The 2020-2021 NBA season is nearing its home stretch, and there’s a lot of awards talk starting to surface. The MVP race appears to be down to Joel Embiid vs. Nikola Jokic. The Most Improved Player award is being delivered to Julius Randle’s house as we speak. The Rookie of the Year might come down to whether or not LaMelo Ball finishes out the season with a certain number of games.

However, the Defensive Player of the Year award has been quite the topic recently among the basketball zeitgeist. You can hear the passionate pleas from Jazz fans pushing for their rim protector to win once more. You can also hear the case being made for Ben Simmons by Ben Simmons. The 76ers Point Guard has said he believes the award should be his. In a recent interview, he’s even pointed out how he thinks he’s the only one in the league who can guard guys like Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.

Those comments sure seemed to rile up Jazz fans who believe Rudy Gobert’s elite rim protection is more than enough to warrant the award. But no one in the general NBA stratosphere batted an eye, as they (and Ben Simmons) failed to realize there’s a 6’10 tall Center with a 7’3 wingspan in Miami who has been doing those things Simmons talked about. Bam Adebayo isn’t one to toot his own horn. And he isn’t one to make an extensive campaign for a regular-season award. That’s not how he’s wired, despite being as good as he is.

He’s not going to be out here doing interviews about how he can defend Domantas Sabonis and Malcolm Brogdon in the same game at a high level. Adebayo lets his game do all the talking for him. It’s a far cry from the Center Miami used to employ not too long ago. And maybe that’s why Bam has been even more careful of being a team-first guy on and off the floor. He saw how Miami dealt with Hassan Whiteside’s brashness about awards and individual numbers and didn’t want to be seen as that kind of player in any way.

But I’m not Bam Adebayo, and I’m here to let you know that this 23-year-old star needs to be in the DPOY discussion of every pundit, message board, Twitter thread, and barbershop. Adebayo is a truly astonishing defensive player to watch on a nightly basis. He puts on defensive masterclasses every game. When you watch him on every possession, he does so much to muck up the opposition’s game plan. He’s the powerful wrench Erik Spoelstra can unleash to make most offenses second guess their next move.

Knicks score here but *look* at this closeout/recovery from Bam. Heat trapped the P&R with Rose, Robinson rotates to Toppin, Bam rotates to Burks *and* contains the drive. That's great stuff. pic.twitter.com/IQZsiT9lJO

— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) March 30, 2021

Rudy Gobert is an elite rim protector and can deter so many people away with his presence. But it’s not like Adebayo is a slouch on that end, allowing a -6.6 DIFF% at the rim. It may not be Gobert’s -13.8 or Myles Turner’s -13.7, but it doesn’t need to be because Bam doesn’t allow guys to get to the rim in the first place. Turner and Gobert play in systems that funnel guys into the paint for them to deter. Adebayo plays in a system where he’s out on the perimeter as the first and then the last line of defense. There is no Heat defensive system without the unicorn that is Bam.

Myles Turner is an amazing rim protector, but I’ll scoff at you if you think he should be in the conversation ahead of Adebayo. Bam has to fill the role of point of attack defender while also being the rim protector. He hasn’t been able to rely on any of his guards all year, especially with Oladipo out with injury. The defensive burden he’s had to carry this season is truly remarkable.

The man blows up so much of what most teams like to do by presenting the opposition with a Rubix cube of defensive wizardry. Coaches and offenses have to find their way around the Adebayo conundrum. Recently teams have begun to use Bam’s willingness to switch against him by getting mismatches in the post. The unnecessary switches are something Bam does need to clean up, and I’m sure he will. He has the right coach and assistants for the job.

Think of how much of a First Defensive World Problem that is? The starting Center is so elite on the perimeter that teams can’t go at him with their Guards and Wings. Teams are changing the way they play to get around dealing with him. And man, how those teams hate dealing with his perimeter defense. This is a Center that held Kyrie Irving to 0-8 shooting. On the season, he’s held All-Stars like Steph Curry to 1-5 shooting, Domantas Sabonis to 2-6, LeBron James to 2-8, Giannis Antetokounmpo to 5-13, and Julius Randle to 7-22.

Lost in those statistics are the shots they don’t take because of how pesky Bam can be. They try some dribbling and basically throw in the towel because they can’t get around a mobile wall that moves laterally. Players look like they’re dribbling the air out of the ball instead of running an actual offense. Bam stands his ground like a soldier protecting his fort. Sliding his feet in a perfect defensive stance that would make any level of basketball coach proud. The sheer intimidation he gives staring at the offensive player’s soul, knowing they don’t have a plan. He feels powerful therefore rendering the opposition powerless. They’ve already lost before they can even think about the next move.

The ones who are lucky to see the rim will still be met with a fight they’ll need to win by K.O. There’s a reason his most famous playoff moment was a stunning block on Jayson Tatum. He still has the timing of a Batman villain obsessed with clocks. Don’t think treading lightly in the paint will do you any favors. Bam works so tirelessly to keep you from the rim and if you’re lucky enough to make it there, you’ll be met with his powerful presence there too.

This is only the beginning of Bam’s journey. If he doesn’t win this year, he’ll more than likely get one before it’s all said and done. Why do I feel so certain about that? Because he’s one of the hardest workers the team’s ever had. Everyone raves about his work ethic and how much he strives to get better. Any smudge in his defensive game, he’ll look to clean up with gusto. Be grateful that this tireless leader is your franchise player, Heat fans. Players like this don’t come around often, and you’ve had the privilege of seeing both Alonzo Mourning and now his rightful defensive heir.

