Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra gave a strong endorsement of Bam Adebayo winning Defensive Player of the Year.
“I think Bam is one of the most unique defenders in the league,” Spoelstra said. “He can legit guard one through five and that’s not just coach speak, that’s not fan speak, media speak. That’s legit. He can anchor a very reliable defense and he can take on different challenges and he has the IQ to be able to execute multiple schemes where it’s not just the switching scheme that people think that he’s involved with. He’s able to handle more sophisticated things than just that.”
Adebayo has also proven he can either shut down or limit the likes of multiple stars across the league, including LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kyrie Irving and Julius Randle. More of his matchup stat numbers can be found here.
More East Notes
- Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal has been named the NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week, as he put up averages of 31.3 points on 50 percent shooting including a blistering 55 percent from three in four games. The Wizards won all four of those games, as they’ve won 10 of their last 11.
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Ben Simmons will be making his return in Monday night’s matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder, according to the Philadelphia 76ers. Simmons has missed the last four games due to what head coach Doc Rivers assumed was the flu. The Sixers dropped all four games that Simmons was out, as they now currently sit in the second spot in the Eastern Conference.
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Rivers gave a ringing endorsement of his own defender, saying this about Matissue Thybulle: “There’s not 10 better defenders in this league, I can tell you that,” Rivers said. “There may not be five.” Frank Jackson of Liberty Ballers gave a nice detailed description of Thybulle’s defense this season in that article, as he mentioned that 42 of 58 Thybulle blocks are on jump shots this season.
