Miami Heat big man Bam Adebayo has been one of the NBA’s best defensive players for the last few years, and he has often been mentioned as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate.

But although he has been named to the All-Defensive Second Team in each of the last four seasons, he hasn’t taken home the Defensive Player of the Year award.

Adebayo was asked about the award’s winner being based on how many steals and blocks a player has, and he agreed while saying that some people are “stat watchers.”

Many feel that players who average a high number of steals and blocks are better defenders than those who don’t. However, some of the NBA’s elite defenders get the job done by simply playing great positional defense and forcing misses or taking opponents out of what they want to do without getting many steals or blocks.

Adebayo’s high-water mark in blocks was 1.3 a game during the 2019-20 season, and he put up a career-high 1.4 steals per contest during the 2021-22 campaign.

He has gradually elevated his overall game over the last few years, and he has been named to the All-Star team twice in the last four seasons. Last year, he averaged a career-high 20.4 points while adding 9.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists a contest and helping to lead the Heat to an unexpected appearance in the NBA Finals.

After losing out on Damian Lillard, who specifically asked for a trade to the Heat, as well as Jrue Holiday, they will need plenty of internal improvement to have any real shot at returning to the championship series.

They’re hoping second-year big man Nikola Jovic will develop into a useful player, and they’re looking to Duncan Robinson to regain his old marksmanship from 3-point range.