In recent years, Miami Heat big man Bam Adebayo has been one of the best defensive players in the NBA. Adebayo has made the NBA All-Defensive teams in each of the last five seasons, including his first nod to the first team this past season.
However, despite being consistently one of the best in the league on that side of the court, Adebayo has always come up short in the Defensive Player of the Year voting. Bam has finished in the Top 5 of the DPOY balloting in each of the last five seasons, including third during the 2023-24 season.
During an interview with Yahoo Sports' Vincent Goodwill, the KU product vented his frustration about not winning the award.
"I've been top-five in DPOY voting the last five years," said Bam. "There's been guys y'all (media) been giving it to over me."
Bam finished third in last season's DPOY voting
Adebayo was the Heat's 14th overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft out of the University of Kentucky. The 6'9'' big man began his career coming off the Heat bench. However, after two promising seasons, he was promoted to starter in Year 3, and that's when he emerged as a force on both sides of the floor.
With Bam as a defensive anchor, Miami has landed in the Top 10 in Defensive rating in each of the last four seasons, including twice in the Top 5. Last season, the Heat were the fifth-best defensive team in the NBA. Adebayo was named among the finalists for the DPOY award, but he finished a far third behind Rudy Gobert and Victor Wembanyama.
"A point guard (Marcus Smart) got it over me, a center (Rudy Gobert) got it over me, a power forward (Jaren Jackson Jr.) has gotten it over me. The goalposts move for me, in certain degrees. It's me and a lot of undrafted dudes, and we still have a top-five defense. These other guys have All-NBA dudes around them," Bam added.
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Adebayo also lashed out at the All-Star fan-voting
During the 2022-23 season, Bam also castigated the voting process for the NBA's All-Star starters. Adebayo had something to say when it was announced that Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, and Kyrie Irving were the 2023 Eastern Conference starters.
"I'll leave fan voting to fan voting," said the Heat star. "There are guys that shouldn't even be on that list. But it's fan voting. That's what it is, and you got to live with that. I mean, right now I'm in a position where it's based off the coaches in the East. Now that, I'm going to be [upset] about if they tell me somebody else has played better than me this year."
There's no question that Bam has done more on defense than those who beat him for the award in the past five years. With the lineups he played with, he had to do a lot of covering for a lot of players just so the Heat could be a top NBA defense these past five years. Unfortunately for him, it's media votes that determine the DPOY winner, just as it's the fans that choose the All-Star starters.
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