Heat center Bam Adebayo isn’t a fan of the widespread practice of resting players in an effort to keep them fresh. Appearing on the “To Inspire” podcast, Adebayo revealed he’s no fan of load management (hat tip to Kurt Helin of NBC Sports). He believes it’s unfair to fans who pay to see their favorite players.
“A lot of guys sitting, like load management, that kind of bothers me in a sense. You have a lot of kids and parents who want to see you play,” he said. “You have kids who probably come from the inner city, and their parents make a way to put them all the way up in the stands, and then for you to find out you’re not playing. And it’s because you feel like ‘I gotta load manage and be ready for this.’ I remember as a kid, I would’ve gave my last dollar and my foot to go see Kobe Bryant play. I know if I felt like that it’s a lot of other kids that felt like that.”
We have more on the Heat:
- Trade talks with the Trail Blazers in a potential Damian Lillard blockbuster should heat up as training camp approaches, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald opines. That’s the expectation from those close to the situation with the belief Portland would like to avoid the messy situation of having their longtime franchise player at camp when he’d rather be elsewhere. If the Heat are the only team making a serious offer for Lillard, then the Blazers may have more urgency to get something done.
- Would James Harden be a fall-back option for the Heat if they don’t get Lillard? Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel doubts it, believing a ball-dominant player like Harden would be a bad fit with Miami. Harden could ease the scoring burden, giving Jimmy Butler more time to rest up for the playoffs, but the Heat’s offer for the Sixers guard would be significantly lower than the package they’d be willing to part with to get Lillard.
- Don’t expect Lillard to make any public comments about his trade request, given how the league fined Harden $100K for going public about his discontent with the Sixers, Winderman writes in a separate story.
I always laugh at people who say todays athletes are better conditioned. And then they practice load management.
The fact is these guys that play today are better conditioned then those that played before. Load management is nothing more than making sure you’re available when it counts and longer longevity in your career.
1 thing I dont get about it is why not just not practice/do shootaround? Players always said the games are much easier, and a lot of these guys still practice. That being said, some guys need to be protected from themselves b/c of how competitive they are on the floor. I also think some things are labeled load management when guys actually have an issue that makes sense to not push, or if ot makes sense in a certain matchup to play different rotations and see how it works for future reference
Everything you said is ass backwards, tf is wrong with you
Everyone knows the Heats best offer and it’s not good enough to get Dame, Herro doesn’t fit in Portland, they don’t have enough 1st rounders and Dame is way way way better than Beal who went for literally every single asset Phoenix had left with 4 years 200 million still owed
Not that I think they should trade for him, b/c they shouldn’t, but they can open up 3-4 1sts easily, and the only reason Herro wouldnt fit is that Portland is stuck with Simons, which is the main reason Lillard wanted a trade to begin with. If they could somehow move Simons, I wouldnt trade Lillard at all if I was them, at least not right now
Too bad Bam Adebayo’s logic, and sense doesn’t spread to the Heat fans that repeat ignorant narratives, and make believe storylines.
Whatever you want, but Portland 10000000 times out of 10000000 take Herro over Simons on their current deals especially.
But say what you want – there is a reason all heat fans want to give up Herro every off-season. He’s just not the center piece of a big deal – and they want him to be. Heat really missed him in the playoffs…
They would shed his contract like the Hawks did with Collins if they could, IMO.
Except I wouldnt trade him for Lillard…I would only trade him or a couple of the others for certain players. That doesnt mean we all want to get rid of him for no reason.
Guys like Lowry, Duncan, Herro
I would only trade for people like Jaylen Brown or Kawhi Leonard or Paul George, or Draymond Green, Jaren Jackson jr, Scottie Barnes, LeBron, Anthony Davis, Mikal Bridges or if those types of players are available…wings and 4s/smallball 5s that can defend, and preferably shoot. I would also be interested in the lesser tier of similar type of players, most of whom are still super young and likely shouldnt be traded.
Especially now that they got Josh Richardson, who actually allows for Herro to make sense as a starter finally, b/c he didnt previously on this roster
And again, there are teams that would want Herro, but nobody wants Simons
What offer is out there beating the Heat’s though? Clearly there isn’t one or it’d happen by now. As soon as the Heat find the right assets to flip to Portland in a trade for Herro to another team, it’s done.
I originally thought Orlando could get Simons early on in the offseason for a pretty like deal, but a couple of their guys I had in the deal arent there anymore and they did other stuff, but how would you feel about Herro in Orlando? I personally think they are one of the teams that makes the most sense for him
Again, I would prefer not to trade him in a Lillard trade, but assuming they were to do a Lillard deal, what do you think?
Too true, to true Mr Adebayo!
