After four straight seasons in the play-in tournament, the NBA's qualifying round for the last two playoff places in each conference, Bam Adebayo has flatly dismissed the critics' predictions. The Miami Heat centre insists the doubts surrounding his team make no sense now that Giannis Antetokounmpo and Klay Thompson have joined. "We just got one of the best shooters ever and one of the top-three players in our league," Adebayo said. "But we're a play-in team?" In his eyes, the criticism is entirely unfounded.
Thompson, 36, shot 38.3% from beyond the arc last season, yet it is the Antetokounmpo factor that all but guarantees Miami a top-six finish in the Eastern Conference, the threshold for an automatic playoff place.
