"I feel like Bam is still tryna’ find his footing because Giannis doesn’t give a fuck. Giannis came to Miami doing what Giannis does, Giannis thinks. And I feel like Bam is kinda’ out of place a few times, kinda’ understanding what kind of spacing, ‘When is it my turn? How can we make this two-man game work?’”
That is ex-NBA journeyman Matt Barnes on his podcast. That is also clickbait for Barnes' podcast. Barnes doesn't know anything, he is just watching some of the games. That doesn't mean Barnes is wrong. I read the same thing in the box score. I believe that head coach Eric Spoelstra has totally misused this duo, which should have been formidable as a Two Big, bungled Bam's usage rate and has an ass-backwards game plan for this roster that is worse than the sum of its parts. Bam does look confused as to his role and lost on the court. It is not just Bam. "Multiple players", that was the reporting, said that there was a lack of communication on the court. I understood Spoelstra's plan for Bam and Giannis to be that on defense the three other players would funnel the offense toward the dual Black Holes. I assumed, I needed read this, that the obvious way to use a 6' 11" MVP and the 6' 9" muscle and hard body of the face of the franchise was to play a Two Big, Great Wall, Twin Towers game on both ends of the court.
"Face of the franchise": Let us remind ourselves: Bam Adebayo is the "Heat's" long-time CAPTAIN! Pat Riley said offseason that Bam was untouchable in trade. Semi-joking said hyperbolically the he might trade Bam for Victor Wembanyama and eight first round draft picks. Such a player cannot take a back seat to anyone. That has happened, it's not the only thing that has happened but it has happened. Giannis is nearly all correct to think that he would continue to do Giannis things on his new team. But Bam is right if he thought that their coach would scheme a way for him to continue to do Bam things, one of which is to be the team leader. Giannis does not get to call the shots. Spoelstra does. It is Spoelstra's call to devise a system to make Bam and Giannis even better together than each are individually. That has not happened, it's not the only thing that has not happened, but it has not happened.
This team is a shocking, embarrassing 0-4. That's on Eric Spoelstra. Bam is soldiering on as best he can. So are all the other players. It has not worked.