Biggest problem, a real disgrace to rest players when fans pay a fortune to see them playing.
NBA is a show first and foremost, winning a ring or not is pretty irrelevant if you alienate the fans, who don’t forget we pay the bills, not the billionaire owners.
Just let the players play, as simple as!
Bam played every game his first few years, until he had to have surgery a couple of years ago, and he plays harder than, or as hard as, anyone in the league
That is why he is the carrier of the culture, the embodiment of Miami Heat; the Zo, the UD, the Wade. He will be the next Miami Heat drafted hall of famer, after Wade. I’m glad it worked out that everyone thought OG was injured at the time of that draft, and Mitchell went 1 pick ahead of us. I cant imagine the Heat without Bam
Bams right
Theres nothing wrong with veteran stars coming off the bench and playing only 24 minutes 20 times a year.
Divas dont want to hurt their averages or look lesser by coming off the bench
I cant believe I never thought of the averages thing…that make sooo much sense.
Suggested that maybe 3 weeks ago.
Miami knows they need to add something extra to push them over the line. Dame would be ideal but at this stage neither side is willing to work with one another to get it sorted.
Harden might not be a great fit but he does give them another star and would push them in the right direction to being a stronger basketball team. Even if you don’t go for that level of star player I think a guy like Terry Rozier would be a good improvement. He can shoot it from deep, he’s know to lock in and play defensive when you he him too. He’s got a great bag of tricks with the ball in his hands, and for the majority of his career he’s played off ball to more dominate ball and handlers and scorers. Think he’d be a great fit and definitely suit the Miami style of play.
Could even try get Cody Martin from the hornets to link up with his brother and give you guys some depth.
Rozier and Martin for Lowry and picks ??
Or Rozier Martin and bits for Herro and Robinson?
Personally I’d be more inclined to keep Herro for the long term view of this team. Also fills out the depth chart better …
Rozier Robinson Butler Martin Bam
Herro JRich Martin KLobe Bryant
Jacquez Jovic
None of those deals currently make sense for the Heat, especially anything where James Harden somehow ends up in this organization. Never happening
Rozier is someone I wanted to trade Whiteside for 7 years ago where people said I was crazy, and then we saw what happened…nothing against him as a player. Just trading to make a trade doesnt make much sense if it doesnt really improve them much
…I may have misread 1 of them, but I guess the idea for Charlotte is getting off certain salary, but either way, it doesnt feel worth it for the Heat either, and also, not sure they want to maybe have an extra guy coming back in a deal like that with the roster count where it is
Cody is also coming off the injuries, and Lowry is more valuable as an expiring, even if you for some reason dont value him in his role
What kind of logic is it saying Harden doesn’t fit since he’s ball dominant when Lillard is too? Plenty of reasons to no want Harden, but this might be the dumbest in context.
Firstly its ira, so you have to remember that he is 97000 years old and doesnt really know anything about basketball, which is why Riley makes fun of him at all his press conferences
That being said, Lillard isnt the 23.5 second dribbler that Harden is, and can play off people better in that regard
Though I wouldnt want to trade for Lillard for other reasons, and I would have to personally be paid a legitimate amount of money to even consider accepting a reality where James Harden is anywhere close to the Miami Heat organization. He is the antithesis of Heat culture in every way
Also, a big reason why Lillard has been so ball dominant in his career is because there weren’t better options. His usage rate shot way up after his best costar in Aldridge signed with the Spurs. Before that, it was still high, but Lillard never came anywhere near Harden’s peak usage numbers. Harden deferred way more in Philly than he had in years, but only because they had such a dominant player as Embiid taking up most of the shots. Lillard would fit better into a pluralistic system like the Heat than Harden would.
fans should have the option of swapping their ticket for a future game or a refund at entry if a top three player for either team is sitting out for a non injury reason.
Agree completely. Planned a vacation months in advance to see Jokic vs Davis the year Davis forced a trade out of New Orleans and that completely ruined the trip. Got to see a blowout instead of a matchup of 2 of the greatest bigs in the game while that baby sat on the bench and got his wish.
What about the kid from the inner city who can’t see his favorite player because they got injured from pushing too hard a game before? An aging star/fan favorite? This is the dumbest argument I ever heard. What about the diehard who never gets to go to a playoff game because their stars got injured from too many meaningless games? It goes both ways!!
Harden is washed. He doesn’t play D. His legs are gone. Has no burst. Why would any contender want him. Definitely wouldn’t fit in with Jimmy and Bam. Two of best 2way players around.
Lillard to heat, harden to clippers, Powell/hero to Philly/ jovic picks salary filler to portland l.
Maybe clippers take nurkic or heat take nurk also