What a difference a year makes, right? Twelve months ago people doubted whether or not Steven Adams had made the right decision in declaring for the draft after just a single year in college. He’s too young! He’s too inexperienced! He needs more time to learn the game! Well, not so much anymore. Yeah, he is still picking up a lot of the subtleties of basketball, but he’s clearly of NBA quality already, that much is clear. What he’s learning playing with guys like Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka, and playing against the best centres in the world today, is clearly more valuable than another year at Pitt. And given the strength of this year’s draft class (and the comparatively weak standard of last year’s), there’s not much chance that another year on the college stage – even with a deep run in March Madness – would have improved his 12th overall draft placing. In fact given where he’s ended up, this was probably the best case scenario.

When Adams went to OKC, it was expected that he’d see most of his time in the D-League. He was a project player. Incredible natural talent, a freak physically, but naïve and unpolished. DraftExpress.com rated his “physical profile” as his best attribute.

“He has rare size, a strong frame, and excellent athleticism. He runs the floor well, is extremely mobile, and has very good quickness for a player his height, also being capable of playing above the rim when called upon.”

However the weaknesses were clear too. While he was effective offensively when called upon, he was not often dominant. He’d slip out of games a bit. His footwork was pretty poor and his instincts and reactions were slow. Plus his hands often let him down. Despite contesting rebounds as well as anyone, actually getting the ball under control did not always happen. Add some very average free throw shooting and a laid back attitude which turned a few off (though we kiwis know better than to doubt a compatriot in that way). All in all, he was projected as a late first rounder or a middle second rounder. Instead he went to a contending team with the twelfth pick.

As the preseason progressed, Adams seemed to impress. More and more. Here’s our post-Summer League report on the Big Funaki, where we talked about the possible upside of his NBA career. For the first time it seemed like he could make the final roster at the first opportunity, that the OKC coaches had that faith in him. He did. And he earned it too. Come opening day 2013/14, there was Steven Adams kitted up on the bench, ready to make his NBA debut against the Utah Jazz. This was just months after some were saying that the Thunder were really reaching when they drafted him in the top dozen. He played a solid 18 minutes off the bench that day with three rebounds and a couple points.

The moment he truly announced himself to Pro Basketball, however, was when he copped a Vince Carter elbow in the side of the face. Carter would be ejected for the offence – the first of a number of hardened NBA pro’s who’d get that punishment for trying to mess with stoic demeanour of Steven Adams. Might as well see if you can get blood from a stone. The most popular article we’ve ever done has been this one on all the players ejected for lashing out at Adams.

As is always the case with anyone, as the season progressed, we saw his numbers level out. Some good games, some bad games, some where he barely featured. Kendrick Perkins picked up an injury at one stage which saw Adams make a stretch of starts matching up against the likes of DeAndre Jordan, Marc Gasol and Dwight Howard. His minutes didn’t really change as without much bench depth in his position, coach Scott Brooks preferred to play small ball during Perkins’ absence, giving Nick Collison some minutes at the 5, and even Kevin Durant for a few spells too. Still, throughout the entire season Adams missed just one game, and played at least 10 minutes on 66 occasions. It was an impressive first season that even earned him a couple votes for the NBA All-Rookie team! Not quite sure how that happened, maybe a couple OKC reporters with hometown votes. But Adams was never expected to set the league alight immediately. He wasn’t even supposed to be there.

Did I mention he’s still only 20 years old!? Of players aged 20 or younger this season, only Anthony Davis, Andre Drummond and Giannis Antetokounmpo has more rebounds than Adams. It’s very rare that any player makes even a ripple in the NBA waters at this age. Adams was one of just 14 men to make an NBA start this season in that age group.

Regular Season - Per Game

His role in games was often limited (as most bench players’ ones are) by what the opposition has to offer. If they’re a young, dynamic team of shooters like Phoenix or Golden State, the big centres like Adams don’t get too much say in things. So his stats were never going to tell the full story. The box score isn’t always his friend. Durant and Westbrook take all the shots on this team. Jackson and Ibaka fight over the scraps. Adams is there to grab a few rebounds, but mostly to shake things up with his physicality, to get into the heads of opponents, to block and guard the rim and to work the pick and roll like no-one else can on that OKC roster. He does the intangibles. The things that coaches see and adore but fans mostly just ignore. Where most people focus on the Westbrook drive and layup, kiwi fans see Adams setting the pick that made it possible. Clearly Westbrook is the highlight in that situation, but basketball is a team game. That’s why LeBron had to leave Cleveland to win his first title. It’s why Jordan never won without Pippen. It’s why Kevin Durant’s Most Valuable Player speech famously singled out every other player in his team for personalised messages of thanks. 

The NZ media really jumped on the Steven Adams Bandwagon once his playoffs run began. His tussle with Zach Randolph, OKC’s Game 7 win over Memphis, the duel with the Clippers, the fall to the Spurs. Somewhere in that series of events Steven Adams became the biggest sports star in the country. If his regular season was good, his playoffs were even better. Against the best teams and at the most important time of the season he found a whole new level of play. What an asset that is.

