Heat's Bam Adebayo reveals how many 3-pointers he plans to take this season

10/04/2024 11:40 AM

As Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo looks to lead his team into a highly anticipated season, people are wondering how the big-man can further improve his own game. With the Heat looking to challenge in a competitive Eastern Conference, the talk of Adebayo last season towards the end was his improvement in shooting from beyond the arch.

During Monday’s media day, he spoke about this development with Brendan Tobin and his radio show where he was asked to estimate how many three-point shots he would attempt this upcoming season. While Tobin would originally throw out 200 as a possible number, that received initial blowback, agreeing that 100 shots from deep could be obtainable as Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra saw what his improvements can be.

“Yeah,” Adebayo said when Tobin asked if 100 three-pointers is doable. “Sometimes I think seeing is believing. I think Spo [Spoelstra] seeing me, being my development coach in the Olympics. I think it was a shoot around and all of us didn’t really want to go to shoot around, but you know how shoot arounds are.”

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

Bam Adebayo on how his three-point aspect impacts the rest of the Heat

Last season, Adebayo attempted 42 shots from deep where it was not until the middle of March where he was really incorporating that into his game. With that being said, 100 is not a far out number if he was on the path like the second half of the season where he had a streak of eight games where he made at least one deep shot.

As he looks to make this a regular aspect that teams have to prepare for, he also spoke about his shooting and what it can add to the rest of the team. He says besides himself, the threat of him shooting from deep helps other Heat stars like Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, and Terry Rozier in getting to the basket as he said Monday to the media.

“Space on the floor,” Adebayo said. “I mean, obviously it makes life easier for Jimmy [Butler], Terry [Rozier], Tyler [Herro] to get to the basket, and then also myself. So just open up the floor, just making it easier for driving kicks.”

Heat’s Bam Adebayo on adding another dimension to his game

The center mentioned it before, but when Adebayo won a gold medal with Team USA this past summer, his three-point shooting ability was put on display as well whether it be during practice or in a game. There was even a point where Team USA teammate LeBron James said that him and Adebayo were the new “Splash Brothers.”

"I'm always looking to improve everything — it's not just one thing specifically," Adebayo said during the offseason. "Obviously, everybody is going to point out the three-point shooting. But for me, it's like decision making when you need to be able to make a play, read the game, being able to be the second coach on the floor besides your head coach. Being able to be, when we can't hear [coach Erik Spoelstra] because he's on the far end, being able to communicate and understand what the goal is throughout the game.”

"Like I said, everybody is going to look at my three-point shooting and be like, 'Oh, that's what he worked on.' Of course I did,” Adebayo continued. “It's due for development. Any great player wants to develop to be a three-level scorer, and that's what I strive to be. But for me, it's not really just one particular thing when it comes to development."

Bam Adebayo on entering second season as Heat captain

It has been an eventful offseason for Adebayo who secured a sizable contract extension on top of winning his second gold medal with USA. Now, he looks to be a four-time All-Star with an improvement in three-point shooting being likely to put him over the top as he looks to improve from 35.7 percent from that range.

He also will be heading into his second season being Miami’s captain as he spoke to ClutchPoints about how the role doesn’t get any easier.

"No it hasn’t," Adebayo said. "It doesn’t get any easier. You know, you got new guys coming in, and you have to explain to them what we’re about, how we’re about, how we move, and just really, it’s not about yourself. You know, every year I come back, and more and more, you start to realize that you’re doing this for something bigger than yourself. Like I said, I didn’t choose to be captain. It was kinda…UD (Udonis Haslem) forced me in this role. But you understand that when you get into that role and get into that high seat, it’s not about you at the end of the day."

Asked Bam Adebayo about going into his second year as captain and if he has a different perspective on it:

"It doesn't get easier…you don't choose to be captain…UD (Haslem) forced me into this role…it's not about yourself…" #HeatCulturepic.twitter.com/rzOz415Flr

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) September 30, 2024

Heat’s Erik Spoelstra on workin with Bam Adebayo during Olympics

While Adebayo is confident in his three-point shot, the one person that will have to green light him trying more is Spoelstra who has expressed time and time again how much trust each have in one another. He spoke about being Adebayo’s development coach in Paris and in terms of the Heat, they said they will “continue to add more on his plate.”

"He just has to continue to lead us. He’ll grow," Spoelstra said. "We’ll continue to add more on his plate. You know, the summer was a really fun experience for this old veteran coach, I really treasured that opportunity to be in a team environment with him in a different role. Our relationship has really grown over these years. To be able to step back and be an assistant coach over there, I thought was one of my most memorable moments in this profession, we were able to spend a lot of time in between and have different kind of discussions and different kind of relationship."

"It reminded me, really, it was kind of full circle," Spoelstra continued. "You know, I was assistant coach and worked with Dwayne. It brought me back a lot of those kind of memories. We didn’t have any deep support staff with USA Basketball so when you’re an assistant coach, you had to do all the player development, you had to do all the rebounding, shagging balls, all that stuff. And so I was Bam’s workout coach. That was fun. And then when we were done working out, we’d sit in the gym and just just shoot the s, you know, and not even talk about hoops, not talk about the team, just really treasuring the experience that we were having being part of that team."

Bam Adebayo looking to make a statement in his eighth season

Last season, Adebayo averaged 19.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game while shooting 52 percent from the field as the goal this season is for the Heat to bounce back after finishing at the eighth seed for the second straight season. They are in the midst of training camp as the first preseason game is on Oct. 8 against the Charlotte Hornets and the regular season opener is on Oct. 23 against the Orlando Magic.

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