Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo recently spoke about the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award and how “politics” have come to impact who ends up winning.
“Uhh… Politics, you know? You can’t really help it,” Adebayo said of the Defensive Player of the Year award in a conversation with Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson. “Some dudes have power over the media and some dudes don’t. But in my case, we can’t really voice for it if we’re in the 10th spot. Now if we’re in the 3rd spot or 4th spot? You could say something.”
The Heat are in the play-in tournament in the Eastern Conference this season, as they hold the No. 10 seed. Miami will face the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday, and if it wins that game, it will have a chance to compete for the No. 8 seed in the East on Friday.
In each of the last two completed seasons, the Heat ended up as the No. 8 seed in the East after surviving the play-in tournament.
Adebayo’s issue with the Defensive Player of the Year award doesn’t just come with the voting. He feels there’s a little too much campaigning done for an award that should be given out based on merit.
“I’ve tried to — I ain’t gonna say beg — but try to showcase and try to put yourself out there, and to me, it’s just too much,” Adebayo said. “If I have to go through media outlets and do all this to get somebody to give me Defensive Player of the Year, I’m cool.”
This season, Adebayo finished the regular season averaging 18.1 points, 9.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. On the defensive end, he posted 4.0 defensive win shares, 1.3 steals and 0.7 blocks per game. His defensive rating was 110, according to Basketball Reference.
Overall, the Heat finished the regular season with the No. 9 defensive rating in the league, per NBA.com. While Miami didn’t have a ton of success in the standings, it still was one of the best defensive teams in the NBA during the regular season.
Adebayo believes that he should win the Defensive Player of the Year this season, but he knows that it is tough to justify with the Heat so far down in the standings.
“I don’t know,” Adebayo said. “I’m gonna say myself but, like I said, it’s hard to say me when we’re in the 10th spot.”
In each of the previous five seasons, Adebayo has finished in the top five in the NBA in Defensive Player of the Year voting. He also has been named to five All-Defensive teams in his career.
There’s no doubt that the Heat big man is one of the game’s best defensive players, but he may have to continue to wait to capture that elusive Defensive Player of the Year award. Hopefully, Adebayo and the Heat can prove that they’re much better than the No. 10 seed by making a run in the play-in tournament this week.
