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MIAMI (AP) — Kevin Love met Bam Adebayo through time with USA Basketball. He is already fond of Adebayo’s mother, Marilyn Blount. And Love and Adebayo have already exchanged a few items, including jerseys after a game and profane but hilarious comments on Instagram.
It seems like a perfect combination.
That’s what the Miami Heat expect, anyway. Love, one of two big men Miami signed during the All-Star break along with free agent center Cody Zeller, detailed his reason for choosing the Heat over Philadelphia and his excitement about playing alongside Adebayo on Wednesday, a day before his first official practice. with his new team.
“I love the way they operate here,” said Love, who has been working out in Miami since signing on Monday. “You can tell it’s a top-tier, high-class, high-character organization and it all starts at the top. So for me, at the end of the day, it was a pretty easy decision.”
And Adebayo, apparently, was part of that decision-making. The PG-rated version of his Instagram conversation that went viral on Tuesday could be described as Adebayo posting a comment telling Love to do some takes, and Love telling Adebayo to create space for him.
The jousting will continue, just because they are delighted to have the other as a teammate. Adebayo spoke at length over All-Star weekend about how he wanted Love to land in Miami once he completed the deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“He’s one of those guys, I love his game,” Love said in a video conference with reporters. “He loves what he does. I love how he impacts winning and, you know, for him to talk like that, it just means we’re off to a good start.”
For Zeller, coming to Miami is not about how the season starts, but how it ends.
The 10-year veteran has been to the playoffs just twice in his career, both times against the Heat. He played in 11 games, with his Charlotte teams going 3-8 in those contests, Miami winning the first-round series against Zeller’s club each time.
“I hated playing the Heat my whole career, because you always know it’s going to be a tough game, you always know the guys are going to play hard, it’s going to be a physical game, set the tone early,” Zeller said. “That’s how it’s been my whole career for 10 years in the NBA, so it’s fun for me to be on the other side. Hopefully the teams know it’s going to be a long night playing against us.”
It’s also a reunion for Zeller with his college teammate at Indiana, Heat guard Victor Oladipo.
“It’s pretty special,” Zeller said. “Vic and I are very close. … We didn’t imagine that the stars would align and we would end up here in Miami.”
The deals closed Monday, with Miami taking advantage of its two open roster spots to add not only some size, but also big men who can pass, shoot and rebound. The Heat begin their post-All-Star schedule on Friday in Milwaukee, holding onto seventh place in the Eastern Conference. Clearly, the hope is to move up.
Love could have moved up the rankings if he wanted to.
After being left out of Cleveland’s rotation 12 games ago, Love decided to look to buy a team that is No. 4 in the East at the moment, saying he had serious talks with the No. 3 team in the East, Philadelphia. But he chose Miami, convinced that it was the best option and the best opportunity.
Also, it had been on his mind for about 15 years. Love was the No. 5 pick in the 2008 NBA draft and held three picks after Miami took Michael Beasley with the No. 2 pick that year. Love thought at the time that there was a possibility that he was in Miami, and now it is a reality.
“I always saw Miami as a place that would be a great landing spot for me,” Love said.
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