The Miami Heat stunned the world in 2019-20 when they made it to the NBA Finals and came within two victories of claiming a title.
Expectations were sky high for Miami to do something similar in 2020-21, but the team faltered.
In an effort to right last season’s wrongs, Heat big man Bam Adebayo has gone absolutely berserk in offseason workouts. Coming off a campaign where he averaged 18.7 points, 9.0 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game he is clearly looking to be even more impactful on both sides of the ball in 2021-22.
And the results from his offseason training sessions seem to be paying real dividends.
“I got in the weight room,” he told Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. “Just because last year, I couldn’t lift as much as I could because I had my shoulder injury from the Finals. So I was thinner up top than I should’ve been. That comes with recovery. Since we had such a short offseason and went straight into last season, I could only do so much. But this offseason, I’ve really been in the weight room and made a conscious effort to get my body back to where it was.”
Namely, Adebayo has focused on adding muscle.
Now we know. https://t.co/q2hiiugCsu
— Game 7 (@game7__) September 26, 2021
“I just added muscle,” he continued. “I came in last year at like 245 and now I’m at 260. So I put on a lot of muscle.”
The key for Adebayo will be applying all his newfound strength on the defensive side of the ball.
“I mean defensively, I do what I do,” he continued. “Defense is all effort to me. If I really don’t want you to score, I’ll try my hardest to make sure you don’t score. That’s how I feel whenever I step on the court and I’m playing defense. My goal is to make sure you don’t score. But on the offensive end, just being able to get by dudes, really use my strength to power through certain fouls and get certain and-ones. Then finishing, of course.”
The results of all of Adebayo’s intense workouts speak for themselves:
durag activity… huh-huh 🎶@MiamiHEAT // @HairClub pic.twitter.com/MqytfIA8Lj
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) September 23, 2021
Adebayo is not the only Heat player who hit the gym this offseason. His teammate, Tyler Herro, has undergone a fairly radical transformation himself.
Will all these changes be enough to propel Miami back into the title picture? Time will tell.
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Charles Kruger has been credentialed to cover two Super Bowls, four NBA Finals, and one World Series. A 20-year veteran in the sports world, he has sources spanning the NBA, MLB, NFL, UFC and NASCAR. Currently residing in Los Angeles, Calif., he is Game 7’s go-to source for rumors surrounding the Lakers, Clippers and Dodgers.
