“Apart from Draymond Green and Giannis, I’m the only one who can do this”

Draymond Green and Giannis Antetokounmpo are among the league’s elite, especially defensively. Now, a star from the East thinks that aside from them, he is the only one in the current league who can pull off an accurate insane performance. On the fan side, we are much less convinced.

If Marcus Smart had clearly not stolen his title of best defender of the year in 2021-22, becoming the first leader since Gary Payton in 1996 to achieve it, the other candidates would not have been unworthy. Just on the podium, Mikal Bridges and obviously also Rudy Gobert had a more than solid record and it didn’t matter much. Same for those who finished outside the Top 3, like Bam Adebayo.

Except that if the losers of the race for the statuette all generally accepted the result, this was far from the case for the pivot of the Heat who could not digest not being elected by the voters. A few months later, the situation doesn’t seem to have changed as far as he is concerned, judging by his words during Floridians’ training camp. The Nigerian by birth added a layer on the subject, including himself in a VIP club with two other superstars:

Bam Adebayo still resentful about DPOY

I have the feeling to be practically the only one to be able to defend on the 5 positions. Me, Draymond Green and probably Giannis, these are the 3 guys who can defend positions 1-5 and be effective. Switch to a Kyrie Irving, switch to a Kevin Durant, switch to a Joel Embiid… The problem with defenders who win the trophy is that they are not there to defend in these areas of the field.

Here is one who has a stubborn grudge… For his defense, the big man was indeed the keystone of the wall of Miami, which finished with the fifth defensive rating in the NBA last year. On the other hand, he is not the only player on the roster to shine in his half of the field, and we can thus cite Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry among the latter. So it wasn’t all about him… In addition, Internet users tackled him on the spot, not convinced that he was really able to cover all the positions:

Bam can’t defend against a playmaker lol

Bam in this list: who invited him? Guys don’t even calculate it

Obviously, Bam Adebayo still has it bad not to have been elected Defender of the Year, in particular because it is a point guard who left with the trophy. If he wants to prove himself right, he’s going to have to have a great season with the Heat because the competition will be tough again.

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