Bam Adebayo’s 3-pointers part of Miami Heat future thought

WASHINGTON – The law of gravity hasn’t necessarily caught up with Bam Adebayo. But Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said there could come a time when the pull of his center’s 3-pointers becomes a weighty proposition for opponents.
With Adebayo having converted at least one 3-pointer in seven of eight appearances going into Sunday night’s matchup against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena, Spoelstra said he could envision a time when Adebayo at the arc gains the complete attention of opposing offenses.
Just not now.
“Probably not this year,” Spoelstra said, with two weeks remaining in the regular season. “I think it would be a cool thing to explore, for sure. I think it’ll take some time before schemes change from other teams.
“Teams are always going to, right now, play off of him, just because of all the other things it can create – the passing angles, the drives, the aggressiveness, all that stuff. But we’re probably going to look back at this four, five years from now and not even remember that these were those kind of discussions.”
To Spoelstra, it is just another element added to a growing Adebayo arsenal.
“And that’s the exciting thing about Bam,” Spoelstra said. “Every single year, he just continues to add, and that’s a credit to his work ethic, and having the right environment, where he can explore new things within the context of the team.”
Guard Terry Rozier joked that Adebayo is starting to steal some of the thunder with his deep launches.
“Taking away my attempts,” Rozier said with a laugh. “Nah, I think we all want him to shoot it. He’s shooting it super confident and I think it’s only going to keep getting better.
“And it’ll make guys have to play him honest. It’ll be even tougher to guard, when you play him out there. So I think it’s going to be a huge help for our offense and we want him to shoot that.”
Rozier, acquired from the Charlotte Hornets in January, said the Adebayo experience has been as expected, of a polished player still growing, including in this first season as Heat captain.
“He’s giving 100 percent energy every night and a guy you look to the right, you look to the left, that’s going to work with you every night and just make you feel good and you just feed off of him,” Rozier said. “So we are glad to have a guy like that, that’s leading us.”

Singular focus

Spoelstra said the Heat’s ongoing injury report cannot be allowed to take focus away from the mission of the moment.
The Heat went into Sunday’s game without Tyler Herro and Caleb Martin.
“This far into the season, we know what our identity is,” Spoelstra said. “That has nothing to do with who’s available, who’s not available. It’s about getting to that identity more consistently. When we do that, we put ourselves in a much better position to win basketball games.”

Coming up short

Despite sending center Orlando Robinson and two-way players Alondes Williams and Cole Swider to the G League in an effort to assist the Sioux Falls Skyforce in their bid for the Western Conference championship of that league, the Heat’s affiliate came up short with a pair of losses to the Sacramento Kings’ affiliate.

The second-place finish still gives the Skyforce a first-round playoff bye.

Robinson closed with 21 points and 14 rebounds in Saturday’s 101-91 loss to the Stockton Kings on the final night of regular-season play in the G League. Swider added 18 points and 10 rebounds.

The Skyforce next play in a single-elimination Western Conference semifinal game either Thursday or Friday.