Bam Adebayo on Heat ‘standard,’ friendship with Jayson Tatum, Team USA role and more

Culture is a Miami Heat buzzword that received a lot of attention during last season’s improbable and historic run to the NBA Finals as the Eastern Conference’s No. 8 seed. Despite an early first-round playoff exit this season, the Heat’s culture continues to be a topic of discussion.

With the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks beginning this season’s NBA Finals on Thursday, Heat center Bam Adebayo appeared on the latest episode of the “Point Game with John Wall and C.J. Toledano” podcast and discussed what sets the Heat’s culture apart.

“To me, it’s just a standard,” Adebayo said during the podcast released on Wednesday. “People try to make up these myths and [expletive] like that. The biggest thing I could say about it is it’s a standard. Every year, [Heat coach Erik Spoelstra] comes in and is like, ‘This is what we’re trying to get. We’re trying to get the trophy.’ Sixteen wins, whatever that may be, but it’s a standard because every day our coach walks in and challenges us.

“Every day, he walks in and is like, ‘You’re going to be prepared for what’s about to happen in this season.’ That doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to execute. But it’s the standard of always having to be that way, having to come in there and really lock in every day to the point where like you get in the playoffs, it’s second nature.”

Since being drafted by the Heat with the 14th overall pick in 2017, Adebayo has thrived in that environment. Adebayo is a three-time All-Star and was named to the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team for the first time in his career this season after being selected for the All-Defensive Second Team in each of the previous four seasons.

Adebayo, who turns 27 on July 18, has spent each of his first seven NBA seasons with the Heat. He’s under contract with the Heat through the 2025-26 season and is eligible to sign a three-year extension worth $165 million this offseason that begins with a $51.2 million salary for the 2026-27 season.

“We’re not for everybody,” Adebayo said during the podcast. “Some people just mentally can’t do that every day. They mentally can’t lock in every day. It is what it is and we understand that, and that’s why a lot of guys don’t come here. Because they always be like, ‘Man, y’all do too much,’ this, that and the third. But a lot of y’all be sitting at home while we’re in the Finals. I’m not saying it’s a mind game, but it’s just a standard. What standard do you want for yourself, what standard do you want for your team? At the end of the day, we all want to win, so what are you willing to do?”

Adebayo also touched on other topics during the 56-minute podcast episode ...

▪ Adebayo praised Spoelstra and the Heat’s coaching staff for their work on developing undrafted prospects such as Duncan Robinson, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent into rotation-level NBA players.

“Coach has done a lot of work with undrafted guys,” Adebayo said. “Fitting them into a scheme, fitting them into personnel where they can be comfortable. … We don’t go on those runs to the Finals just by two players. Our undrafted guys had big moments in the playoffs for us. Some guys, everybody be like, ‘Who the [expletive] is this?’

“Spo does a great job of when guys get out there, playing toward their strengths. If you play the wing and you’re a defender, we’re probably going to pick up 94 feet. That’s his outlet. That’s how he’s going to earn his money in this league, he’s a defender. We’re going to let him defend, go do you. It’s one of those things where he’s done a great job of putting guys in situations to be successful.”

▪ Adebayo’s friendship with Celtics star Jayson Tatum is well-documented. But the two have also needed to balance their friendship with their teams’ on-court rivalry, as the Heat and Celtics have faced off in the playoffs in four of the last five seasons.

“We’ve competed so much throughout the years,” Adebayo said. “Being in the same conference, at some point, we always end up seeing each other at the end of the year. I don’t know why it’s written like that. But a lot of times, we end up seeing each other at the end of the year. It’s one of those ones when I’m not talking to you throughout that whole series. As soon as the buzzer goes off and it’s win or lose, then it’s ‘How’s the family? How is everybody doing?’

“At the end of the day, we’re out here to compete. I’m not here to be friends with you right now. In the summer, we can be boys. Cool, that’s my man, 100 grand. But when we get between those lines, I’m trying to rip your head off.”

▪ Adebayo was Team USA’s starting center for the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021, winning his first gold medal. But with the addition of Joel Embiid to Team USA’s roster, Adebayo doesn’t necessarily expect to again be used in a starting role this summer during the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

“It would probably be [LeBron James], [Kevin Durant], [Stephen Curry], you got to put Joel in there and then the fifth one is kind of the wild card,” Adebayo said when asked who he would include in Team USA’s starting lineup in Paris. “It really depends on how those four fit with the last person. So I can’t give you that last person.”

But if that last person is Adebayo, he will be ready to be the complementary player in Team USA’s loaded starting group.

“Let’s be honest here, I’m not on the Olympic team to go shoot 20 times,” said Adebayo, who will make his second appearance in the Olympics this summer as part of Team USA’s men’s basketball roster. “I’m there to be versatile, switch, defend, make plays. That’s what I’m there for. So if that starting role calls for that and that’s for me, that’s for me.”

Adebayo is looking to become the first player in franchise history to win multiple gold medals while with the Heat. He’s already one of just five players to win a gold medal while with the Heat, along with James (2012 Olympics), Dwyane Wade (2008 Olympics), Alonzo Mourning (2000 Olympics) and Tim Hardaway (2000 Olympics).

Team USA’s men’s team plays its first game as part of Olympic competition this summer on July 28 against Serbia.

BATTIER’S EVENT

The 18 students from the 2024 class of the Battier Take Charge Foundation Guide Miami program will receive four-year Florida prepaid scholarships — accomplishments recognized during a celebratory graduation on Thursday at Florida Memorial University. The Battier Take Charge Foundation Guide Miami program, which was launched in 2016, “works with driven high-school students to inform them about educational opportunities and motivate them to pursue a college degree,” according to the foundation’s website.

With this news, the Battier Take Charge Foundation has surpassed the $3 million mark in scholarships awarded.

The foundation was founded by former Heat forward and current Heat strategic advisor Shane Battier and his wife, Heidi. The Battier Take Charge Foundation “helps promising young people take charge of their lives and reach their greatest potential through college scholarships, mentorship, networking, and leadership training.”