Bam Adebayo Named to All-Defensive First Team | May 21, 2024

Bam Adebayo Named to All-Defensive First Team | May 21, 2024

um congrats man um two questions for you in in in in Christo’s fashion I have two questions um first one what does it mean to finally be first team on this thing uh I mean I feel like it’s a long time coming obviously um but you know just stand In This Moment enjoying it you know I’m blessed to be able to uh be the one be one of the ones selected and my other question was you were a good Defender as a rookie you knew a lot but you’ve obviously grown a lot and learned a lot W’s the first rookie ever now to be a first teamer what what does that say just about what that kid was able to do this year the guy is 73 and I mean he’s what they call him the alien yeah uh so I mean that that speaks for itself um you know going to this coming into this obviously he had high expectation because like I said he’s 73 shooting step back threes and I think a lot of people paid attention more to that than you know what he actually did on the defensive end so for him to get first team uh first come around you know it’s obviously a great acco form thanks B congrats man appreciate it right up next we have IR winderman Sun Sentinel go ahead hey Bam congratulations also um I’m we haven’t had a chance to speak to you since defensive player of the year was announced um was there disappointment at that moment and is that sort of maybe is this sort of The Next Step do you think toward that going from second Team all those years to first team to maybe that jump comes as the very next thing yeah I mean that that’s the point you want to always Ascend uh you want to always get better you want to always improve and you know you want that to be noticed so you know for me it’s a stepping stone uh I wouldn’t say it was disappointment I would say more of like cuz I can’t be disappointed because I didn’t vote like it it is what it is I don’t I don’t control that part of it you know for me in in my eyes I’m always feel like I’m the defensive player of the year and then just uh to follow up because tomorrow they’re going to announce all NBA which can be very lucrative to you on one hand but even just in generalities I’m curious do you are you bothered at all that you’re sort of pigeon hold as quote unquote he’s a defensive player in other words do you think because of moments like this because of the way SPO preaches defense so much because of the pride you take on defense do you think you get pigeon hold a little as oh yeah bam really good defensive player and they sort of maybe Overlook the rest thank you uh I feel like coming into the league that’s what I was um but obviously if you check my numbers and you know you’ve seen us play you’ve seen me you seen me grow into a two-way player so I don’t necessar neily say pigeon hold I just know you know in a lot of the biggest moments you know I’ve had offense you know I’ve had a couple but a defense I know I’ve had a lot so um I feel like for me you know I’m really a two-way player rather than just getting pigeon holdes and he’s a great defense thanks man all right up next we have Anthony Chang Miami herrow go ahead what’s up man congrats appreciate it man um um I know you didn’t get defensive player of the year obviously but third place finish your highest finish in the ballting first time making all defens of first team obviously do you feel like I feel like we ask you a version of this question every year but do you feel like you’re getting kind of getting the respect you deserve um uh defensive player yeah um and I felt like that because it’s more so amongst your peers but you know peers wise yeah I feel like I’ve had that respect through you know through my years of the the NBA but you know obviously you have to prove that to to get the award you have to prove prove that to the media [Music] um so for me it’s are is people starting to pay attention you know I feel like they are at this point you know this is my first time being first team in my career so you know I feel like it’s a stepping stone like I said earlier and you know we’re just GNA keep this keep this ball rolling right up next we have Ethan skolnick reasons go ahead hey Bam congratulations um you you talked about being a two-way player and this always comes up every year with the burden that you carry defensively uh for this team especially as Seasons go on and trying to keep them a top 10 defense how do you balance continuing to grow as an offensive player when there’s so much on you to carry on the other end uh I would say because one defens is defense isn’t only about me you know the other it’s other four guys on the court that you know help this thing work and navigate the way SPO wants it to the way I want it to the way the team wants to run and uh you know we want to have fun on the other end um so you know I I depend on my teammates a lot when it comes to the other end you know feed me the ball give me easy baskets uh give me in a rhythm so then the game just becomes easier as a whole right up next we have Cooper Morehead heat.com go ahead hey Bam congratulations um you know you’ve always had a a non-traditional argument for your for your defensive accolades in a way just in terms of you’re not the the traditional Rim protecting with the with a ton of blocks every year but now you’ve been recognized all defensive five years in a row now that you’re first team and you you hear about guys in the draft saying like well I can I can play like bam I can defend switch out like bam I can be versa like that what what what are you proud of in terms of how you’ve changed the way maybe the league and especially the media views you know what impact defense winning defense is in the league uh I mean obviously they don’t vote that way but uh uh but for me man it’s bringing that next level of being an allaround player uh being that level of you know there is no weaknesses on the defensive end you know you can put them in any coverage you can put them on anybody uh you know a lot of times you know I don’t know if you can stack track this but uh when teams put you in the corner the strong side corner so you can’t help or you know make plays I don’t know how many times you you can track that or how many times I actually go to that corner which is a lot uh especially in the playoffs um you know you’re growing up you see guys that one when you come into this league you just want to be a specialist and figure everything out you know I knew my gift was defense and uh being able to be as versatile as possible is the reason why I got on the court so when you see kids you know wanting to implement that and you know mimic that uh it just respect for you and what you’ve done in this league so far right up next West Goldberg lock on heat go ahead what’s up B thanks for doing this and congrats um you know kind of going along with the the recognition part of it you see somebody like Rudy goar who wins defensive player the year but his defense was also the number one defense in the league as a team you guys were you guys finished the year number five and you guys kind of climbed up to there like is there anything that you think you guys could do as a team to improve your defense to the point where you could be you know top 10 top five every year to perhaps even you know the second or the number one best team in the league uh defensive uh you know for us we always strive for a goal to holding teams under their averages holding holding teams under a certain amount under their averages and uh like I said that takes a that’s a team effort um you know I’m in the backline I do most of the communicating but you know guys got to want to defend at the end of the day so you know for us obviously as a team we can strive to be the number one defense you know we still have room to grow uh as you said we listed what top five top yeah we still got four spots to get one um so for us that’s the goal and you know that’s my goal to keep improving to keep improving this thing to where we will be the top defense thank you all right Batman looks like that’s all the questions they have for you so thank you very much again and congratulations appreciate y’all

Bam Adebayo speaks to the media after being selected for the 2023-24 NBA All-Defensive First Team.

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