they lead your franchise.”

That’s how Riley views Adebayo.