Miami Heat: 3 big questions heading into 2019-20 season

3. How far can Bam Adebayo take his game?

Now entering his third season in the league, it will be the first season in which Adebayo has been handed the title as the Heat’s starting center. Having supplanted Whiteside as the starter towards the end of last season, Adebayo displayed the traits that made Whiteside more than dispensable this summer.

In 28 games as a starter, the 6’10” Adebayo averaged 11.8 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists in just 28.2 minutes per game. Notably, Adebayo was a plus-94 while on the floor and had three or more assists in 15 of his 28 games as a starter. By contrast, Whiteside did this on just 10 occasions from his 259 starts for the Heat.

Overall, he can stretch the floor and handle the ball from the perimeter set Adebayo apart towards the end of last season. As opposed to Whiteside, Adebayo can operate from both the inside and the outside, thus creating a plethora of options for the Heat moving forward.

https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT/status/1158733956747091968?s=20

Further setting Adebayo apart from his predecessor is simply the effort which he puts forth on a nightly basis. While Whiteside had nights in which he would set the world on fire, the lack of consistency in his overall output and effort became an ongoing issue with the Heat, leading to several outbursts in the media.

So while Adebayo seemingly has the world at his feet — as evidenced by his current participation in the USA Select Team — he is still just 22 and has not yet completed a full season as the bonafide starter.

However given the impressive strides he’s already made, and the Heat’s elite record of developing its players, Adebayo has every chance to make an enormous leap in 2019-20.