Bam Adebayo, the big man for the Miami Heat, has been one of the NBA’s finest defensive players in recent years, and he’s frequently considered a contender for Defensive Player of the Year.

He hasn’t won Defensive Player of the Year, despite being selected to the All-Defensive Second Team each of the previous four seasons.

When questioned if a player’s number of steals and blocks determines the recipient of the award, Adebayo acknowledged that some people are “stat watchers.”

Many believe that players with high steal and block averages are superior defenders than those with lower averages. Nonetheless, some of the best defenders in the NBA accomplish their goals by playing excellent positional defense, forcing mistakes from opponents, or preventing them from doing their desired actions without obtaining many steals or blocks.

In the 2019–20 season, Adebayo reached a high point of 1.3 blocks per game, while in the 2021–22 campaign, he recorded a career-high 1.4 thefts per game.

Over the past several years, he has steadily improved his all-around performance, and in the last four seasons, he has been selected to the All-Star squad twice. He led the Heat to an unexpected trip to the NBA Finals last year, averaging a career-high 20.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game.

They lost out on both Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard, who had explicitly requested a trade to the Heat. In order to have a chance at making it back to the championship series, they will need to make significant progress internally.

They’re hoping Duncan Robinson can return to his previous level of 3-point shooting accuracy and that second-year big man Nikola Jovic can become a valuable member of the team.