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Heat working to ‘recalibrate’ fast without Bam Adebayo. A breakdown of the options

Daniel A. Varela/dvarela@miamiherald.com

Bam Adebayo and the Miami Heat need time. Adebayo needs time to heal, and the Heat needs time to adjust to life without Adebayo.

The Heat learned Wednesday morning that its starting center will miss approximately six weeks after he was diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb. On Wednesday night, the Heat fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers 111-85 at FTX Arena for its most lopsided loss of the season.

“I’m not the type of person that will put out negative energy. So I always think positive. But today was a downer,” Adebayo said after watching Wednesday’s defeat from the Heat’s bench. “But for these six weeks, I can’t change nothing about it. That’s my only option.”

It doesn’t help that the Heat was also without star Jimmy Butler, who missed his second consecutive game Wednesday because of a tail bone contusion. He’s expected to return within the next week, but Butler did not travel with the Heat to Indianapolis for the start of its two-game trip against the Indiana Pacers on Friday (7 p.m., Bally Sports Sun).

“We need a little bit of time just to assess everything and formulate a new plan, a new direction,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “... Collectively as a group, we’ll make the necessary adjustments. When you lose an All-Star player, it’s never easy. But this is the league.

“When I look around the league, I see a lot of teams dealing with injuries and guys out and guys coming back. There’s a lot of that going on right now and we just have to weather the storm and recalibrate and figure out a new plan, new direction, which our guys are very capable of doing.”

The Heat entered Thursday in fifth place in the Eastern Conference at 13-9, one of 10 teams in the East with a winning record. If Adebayo misses six weeks, he would not return until around Jan. 12 and sit out roughly 20 games.

“Bam is one of the most dynamic unique players in the league,” Spoelstra said. “So there’s not going to be one solution for that. It’s going to take some unique solutions and some thought. We’ll figure it out. There will be some things that we’ll have to do differently. There’s no way that we can make it look like the same. He’s an absolute hybrid on both ends of the court.”

The Heat started veteran center Dewayne Dedmon in Adebayo’s place Wednesday, as expected. With Dedmon moving from backup to starter, Spoelstra went small by playing starting forward P.J. Tucker (6-5, 245) at center in some of the non-Dedmon minutes and forward KZ Okpala for a season-high 15 minutes in Dedmon’s usual spot in the bench rotation against the Cavaliers.

The eventual return of veteran forward Markieff Morris, who can also play as a center at 6-9 and 245 pounds will help solidify the Heat’s frontcourt. Morris missed his 12th consecutive game Wednesday because of whiplash, and Spoelstra said before the Heat’s loss to the Cavaliers that there’s still no update on Morris’ status.

“It’s always next man up. That has always been our motto since I’ve been here,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said. “We need guys to step up. Whether Jimmy is back for this road trip or not, with those two guys out, somebody has to step up. Multiple guys have to step up.”

Kyle Lowry added that the Heat is “going to have to change some stuff. Not change things, but just adjust, adapt. It’s a big thing when you lose a guy like Bam.”

Here’s a rundown of the Heat’s frontcourt options with Adebayo out ...

Dedmon: The expectation is he will start at center for as long as Adebayo is out. He holds a team-best plus-minus of plus-87, but he’ll now be counted on to play extended minutes for the first time since he joined the Heat late last season.

Dedmon finished Wednesday’s loss with 11 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks in 31 minutes. It’s the most minutes he has played in a game since signing with the Heat.

Tucker: The Heat went small for about three minutes in the first quarter on Wednesday, with Tucker playing at center as part of a lineup that also included Lowry, Gabe Vincent, Duncan Robinson and Caleb Martin. Miami was outscored 11-2 during that stretch.

“P.J. is going to make the right play every time offensively and defensively,” Lowry said when asked about Tucker playing at center. “But in that lineup, we got to be scrappier, we got to be a lot more tougher in those type of lineups. So if P.J. is in that position, he knows how to play the game and he knows what to do. ... With him in that lineup, we know the right decisions will be made all the time.”

Okpala: He was the big Spoelstra used off the bench during the non-Dedmon minutes Wednesday. He finished with with six points, one rebound and one assist in 15 minutes.

“We have to figure that out. I’m not totally sure right now,” Spoelstra said when asked about Okpala filling Dedmon’s role off the bench while Adebayo is out. “Defensively, he can do a lot of similar things to what we do with Bam. It’s a different skill set for us offensively with him at the five. That’s something that I’m going to have to figure out.”

Okpala, 22, is in his third NBA season but has rarely been a consistent part of the Heat’s rotation. The 6-8 forward has played more minutes in the G League (572) than in the NBA (536).

Omer Yurtseven: He did not enter Wednesday’s game until the final minutes with the Cavaliers already ahead by more than 20 points. The 6-11 and 275-pound rookie has played in 13 games this season, but most of his appearances have come late in either blowout wins or losses.

Yurtseven is skilled offensively, but he has been working behind the scenes to improve as a defender.

“They got to play,” Lowry said of Okpala and Yurtseven. “This is a professional league, you have to be prepared to play. You got to stay ready to be ready, and always just be ready to go.”

Udonis Haslem: He did not play Wednesday. Haslem, 41, has played in four games this season and just nine games since the start of the 2019-20 season.

A free agent: The Heat has an open roster spot, but any addition at this point of the season would take the team into the luxury tax. The Heat currently stands about $400,000 from the tax threshold.

Miami has worked to avoid the luxury tax this season in part because of the threat of the punitive repeater tax (when a team is over the tax at least three times during a four-year period). The Heat finished the 2019-20 season as a tax team.

Some of the bigs who remain free agents are Aron Baynes, Bismack Biyombo, Luke Kornet and Norvel Pelle.

The Heat knows it won’t be able to replace Adebayo’s production and skill set.

Adebayo, 24, has averaged 18.7 points on 51.9 percent shooting, 10.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.1 steals in 18 games this season. His elite switchability at 6-9 and 255 pounds is the skill that the Heat’s defense is built around, as it has allowed 103.1 points per 100 possessions with Adebayo on the court and 107.2 points per 100 possessions with Adebayo not playing this season.

The Heat’s 2-3 zone look will likely continue to be a consistent part of its defensive plan with Adebayo out.

“Every game is going to be different,” Lowry said of the Heat’s defense without Adebayo. “Every game is going to be matchup based, I would think, a little bit more. I think we just have to find the matchups and the coverages that work for that game, who we’re playing against, the team we’re playing against, the individual stars that we’re playing against.”

The only thing that will get the Heat and Adebayo past this is time, and they hope the next six weeks pass fast.

“I’m already ready for my six weeks to be over,” Adebayo said, who will undergo surgery this weekend. “But it’s a grind. Get back healthy and help my team win some games.”

Adebayo, Butler, Marcus Garrett (G League assignment), Markieff Morris (whiplash) and Victor Oladipo (right knee injury recovery) did not travel with the Heat to Indianapolis. They will all miss Friday’s game against the Pacers and very likely Saturday’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks.