Bam Adebayo spending more time at foul line this season. Why it’s important for Bam and Heat

Bam Adebayo is averaging career-highs in points and field-goal attempts this season, but his shooting efficiency is essentially down across the board. However, the Miami Heat’s two-time All-Star has managed to bump up at least one number that can help improve his offensive efficiency.

While Adebayo entered Monday night’s matchup against the Houston Rockets at Kaseya Center to kick off a four-game homestand with a career-low field-goal percentage of 50.4 percent, a career-low effective field-goal percentage (field-goal percentage adjusting for made threes being 1.5 times more valuable than made twos) of 50.5 percent and his lowest true shooting percentage (shooting percentage that factors in the value of three-point field goals and free throws in addition to conventional two-point field goals) since his rookie season at 57.2 percent, he’s taking a career-high 7.7 free-throw attempts per game this season.

Heat’s Orlando Robinson has a weekend to remember. And Butler out, Martin doubtful

“It’s easier on your body,” Adebayo said of the extra time spent at the foul line, where he entered Monday having made 78.1 percent of his free throws this season. “You get time to rest, get time to really get your thoughts together, being able to realize that we can get to a certain goal of shooting 40 free throws a game and doing that and staying consistent with it. Being consistent and honestly just being aggressive, being assertive. I feel like I’ve earned a lot of the respect from the referees where it’s like, ‘You’re not rookie Bam no more. We can give you a foul or two.’”

Adebayo’s previous career-high for free-throw attempts was set during the 2021-22 season, when he averaged 6.1 free-throw attempts per game.

Adebayo, 26, is doing it while opponents throw more double teams and other different defensive schemes at him than ever in his seventh NBA season.

“He’s being assertive and aggressive, first and foremost,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “And then reading the defense. He’s having to deal with more schemes that he’s had before and I think that’s fun for him. It’s good for our team, as well. And he’s getting better at making those reads game to game. It’s different game to game.”

Adebayo is taking more free throws than usual lately, too. He entered Monday with seven games of 10 or more free-throw attempts this season, and four of those games have come in the last three weeks.

During this three-week stretch, Adebayo established a new career high with 20 free-throw attempts in a Dec. 30 road loss to the Utah Jazz.

“Watching the game,” Adebayo said of what’s behind his extra free throws this season. “Watching film, you understand what the rule book is when it comes to the referees, understanding what’s a foul, understanding when we get into the bonus, all those things start to go through your mind. ... Obviously, if they go on a run, how do you end that run? Get two fouls shots, cool them down and stop the momentum.”

For a player like Adebayo who doesn’t take as many shots at the rim as other big men around the league and whose shot diet consists of mostly midrange shots, free throws are a way for him to generate easier points.

Adebayo has taken a career-low 34 percent of his field-goal attempts from around the rim this season, according to Cleaning The Glass, which ranks in the 24th percentile among NBA big men. That’s led to a career-high 64 percent of Adebayo’s shots coming in as non-rim twos, which has resulted in a dip in overall field-goal percentage, effective field-goal percentage and true shooting percentage.

If Adebayo can continue to generate free throws at a career-high rate, it will help offset a shot chart that has moved a little farther away from the basket this season. That’s important for Adebayo and the Heat’s offense.

RESPECT THE GRIND

Asked whether last season’s run to the NBA Finals as the Eastern Conference’s No. 8 playoff seed has affected the Heat’s motivation to make another deep playoff run this season, Spoelstra didn’t hesitate with his answer.

“We’re supremely motivated. Do you know who my boss is?” Spoelstra said Friday with a grin, referring to Heat president Pat Riley. “You just hope you’ll have more cracks at it and more opportunities. Nothing is guaranteed. That’s why you just have to approach the regular season the right way, develop a bunch of habits that translate to the postseason. Hopefully get a real connectivity, a toughness, a grit that you need in that postseason.”

The Heat has advanced to the Eastern Conference finals in three of the last four seasons and NBA Finals in two of the last four seasons, but has not won an NBA championship during this stretch. The Heat fell to the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2020 NBA Finals and lost to the Denver Nuggets in the 2023 NBA Finals.

“So far, we’re taking those necessary steps and we’ll just see how it plays out,” Spoelstra said.

INJURY UPDATE

The Heat remains without Jimmy Butler (right toe MP joint sprain) for Monday’s matchup against the Rockets.

It marks the fourth straight game that Butler has missed. With Butler also missing four games recently with a strained left calf, Monday marked the eighth game that he has sat out in the last nine games.

There remains cautious optimism that Butler, 34, will be able to return this week during the Heat’s homestand.

In addition to missing Butler, the Heat will also be without RJ Hampton (stomach illness), Caleb Martin (right ankle sprain), Dru Smith (season-ending knee surgery), and Cole Swider (G League) against the Rockets.

Meanwhile, the Rockets ruled out Dillon Brooks (right oblique strain), Tari Eason (left lower leg injury management), Nate Hinton (G League), Victor Oladipo (left patellar tendon repair), Jermaine Samuels Jr. (G League) and Nate Williams (G League) for Monday’s game in Miami.