An heir pulling triple duty as Miami’s rim protector, perimeter wrench, and intimidating help defender. Bam’s keeping your team away from the rim and away from your usual playbook. It seems as if Ben Simmons and the DPOY voters haven’t heard of Bam Adebayo: but his defensive play is all you need to hear. The Defensive Player of the Year conversation is seen as a two-horse race when there’s a thoroughbred in the stables quietly awaiting his turn.

Erik Spoelstra is a known mad scientist when it comes to the atmosphere of the NBA playoffs. He knows what the strengths of his team are and how to maximize them to their potential. Last season, we saw the team go from a drop-centric scheme throughout the regular season into a high-flying hyperactive switching group of maniacs with Jae Crowder’s insertion into the starting lineup. It’s no secret that Coach Spoelstra is a master of adapting his scheme to the roster’s strengths and weaknesses. The guy squeezed a top 10 defense out of a lineup that had no business in doing so in 2016-2017. You give Erik Spoelstra lemons, and he’s making lemonade with a 4-course meal on the side.

In his tenure with the Heat, he’s made sure to help his team build habits throughout the course of a season. Spoelstra has never worried about a singular regular-season game but about what direction the team trends in the season as a whole. He knows the goal should be to smooth out those edges so that in the playoffs, you know your identity just as well as you know the back of your hand. This then allows you to enforce your will on your opponent to the point where they’re succumbing to it. Doing all of this while still being flexible enough to make adjustments in the margins is what makes him such an outstanding coach.

Fans of the team recently had some questions about the defensive scheme they played against the Memphis Grizzlies. Everyone wondered why they continued blitzing pick and rolls with guys like Grayson Allen or Killian Tillie as the ball handler. When, in reality, the fans should have been asking why the rotations weren’t up to snuff. Or why they allowed so much dribble penetration even though limiting such action is a staple of Miami’s identity.

At that moment, it seems easy to ask, “why are they not switching to a drop coverage?” Yes, I asked similar questions, but everyone needs to take a step back for a minute and remember what coach you’re dealing with. Coach Spoelstra has only so much time left before the playoffs begin and plenty of new additions he’s looking to integrate into the system. He knows he needs to start nudging the pieces closer and closer together. The Grizzlies found the seams in the defense, and Miami wasn’t sharp on their rotations, and the team knows that. Coach Spo, after the game, stated that a lot of their open looks “weren’t scheme related.” Bam Adebayo shared similar sentiments when he said “late rotations, lock of communications” and “defensive reps” were the cause of the trouble. It’s not really something fans want to hear, but you realize just how far off the Heat were in executing their game plan when looking back at the game. The inordinate amount of dribble penetration to the lack of knowing who would be where on the weakside help.

In the play above, you can see Miami blitzing Ja, as is their game plan, but Duncan Robinson sits in No Man’s Land for the slightest second after the blitz. He relaxes for a millisecond, not really guarding anyone before realizing Jimmy has Kyle Anderson and that he needs to head over to the man in the corner. Props to Duncan for even getting a semi-contest in this spot, though. He did well enough to get out there, but this is also credit to Memphis for making the right read and keeping Miami on their heels as they did all night.

Above is an example of the rare dribble penetration allowed throughout the game. Jimmy takes a really rare bad angle on Brooks as soon as he heads towards the ball. Iguodala and Bjelica both give a semi-dig, but they’re worried about their men getting an open corner 3 or a dump-off pass. These sorts of plays happened a lot, and if it wasn’t a layup like the play above, it was a Grizzlies player collapsing the defense and forcing scrambling rotations.

It was a mess all around, but it’s a necessary one for a team who wants to make sure these sorts of things don’t happen once the playoffs come around. It’s a process, and the coaching staff knows it. They’re not trying to hunt wins – they’re trying to get ready for the primary hunt that is the playoff beast. In doing this, the team and staff hope that the wins will start stringing along as those smudges get cleaner and cleaner.

It was no surprise that in the next game against Portland, the rotations and communications were about as crisp as it gets. The team learned from their mistakes and were back to that defense everyone had grown accustomed to. Everyone was making the rotations a second faster than before, and a second in NBA game terms is a lifetime. The defense that Miami wants to run requires those rotations to be on point and you need to get as much cleaned up in the meantime as possible.

Whether it’s against Grayson Allen or Damian Lillard or Jayson Tatum in the future, the Heat knows what they need to do to reach another level. The switching style they play is going to pay dividends once the postseason starts. Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler blow up so much of what the opposition wants to do already. It’ll be even better in the homestretch as Jimmy Butler continues being a better Free Saftey than prime Earl Thomas. The defense they’re playing right now will be important for their playoff success more than switching to a drop scheme for a game in the middle of a messy covid protocol-filled season. Good habits are built stronger if you don’t deviate from them, and Miami will make sure that they have those habits now so that they don’t have to do it in the middle of a playoff series.

This definitely doesn’t mean Miami won’t adjust when it comes to the playoffs. Again, Erik Spoelstra is a magician when it comes to in-series adjustments. But they need to have an identity they can rely on to help get them there. Remember when not too long ago, the fans were even questioning what exactly their identity was? They’re already in a much better place than they were not even two and a half months ago. And having a defensive identity isn’t anything new to Miami Heat teams since Erik Spoelstra took over. Since he became the Head Coach, the Heat have been top 10 in defensive rating 9 of his 13 seasons (including this year.) And 3 of those remaining seasons, they were right on edge sitting at 11th. Hell, it’s been that way going back to when Pat Riley arrived in 1995. So those messy nights may happen here and there, yes. It’ll just be up to the team to make sure they don’t happen too frequently. Ironing out the mistakes in the regular season will lead to a smoother time in the playoffs. As always, Trust the Spocess.

Marco Romo can be found at @MarcoRomo_ on Twitter