The Bam Adebayo influence? Erik Spoelstra believes in it. ‘That intrigued Giannis’

The Miami Heat organization has become known as an attractive landing spot for stars. From Shaquille O’Neal to LeBron James to Chris Bosh to Jimmy Butler and now two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, an impressive list of stars have made the move to Miami over the last two-plus decades.

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There are plenty of reasons Antetokounmpo was interested in making the move to the Heat this past summer after spending the first 13 seasons of his NBA career with the Milwaukee Bucks. But Heat coach Erik Spoelstra believes Heat center Bam Adebayo was one of the biggest driving forces behind Antetokounmpo’s interest in Miami.

“Our culture was a selling point to the guys we brought in,” Spoelstra said recently during an appearance on “The Dan Le Batard Show.” “But equally as much of a recruiting pitch or selling point was Bam Adebayo. That’s not about him getting on the phone and recruiting guys. It wasn’t about that. It’s about the deep respect he has around the league, that everyone sees him as a winner and a guy that’s about all the right things and a great teammate and a guy that impacts winning at the highest level. That intrigued Giannis.

“That’s the influence Bam has that you could compare to Dwyane [Wade] that everybody thought ‘if I go there, that leads to winning.’ And I think that’s the way people view Bam.”

Even with Adebayo sharing the same agent as Antetokounmpo in Alex Saratsis, it was never about actively recruiting Antetokounmpo to the Heat. Instead, Adebayo believes it’s the respect he has earned through the years that helped lead to Antetokounmpo joining forces with him in Miami.

“I think it’s respect, man. Because you go against so many dudes in this league and then obviously they see what I bring to the table,” Adebayo said to the Miami Herald before the new-look Heat opened the regular season Wednesday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Kaseya Center. “It’s not just scoring. It’s not just rebounding. It’s not just defense. I do all these great things and a lot of times don’t get credit for it, as much as the outside media wants to shame me and rank me. A lot of dudes respect me in this league.”

It also helps that Antetokounmpo knows what it’s like to compete against Adebayo, as the two have faced each other in three different playoff series across the past seven seasons. With Adebayo serving as the primary defender on Antetokounmpo in most of those playoff games, the Heat won two of those three series.

“Being respected by my peers, the people who are playing against me, matters,” Adebayo continued. “That’s the utmost respect you can get. But yeah, I feel like, we’ve been battling for 10 years at this point, and obviously we got the same agent. So it’s not really recruiting. But it’s more so like if there was a possibility it could happen, we’ll see how it happens. But for the most part, man, it’s always been respect.”

Antetokounmpo enjoyed his first training camp and preseason as Adebayo’s teammate, comparing him to his older brother Thanasis Antetokounmpo. Antetokounmpo then pointed out that Adebayo and Thanasis have the same July 18 birthday.

“I love playing with Bam,” Antetokounmpo said. “I just love interacting with him. He has the same personality as my older brother. They were born on the same day. His personality is familiar to me. I love being around him. I love playing with him. I think the more we get to know one another, the better it’s going to be.”

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The respect between Adebayo and Antetokounmpo is already there. Now, it’s about continuing to figure out how to play alongside each other.

“He’s a force and he’s a competitor,” Antetokounmpo said of Adebayo. “He’s always going to play hard. I love his approach. I’ve said this in the past. Just having a guy like that that’s going to be ready for 82 games, it’s great. I’m the same way. Obviously, in the paint, we hope that we can be a force together.”

The Heat is excited about the possibilities.

“I think it’s very good for us,” Spoelstra said of the Adebayo-Antetokounmpo pairing. “There are a lot of strengths. They’re really going to play off each other defensively and establish this level of physicality that we want. And offensively, they’re just so unique. Having two bigs that can rebound the basketball and both initiate offense in slightly different ways, I think, gives us some uniqueness to the way we play.”

It’s guaranteed

With center Nick Richards still on the Heat’s roster Wednesday, his full $3.1 million salary for this season is now fully guaranteed.

Richards, 28, averaged 5.6 points and a team-high 8.2 rebounds per game in five appearances for the Heat this preseason. He’s entering his seventh NBA season.

Rebounding is a strength for Richards, as he has averaged 11 or more total rebounds per 36 minutes in four straight seasons and four or more offensive rebounds per 36 minutes in three of the last four seasons. Among the 432 NBA players who appeared in at least 25 games last regular season, Richards ranked 24th in rebounding percentage (the percentage of a team’s total rebounds that a player grabs while on the court).

Richards (6-foot-11 and 255 pounds) provides much-needed frontcourt depth to the Heat’s roster, with Adebayo and Bobby Portis Jr. the only other players on Miami’s standard roster who have played extended minutes at center during their NBA careers. The only other center on Miami’s roster is Vlad Goldin, who is signed to a two-way deal.

With Richards’ salary now fully guaranteed, the only player on the Heat’s current standard roster with a contract that’s not yet fully guaranteed is wing Myron Gardner, who enters the season with $500,000 of his $2.2 million salary guaranteed. Gardner’s full salary becomes guaranteed on Jan. 10.

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