The early days of the new NBA season were a false start for Steven Adams. Coming off the supreme touch and control he seemed to have in preseason, building up some lofty expectations, he was a shadow of himself across the first week or so as a left knee contusion clearly affected his ability to play to his capacity. He then missed two games to rest up and for a guy who has only missed 12 games combined across the last four seasons, who only missed two games in total all of last season, despite all multitude of knocks and niggles, that was pretty blatant evidence that this thing was truly bothering him.

But then returning to the lineup for an eight-point win over the Orlando Magic suddenly he looked like himself again. Hey we all need a little rest and relaxation to hit the reset button now and then, right? Adams had his bounce back against Orlando. He was finishing through contact like he barely even noticed it, a big difference compared to what he was like in those first four games.

Four games prior to sitting out: 10/32 FG at 31.3%

Four games since returning: 21/28 FG at 75%

It’s more than just the shooting though. With Steven Adams playing with more comfort he was able to assume a much bigger role in the offence. OKC are trying to encourage more ball movement this season, less of that isolation stuff that Russell Westbrook was so good at. There’s a different balance to their roster now so they need to be able to find ways to get contributions from across the board instead of relying on a couple main fellas to take over. The result of that, in these early stages, has solid outside shooting from a number of guys, some pretty useful defence, and four different guys averaging five boards per night.

That’s an all hands on deck approach which is seeing Steven Adams get plenty of touches. Particularly in that half-court stuff, getting that ball in his hands and shifting it around at the top of the key as guards cut and drive around him. He’s not only a facilitator in that situation, he’s also a bit of a floor general in his own way. And with all four of the other OKC starters shooting at least 38% from three point range (before their blowout defeat in Indianapolis at least) that’s also giving Steve something to aim for with those offensive boards, kicking it out to open shooters as he draws folks inwards with his strength and presence.

Billy Donovan: “It’s huge for us [having Steve back]. That’s what we gotta do. We gotta throw him the ball so we can cut and move off of him a little bit more. There are times when we’re wanting to hold it. We need to give it to him, cut, move, and let him kind of dictate the pick and roll.”

Terrance Ferguson: “Steven, he’s a beast. When he got the ball, he had three guys crash on him at a time. He finds the open shots, finds the cutters. He’s a really good passer.”

Adams averaged a career-best 1.6 assists per game last season. So far he’s popping a pair of them per game this time around and as he plays more games at close to full capacity it seems like a fair bet to say that he’ll be able to maintain that. He had multiple assists in three of his four games back and would probably have bagged another couple if he’d played more than 19 minutes against the Pacers but they were blown out in the third quarter so after playing six minutes to start the second half of that one he wasn’t risked in the fourth. It was an ugly game. The first real blowout of the season for OKC but s’pose we’ve gotta expect a few of those now.

On that note, he’s also yet to play thirty minutes in a game this season. He averaged 33 minutes per game last time around but has been lingering in the mid-late 20s most games so far. Most of that is because they’re trying to manage an existing injury, one which isn’t going away quickly either because after three games back looking sharp again he then sat out the second night of a back to back with OKC losing a close one at home to the Milwaukee Bucks (Giannis had 35 points and 16 rebounds). He also left the Houston game early with that knee contusion flaring up again which led to his first two games out. Nothing drastic or anything, it’s just one of those injuries where you’re going to get an aggravating stray blow now and then so not playing back to backs is a fair, if conservative, way to approach that. And obviously no reason at all for him to be playing the fourth quarter of blowouts at the moment.

But it’ll also be curious to see if Adams’ minutes remain around that 26-28 min area as he recovers back to a hundy percent or if they rise back into the 30s again. Remember he was benched for large crunch-time stretches of the playoffs last season as OKC played smaller in an attempt to keep pace with the Trail Blazers... although that was a bit of a desperation move. Still, even though trading Jerami Grant away makes it a little harder, and Nerlens Noel doesn’t stretch the floor any more than Steve does, that’s still a tactical possibility when a lot of teams out there prefer their stretch-fives who’ll either force Stevie to switch or to follow them out to the perimeter and limit his rebounding. And Steve isn’t tied to Russell Westbrook and that pick and roll game any longer. Add that to the list of things to keep an eye on as this season settles into its skin. In fact, let’s draw it up...

KIWI STEVE’S LIST OF THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR

• Adams has averaged a bit under 27 minutes through his first seven games which would be his fewest since 2015-16 but will those numbers rise as he eases into full fitness? He’s yet to play 30 mins in a game.

• As expected, his defensive rebound numbers have taken a huge leap without Russell Westbrook – and he’s yet to have a game with more offensive boards than defensive ones despite averaging more ORebs than DRebs the last two seasons and despite rebounding at the offensive end at a pretty similar rate so far.

• All that chat about him maybe shooting threes... he hasn’t even attempted a shot from outside the paint to date.

• Old mate’s gotta start hitting some free throws, seriously. This is getting horrific. It’s the one major factor that doesn’t seem to have been improved by those two-games off... his percentage so far is not even half of his career rate and his career rate isn’t exactly on a Steve Nash/Steph Curry level either. 6 of 23, dude. Yikes.

• He’s almost definitely gonna be pushing for a career high in assists this season but how far can that go as he gets back to full capacity and gets used to playing with not only a bunch of new teammates but also a bunch of new teammates who are plus shooters from outside? Might there be a triple double this season? Surely not... but definitely peek at some of the wonders of his passing game. He throws a fastball strike over the plate when he needs to.

Also, more of this please...

BOX SCORES

vs NEW ORLEANS PELICANS (W 115-104):

DNP – LEFT KNEE CONTUSION

vs ORLANDO MAGIC (W 102-94):

26 MIN | 11 PTS (5/7 FG, 1/2 FT) | 11 REB (4 OFF) | 3 AST | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 1 PF

at SAN ANTONIO SPURS (L 121-112):

27 MIN | 10 PTS (5/6 FG, 0/4 FT) | 5 REB (2 OFF) | 3 AST | 3 TO | 2 PF

vs GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS (W 114-108):

25 MIN | 13 PTS (6/7 FG, 1/3 FT) | 8 REB (4 OFF) | 2 AST | 1 STL | 2 BLK | 1 TO

vs MILWAUKEE BUCKS (L 121-119):

DNP – LEFT KNEE CONTUSION

at INDIANA PACERS (L 111-85):

19 MIN | 10 PTS (5/8 FG) | 5 REB (1 OFF) | 1 AST

THE SCHEDULE

vs PHILADELPHIA 76ERS, Saturday at 2pm (NZT)

at LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS, Tuesday at 4.30pm (NZT)

at LOS ANGELES LAKERS, Wednesday at 4.30pm (NZT)

vs LOS ANGELES LAKERS, Saturday at 2pm (NZT)

SLAM DUNKS

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Keep cool but care