Miami Heat big man Bam Adebayo alleges that head coach Erik Spoelstra came to the realization that the 27-year-old can space the floor and shoot the ball from 3-point range in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Bam Adebayo believes Erik Spoelstra trusts in his 3-pointer now and plans on getting up at least 100 three point attempts this season pic.twitter.com/KUiSOpiktJ
— Brendan Tobin (@Brendan_Tobin) October 2, 2024
“Sometimes I think seein’ is believing,” Adebayo said regarding Spoelstra’s realization. “And I think Spo seeing me — well being my development coach in the Olympics was kinda like, ‘Man, you can shoot 3s.’ Yeah, it kinda clicked a little bit, you know?”
Across six games played for Team USA in France’s capital, Adebayo attempted 1.5 3s per contest and knocked down 33.3 percent of his looks from deep. For comparison, he has never averaged more than 0.6 attempts from 3-point range in any of his seasons in the NBA.
Adebayo’s best game in Paris in terms of scoring the ball from deep came against South Sudan on July 31. Team USA won the game by 17 points, and the former University of Kentucky standout knocked down two of his three attempts from 3-point range on his way to a team-high 18 points.
He has expressed a willingness to shoot the ball from 3 with greater regularity dating back to before the start of last season, as he said back in September of 2023 that he wanted to make the 3-point shot a bigger part of his offensive game.
“Yeah,” Adebayo told the Miami Herald when asked if this year is the year that the 3-point shot will become a bigger part of his game. “Talking to Spo, obviously he wants me to keep improving. I obviously want to keep improving. Obviously, it’s a big emphasis to us because when everybody can space the floor, we’re a better team hands down. So, yeah.”
If Adebayo were to consistently and efficiently shoot the ball from deep moving forward, that would seemingly raise his ceiling on the offensive side of the ball. However, it is worth noting that Adebayo was a great offensive player last season, even though he didn’t venture behind the 3-point all that often.
He attempted only 42 shots from deep in the 2023-24 regular season, yet he averaged 19.3 points and 3.9 assists per contest in 71 games played. Adebayo ranked among the top five on the team in both points and assists per game.
Time will tell if Adebayo will indeed take 100 3s in the 2024-25 regular season, but that seems like a realistic goal for him considering he attempted 1.5 shots from deep per game from deep in Paris and 2.0 in Miami’s series against the Boston Celtics in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs.
Fans of the Heat will have a chance to see Adebayo take the floor with the team for the first time in a while when it takes on the Charlotte Hornets on Oct. 8 in Miami’s preseason opener.
