Top 63 Quotes & Sayings by Bam Adebayo

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American basketball player Bam Adebayo.
Last updated on September 17, 2024.
Bam Adebayo

Edrice Femi "Bam" Adebayo is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats before being selected by the Heat with the 14th overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft. He was named an NBA All-Star and voted to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team during the 2019–20 season.

I'm passionate about schoolwork because I don't like getting bad grades.
Some guys, when they get drafted, they only think about themselves. They go buy cars and houses. I just wanted to take care of my mom.
When I was younger, it's like, 'Mom works. Normal adult stuff.' But you mature and start to look at it differently. I watched my mom struggle. She comes home tired. She doesn't want to do anything. As I got older, I started thinking, 'My mom doesn't deserve this.' My whole devotion became to get my mom out of that trailer.
I'm a competitor. I like compete. — © Bam Adebayo
I'm a competitor. I like compete.
If I have friends in town visiting, we'll go get dinner, but if I'm just by myself, I'm at the house, watching random TV shows.
People who have a strong sense of determination about themselves, I feel like the sky is the limit for those types of people.
You can't just be one of those guys where the whole league knows what you are and categorizes you as that and you accept that. I want to be one of those guys who expands his zone. Kind of like what Kawhi did.
That competitive nature comes out when I feel like I'm playing bad and when things aren't going right.
My mentality is I have to be better for my teammates.
Me, growing up, I was a Kobe fan, Kobe fanatic, and just getting, just being able to just wear his shoes, it's my favorite shoe to play in.
When you get in this profession, you want the coaches to put more on your plate.
The Miami Heat represent the city of Miami.
That's the thing about basketball - you do good things and you start to get recognition.
As I started getting better and I had to go places and meet new people, there were times where you just couldn't keep to yourself. You had to speak to people.
I don't miss games. That's not me. That's how I'm built. I want to play.
I had to stay in the house a lot because my Mom didn't want to see me on the news. I wasn't a bad child. She just didn't want me in the wrong place at the wrong time. — © Bam Adebayo
I had to stay in the house a lot because my Mom didn't want to see me on the news. I wasn't a bad child. She just didn't want me in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Like I said, being an African-American man, you can tell there's two Americas we're living in. They don't want us to be equal.
I feel like I'm trying to change basketball; being a center, being able to play both sides of the ball and being able to pass as well as I can, that's a difference-maker on a team, especially at the center spot, so it's respect at all levels.
When you get into the Finals, I don't think anybody is completely healthy.
My mom is a country lady. She wants to be in the trees.
A lot of passes that I throw, some of them are kind of thread-the-needle type of passes, and I know Year 1 or Year 2 Bam wouldn't have done that. But you've gotta take the leash off the dog. What's scarier, a dog with a leash walking with a person or a dog with nobody around him?
I feel like whatever is calling upon you to do, I feel like you should do that.
Every time we go to Sacramento, I go see De'Aaron Fox. Every time he comes to Miami, he comes to the crib. We just kinda kick it and really think about it. 'We are in the NBA right now. This is real.' And we cherish those moments because you never know when your time is up on this earth.
Growing up in a trailer, you think everything you get is good. I always thought it was a gift from God, because some people are out here struggling and on the street. We had warmth. We had clothes. We had a roof over our head.
Everybody remember, Black Lives Matter.
I get to represent me and my family, but most importantly the Miami Heat.
I just listen to my Katy Perry. It's just her mood toward her music. She's always happy and perky. So, I mean, I like to be happy. Might as well listen to happy music.
I sucked. It was my first time picking up a basketball. I watched it on TV, but I never knew what to really do with it. I mean, I needed help with everything.
I'm thinking bigger picture; I want a championship.
I can't dictate how I play because I'm injured. I've got to go out there and still play.
Where I'm from, in the middle of the country, there were no clubs or parties. You had to make your own fun.
It doesn't matter if it's Spencer Dinwiddie, Taurean Prince, DeAndre Jordan, I'm trying to win that matchup every time.
Imagine if a mob of Black people wanted to go in the White House. Imagine what'd happen. It'd be tear gas. It'd be rubber bullets. It'd be the whole nine yards.
Different players play you different ways. Some players might be slow-footed so they got to backup. Some players might push you up. You've got to have a go-to that's a mix for both of them.
My mom's never owned anything. I always wanted her to own something that she could say, 'This is mine' and feel good about it.
I just got to be more aggressive. A lot of time, I just got to make the right reads. It's nothing major, just minor tweaks.
That's been my challenge. Go out there and guard the best player and get it done on both ends. It's been working out pretty good for me. Just got to keep that thing going.
Honestly I just shoot the ball and it goes in.
My mom never had nothing that she could call her own. So growing up and being able to do something different with basketball and be a special player, that was something that I've always had in my mind, I've always wanted to do. And just having the opportunity to do it for my mom is an incredible experience.
It was kind of like an agreement, I guess you can say. It was like, 'Hey, bro, you want to be on Team USA?' And I was like, 'Yeah.' Who would say no to that? It was kind of like, 'Dang, I really get to play for my country. I get to represent and just go out there and have fun.'
I've just never liked giving up on anything. — © Bam Adebayo
I've just never liked giving up on anything.
I understand that we want to be in the middle of protests with our bodies and we want people to know that we're there supporting Black Lives Matter, which I'm 100 percent about. And I'm 100 percent about going to the bubble and doing it on national television where everybody sees it.
You just gotta hang around people that are really outgoing, and you'll end up, before you know it, you'll be an outgoing person.
I feel like I've built big enough platform and still building my platform for us to get justice for Breonna Taylor.
I'm a person, and everybody wants to be an all-star. Nobody wants to just be a role-player. I've thought about it. But the number one goal is to keep winning, so I'm more focused on that than being an all-star, honestly.
I'm an African-American man. I've got to live with that. I've got to be cautious everywhere I go.
First year, I was in a real high pace running around and I couldn't pace myself.
I definitely want to be, long time down the road when my career ends, whenever somebody mentions a top-five center or top-five power forward, they always got to mention my name. That's how I want to be remembered.
The playoffs are unpredictable. You never know what can happen and how these playoffs go.
I didn't want to be looked at as a below-the-poverty-line kid. But now I think, that trailer is where I got the ambition. The anger. If we had a better life, I wouldn't be here. That trailer made me.
To be in the Finals and the medical staff is telling me I can't play... it sucks. — © Bam Adebayo
To be in the Finals and the medical staff is telling me I can't play... it sucks.
Just looking down the bench and when you're on the court, you start to realize, 'I'm an All-Star.'
I never wanted to have a workout where I was by myself. I always wanted to have somebody to compete against.
To raise a son by yourself and not having a car or not having the right income to make sure he can do all the things that he wants to do, but make him feel comfortable, is amazing.
Hard work pays off. But it doesn't stop now. I know I'm generational wealthy, as you can say, but still got business to handle.
I just bring energy, try to put myself in a good mood, because you're not going to get through practice if you're drowsy, don't feel like doing nothing. Then it's going to be a long practice and coach is going to be all over you.
It took a toll when I couldn't see my mom as much.
'Last Friday Night'... I just heard a song, and I just liked Katy Perry ever since.
Growing up, it was just me and my mom. I watched her struggle for 17 years, and when I was 19, I got a chance to pay off all of her debt after two paychecks. That's a crazy feeling.
I've always got the thrill of just putting on that uniform and going out there and playing.
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