Heat All-Star Bam Adebayo sets ambitious goal for 2023-24 season

Miami Heat All-Star big man Bam Adebayo was one of the team's strongest performers in the 2023 NBA Finals. Although they came up short of a championship, Adebayo and the Heat are poised to make another title run next season.

While Miami waits for a Damian Lillard trade to unfold, the team's stars have set personal goals for themselves this season. Adebayo told Playmaker HQ that he has his eyes set on winning the Defensive Player of the Year Award next season.

Bam has asserted himself as one of the best defenders in the league, earning four career All-Defensive Second-Team honors. With his speed and size, Adebayo is one of the most versatile big men in the league, able to effectively defend every position.

Additionally, Adebayo is coached by Erik Spoelstra, one of the top coaches in the NBA who always emphasizes defense. He assures that his team is in top shape and works as hard as every other in the league, if not harder. This is usually a recipe for Miami being a top-10 defense in. All of these factors make Adebayo's goal a realistic one to achieve next season.

That being said, there are two factors that have prevented Adebayo from winning the award in previous years. One of those is missed games. Over the past three seasons, Adebayo has missed a total of 51 games. Although only seven of those came last season, the Heat had a rough regular season and ended up as the eighth seed in the playoffs. That likely did not support Adebayo's case for Defensive Player of the Year, as he finished fifth in the voting.

Another factor is the lack of counting stats. Adebayo is one of the most impactful defenders in the league, but that doesn't always show up on the stat sheet. Over the course of his career, he has averaged 0.9 blocks and one steal per game. To put things into perspective, Jaren Jackson Jr., who was last year's winner of the award, averaged a league-leading three blocks per game, as well as a steal per contest.

The Heat reached the NBA Finals last season thanks to the defensive contributions of Adebayo. Perhaps that will encourage voters to take a closer look at his defensive impact for this upcoming season. Otherwise, Adebayo will need to stuff the stat sheet in order to take home the Defensive Player of the Year Award.