The rejection and coast-to-coast bucket by Bam Adebayo.
The NBA announced the nominees for the regular-season awards on Monday, a day after the Miami Heat opened their playoffs with a 115-91 win over the Atlanta Hawks.
One of the top three candidates for Coach of the Year was the Heat coach. Tyler Herro was one of the top three candidates. The Defensive Player of the Year pool did not include the big man from Miami.
After practice Monday, the coach said he was stunned that Bam was not a finalist. I don't want that as an excuse because he's played enough games.
The Heat had the fourth-best defensive rating in the league. Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics played 71 games for the No. 1-rated defense.
The big man in the Heat believes the voting was skewed by the number of times the top candidates played in the national spotlight.
Adebayo was disrespectful when asked about the announcement of the finalist. They play on TV more than me. I would expect that. They get more exposure to TV games. People talk about them more. Nobody wants to talk about us. At that point, it's whatever.
The Suns had 34 nationally televised games. The Celtics had 32, the Jazz had 26 and the Heat had 22.
A lot of guys get a lot of awards because they are always on TV and have good games.
The inclusion of Herro and Spoelstra in the awards announcement is not in line with Adebayo's claim. The fact that Miami went 17-9 in the games he missed would suggest that the Heat's team defense was a major factor in Adebayo's success.
The national TV schedule was the main point of contention.
The only thing that is frustrating is that we don't get as many TV games as they do.
The impact of Adebayo jumps off the screen for anyone who watches it.
He said to just watch any one of the games. It is not just a thing you throw out there that he can guard 1 through 5. You can count on one hand the number of guys that can compete at all five positions in his association of 450. He is at the top of that list. That is unique to itself.
Herro is fine with people spending more time talking about other series, like the Celtics versus the Nets, rather than what is happening in South Beach.
Herro said that they don't really want attention. They have to come through here anyways, so we will see what happens.
Miami will look to build a 2-0 lead over the Hawks on Tuesday.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