Playoffs - Per Game

The stats again don’t tell the full story because he never had those blowout wins to pad the box score with. He was only playing against the best yet he produced just as well. Better, really. In doing so he probably convinced a lot of fans that he’ll one day be capable of starting for a competing team. Obviously there are at least 4.5 million people already in that club.

What does the future hold? In the meantime it sounds like pies and All Blacks games. It won’t hold any Tall Blacks appearances at the World Cup though. Fair enough. He’s the best player we’ve got but it’s hard to see how he fits into that scheme. He’s not ready to be a leader yet, nor a dominant scorer. Yet you get the feeling that with the Tall Blacks he’d be carrying all of that baggage and more. An off-season with the coaches and in the gym will make him a better player in the long run and hopefully we’ll see him in the black singlet in the long term. Either way, he’s doing more for NZ basketball right now than anyone’s ever done before.

It’s not out of the question that Adams finds himself as a starter next year. Kendrick Perkins is coming into the last year of his contract and can be amnestied. Perkins’ defence is very good, and he was crucial in slowing down Zach Randolph in the round 1 series with Memphis. However his offensive production is next to nothing and this is a team whose main priority now is easing the scoring pressure on its two stars. Reggie Jackson has made a great case to start at the 2-guard, with Thabo Sefolosha eligible for free agency, though that exposes another problem: The bench. Put Adams and Jackson in as starters and their top 5 looks good but what happens when they need a rest? Depth is a major issue and the Spurs taught them a thing or two about that the other week. If Perkins is let go, they may try for a top free agent and keep Adams on the bench. Greg Monroe and Marcin Gortat could be available. Or maybe a guy like Spencer Hawes comes in to play off the bench and Adams starts? There are decisions to make. For the record, the OKC general manager Sam Presti says that amnestying Perkins has not been considered “to this point”. And don’t overlook how much Perkins has positively contributed to Adams’ growth as a player. Amnestying Perkins would free up around $9m in cap space but it opens a whole in their roster too. The biggest priority is another bench scorer or two and a backup point guard. They have the 21st and 29th overall picks in the upcoming draft. The 21st one is an interesting story actually. The pick was Dallas’ initially, and they traded it to the Lakers in the disastrous Lamar Odom trade. The Lakers sent it to Houston who sent it to Oklahoma City in the Harden trade – along with the pick that they used to land Steven Adams! So they’ll hope to get two productive players from the draft. Their trade assets are limited but we’re expected a hefty boost to the salary cap next season to ease some of that pressure. The Thunder were found short in the quest for a championship, but they have the most important two pieces (Durant & Westbrook), and they have options.

So don’t worry too much about Adams’ role going forward. It’s all an upward curve. We’ve seen his defence improve markedly, all issues over his attitude put to bed, his shooting is an underused asset and his pick and roll abilities are beyond all doubt. He needs work learning to play more efficiently in the post, boxing out players, adding some polish to his finishing and, yeah, working on those free throws. You know all that’s coming with time and experience though. He’s just gonna keep on battling away and getting better each game. If he improves as much next year as he did this year he’ll be an all-star before long! And I don’t know about you but each time I see him bringing in a rebound or blocking a shot I still get excited thinking where he’s come from and in such a short amount of time and he’s done it without changing a thing about who he is. He’s as kiwi as a sheep in gumboots and he still loves a good steak and cheese.

From the entire nation of New Zealand: Chur, bro.  

And to finish things off, here are some gems from his final interview of the season with the OKC media:

Biggest surprise about the NBA:

“Probably the biggest thing is the private planes. Wow, that thing’s amazing. Got all the food on there, a bunch of drinks. I don’t know, It’s just amazing, never seen nothing like it. Tables, tables on planes, that’s amazing. That was probably the biggest ‘whoa’ for me, like ‘I made it’. This big private jet, you’re like ‘whoa.’”

The moment he realised that this was the big time:

“Probably the biggest reality check I’m in the NBA was in practice. That was probably the biggest ones. There would be a day, Perk, he was there. And we were like scrimmaging or whatever and we kinda got into it like we clashed. I’m innocent, I didn’t do anything, I accidently hit him. And then like, he turned around and elbowed me in the ribs and I’m like ‘oh my God’ (holding ribs). Then he just yelled at me: “I’m the only silverback!” I was like ‘What the…?’ So that was a big check, it was like, ‘We got some animals in the NBA.’”

On players lashing out at him:

“Kinda sad, to be honest with you. I don’t like people not liking me. I like to think I’m a likable guy. And when they elbowed me, I’m like, ‘Aww, that’s our friendship out the door.’”

On going back to NZ:

“Yeah, I think it’ll be pretty weird. Just cause, yeah, they're huge Thunder fans, apparently, which is awesome, very cool.”

On the Oklahoma City weather:

“The weather here is ridiculous. The winter is like, I was sliding around everywhere, it’s really cold. Like thunderstorms, it’s so hot. I was like, ‘Oh, man’. I don’t want to say it sucks, but it’s borderline.”