Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo believes that he should have won the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award in each of the past two seasons.
Adebayo revealed that it’s his goal to capture the award in the 2022-23 season.
“I should have won it the last two years, and I will win it this year,” Adebayo said to campers at the Heat’s youth clinic.
Adebayo was fantastic on the defensive end in the 2021-22 campaign, but he was limited to just 56 games in the regular season, mainly due to a thumb injury he suffered early in the season.
Despite that, Adebayo still averaged 1.4 steals and 0.8 blocks per game in the 2021-22 campaign. He posted a defensive box plus/minus of 2.1 along the way and accumulated 3.5 defensive win shares.
One thing that makes Adebayo such a great defender is his ability to switch onto smaller players and still play elite defense.
Exhibit A why Bam Adebayo is a monster on the switch pic.twitter.com/bPp7gdLKFp
— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) May 5, 2022
There’s no doubt that Adebayo will be a contender for the Defensive Player of the Year award in the 2022-23 season, but he will have some tough competition in players like Rudy Gobert, Marcus Smart, Mikal Bridges and other elite defenders across the league.
The Heat are hoping Adebayo will also grow on the offensive end of the floor in future seasons. Last season, Adebayo averaged 19.1 points, 10.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game while shooting 55.7 percent from the field.
However, he took a step back in the playoffs, averaging just 14.8 points per game. Regardless, if Adebayo can remain a solid player on offense and continue his defensive dominance, the Heat will likely have him penciled into the starting lineup for years to come.
