Bam Adebayo is Back Under the Microscope After Heat Fall Flat in Opener

Here we go again. Bam Adebayo is taking the heat for not doing enough in Miami's 25 point loss on opening night to the Minesota Timberwolves.

Bam didn't have spectacular night offensively by any means, but that's to be expected now that he's got teammates like Giannis and Klay Thompson who will take some of that off him. But his 15 points in 31 minutes on a 6-12 shooting night where he went 1-5 from 3 and made 2 of his 3 free throws and had 7 rebounds and 4 assists has many simply saying he has to do more.

It's nothing new for Bam to find himself under the microscope of the critics' spotlight. But this time, the critics aren't holding back. Former NBA star Gilbert Arenas called the All-Star "gifted" but had and then basically asked him to do more.

"If I’m coaching him I’m like ‘bam please, I don’t want to have to stay on you. Hey, score!’ You should already know they can’t stop you! It’s like he plays good basketball. Sometimes good basketball means, dominate! I don’t need you passing to lesser versions of you," he added.

Then there was NBA insider Chiney Ogwumike's take on ESPN's "First Take" Thursday morning. "I wanted to see more of an aggressive Bam," she said. "It looked like Bam was trying to be that facilitator for them [the Heat] instead of being that guy that can go off the dribble."

She wasn't the only one on the network calling him out. As we told you earlier Thursday, Kendrick Perkins called out Bam immediately following the game Wednesday night on SportsCenter. In true Kendrick Perkins fashion, de didn't mince his words either saying it's time for him "to go from an All-Star to an All NBA Player" and even mentioned the team's loyalty to him.

The Bam criticism began before the season ever started from Heat head coach-turned-analyst, Stan Van Gundy when he appeared on The Zack Lowe Show.

Meanwhile, there was this analysis from Brendan Haywood who seemed to put the blame more on the rest of the Heat than solely on Bam.. “How many teams have we seen win a championship where the best two playmakers are the 4/5? — In today’s NBA, you need at least 1 guard who can get a bucket. Davion had a solid game but he’s not that guy that can go get it! — When Giannis sits down your 2nd best playmaker can’t be Bam Adebayo. That’s crazy.'

As for Bam himself, he basically attributed the loss to emotions: "I think that build-up of wanting to play so good in front of our home crowd and obviously set the tone was not there. We're gonna get back to the drawing board, watch film, now it's real."

The skepticism is real too.

Adebayo has his next chance to deliver, Friday night against the Detroit Pistons.