Exclusive: Bam Adebayo embracing 'love-hate relationship' with Heat captain title

Today at 07:19 PM

MIAMI – As Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo looks to get back on track this season when it comes to his play on the court, he also serves double duty as the captain of the team. Adebayo has spoken honestly about the captain role before but goes in-depth about how he feels as he’s in his second season in the position after the retirement of Udonis Haslem.

In an exclusive interview with ClutchPoints after Friday’s practice, Adebayo would talk about the “love-hate relationship” he has with being captain of Miami and how Haslem still helps him as he’s around the team in a front office role.

“Do I hate it? Yeah. But it’s the responsibility you’re dealt. It’s like anything, pros and cons,” Adebayo said. “CEO of the company has pros and cons. You're a CEO, but it’s like, it’s a nice title till you got to go down the line to do what you got to actually do as a CEO. Take your job seriously. For me, man, it’s a love-hate relationship. We still got old cap [Udonis Haslem] coming around every once in a while. We still talk, we still communicate. He still got wisdom as long as he around him.”

Friday saw one of many examples of Adebayo being the captain of the team as he ran some one-on-ones with rookie Pelle Larsson after practice to help his development.

Bam Adebayo and Pelle Larsson 1 v 1. Bam got the best of the rookie.

Just now, Pelle stripped Bam of the ball, good play. #HeatNationpic.twitter.com/kwHgW2HCqP

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) November 22, 2024

Bam Adebayo on being considered the “cornerstone” of the Heat

There is no doubt that the big man is seen as the flag bearer for the organization as he’s been at the forefront of the team on the court and even when Adebayo represented them on the Olympics level, winning two gold medals. Some within the team have been preparing the center to be the face of the franchise, like Haslem, as he talked about it being a “feel.”

“It’s a feel, it’s not a ‘He’s gonna be the guy,’ it’s kind of a feel,” Adebayo said. “It’s one of those things where you hang around people, and they put you in this role where they want you to bring everybody with you. And that’s kind of the captain role, being able to have everybody, one through 15, motivated.”

Heat legend Dwyane Wade would even call Adebayo a cornerstone of the team, which isn’t a compliment to take lightly. Even Adebayo would admit that it shows the amount of “trust” they have put in him to take the team to the promised land.

“A lot of respect, considering the guys who said it, you have a guy like D-Wade calling you the cornerstone,” Adebayo said. “You have a guy like UD, You hear his story, calling you the captain, I mean, down the line, it says people trust you. At the end of the day, people trust you to put this championship on top and get a championship.”

Bam Adebayo shares thoughts on the current state of the Heat

As Adebayo looks to win his first NBA championship with Miami, despite being in two NBA Finals, he has to focus and lead on the season ahead of them. The record is currently 6-7, and when asked about, after the Heat win over the 76ers Monday if they are where they want to be, Adebayo would have an NSFW response that will sure motivate any fan about the state of the team.

“F*** no, nobody want to be 6-7," Adebayo said while laughing. "We're not even aiming for 6-7, that's below average. But, you live in your reality. We coughed up four (on this past six-game road trip) being up big and just coughing it up on the way in the third quarters, late game, whatever the case may be. We coughed a few up that we can’t get back. So now we got to try to figure this out, then it’s kind of we pushing the brinks with it. As far as a team, great camaraderie, you're still trying to all out find solutions on how to be better.”

Heat’s Bam Adebayo on what to take from the win over the 76ers

Still, Adebayo would look at the win over Philadelphia, where the Heat dominated the second half even with their previous flaws, and cite that as an aspect they can take into Sunday against the Dallas Mavericks.

“Yeah, we won,” Adebayo said sarcastically when asked what they can take from the 76ers win. “I will say in the second half, we were way more destructive, and that’s how we got to be for 48 minutes. We shouldn’t have been down 15, 17, then we got to fight our way back. It should have been that from the jump and continuing on from first half to the second half.”

So far this season, the three-time All-Star is averaging 16.3 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game while shooting 42.6 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from deep. He looks to dominate Sunday, facing Dallas as Miami aims to win two straight.

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