Miami coach Erik Spoelstra thinks that Bam Adebayo should get his flowers and isn’t happy about his omission in a recent NBA general manager’s player poll.
The NBA released a poll where the league’s GMs voted for the best players in multiple categories.
One of those being best defensive player in the NBA.
However, Heat big man Adebayo didn’t receive a single vote, and coach Spo was baffled.
“That one is unbelievable to me,” said Spoelstra, per Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. “I think Bam is the best defensive player in the league and I just can’t understand why he’s not recognized for how impactful he is on that end of the court. So he’s just going to have to prove it again and just do it this year until everybody notices. I think that’s a good award to go for.”
The Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo took out majority of the votes for best defensive player at 40 percent, while Boston’s new acquisition Jrue Holiday got 13 percent of the votes.
Golden State’s Draymond Green (10 percent) and Marcus Smart (10 percent) tied third in the polling.
Bam had a defensive rating of 110.9 for the 2022-23 season, whilst Giannis had a 107.7 rating.
You could put the GMs voting down to recency bias, as Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic was able to dominate Adebayo for most of the NBA Finals series.
Bam and the Miami Heat continue to wear their underdog tag heading into the 2023-24 season.
Despite the Heat making the NBA Finals last season, they didn’t receive a single vote to win the title this year.
The Nuggets are Boston were both tied at 33 percent to win the chip.
Looks like the Heat will just have to prove everyone wrong once more.
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