The Quotable Steven Adams – 2019-20 Edition
Greetings, fair squires, and may golden horses carry you. Since you’re still above ground, here’s a bit of a treat to put some lead in your pencil. It’s the fifth annual edition of an old favourite, as we re-live the NBA season that was through the words words words and wisdom of Steven Adams. Be it a bit of basketball IQ or a dose of humour or some familiar kiwi humility, old mate serves up the lot of it, you know? Yeah mate. Let’s go.
THE QUOTABLE STEVEN ADAMS: 2018-19 EDITION
THE QUOTABLE STEVEN ADAMS: 2017-18 EDITION
THE QUOTABLE STEVEN ADAMS: 2016-17 EDITION
THE QUOTABLE STEVEN ADAMS: 2015-16 EDITION
“Bit of a loaded question, mate. Yeah obviously we’ve got different players and whatnot. The feel itself, no. One thing this organisation does really well is you keep consistent with the values. It doesn’t matter who the players are. We still represent Oklahoma. We still have a duty to the people that we have to fulfil. If that makes sense.”
What a long time ago this was. More than a year in fact, just goes to show how much the calendars have been knocked off kilter by the year we call twenty-twenty. Way back when the last NBA season started it began with huge drama for the Thunder as Russell Westbrook and Paul George were each traded away. Folks expected the Thunder to tank. That’s not what was allowed to happen.
“Yeah I mean it’s… look. It ain’t this thing where you just read about and, like, oh that’s unfortunate and then you’re surprised that it happened to you. If it’s happening to someone else then obviously there’s a chance it might happen to you. It’s common sense, mate. But yeah it still affects you in some way coz you’re human. If you care about something, obviously I care about the organisation here. But again, we’re here because we’re trying to support the organisation itself and the organisation needs to do well. So you have to keep that in mind. You’re just here to help. And if you can place your brick, whatever you wanna call it, on the history that it’s about to create then that’s a privilege. That’s just cool. So even if they did trade me it’s been a huge honour, and I know with every player that’s played here, it’s been a huge honour to just contribute to the history that Oklahoma City is making.”
All them offseason changes meant everything was in limbo. Steven Adams included... if Westbrook can be traded then so can Steve-o. So how does a fella cope with that kinda uncertainty?
“Ah, I dunno mate. We gotta still focus. Keep focussed on what the game plan is. I’m not gonna just come out and be like: maybe now’s a good time to jack up a couple threes. It’s gotta be calculated. This ain’t rec centre basketball.”
Fancy popping a few trebles this season, mate? Not so quickly apparently.
“The formula is pretty simple. Gotta work hard and be consistent. All those sorts of things. It’s the consistent thing that’s difficult. Someone could tell you there’s a secret sauce but you can’t get around it. You’ve gotta be very consistent. And it ain’t just like coming in and getting up mindless shots if that makes sense. You have to be really focussing in on what you’re trying to get better. I actually learned that from Nick Collison. That attention to detail.”
Lessons to pass along to the young fellas entering the league from one who knows.
“Still above ground.”
A favourite saying of Monsieur Adams. If you’re still breathing, it’s all good.
“I wouldn’t say anything right now coz it’s just been two days bro. We’ve clicked on most things but that’s expected. We’ve been in the league long enough, I’ve watched him play long enough, and we’ve played basketball long enough for you just to kinda just mesh. You get the gist of the positions. But if you’re trying to get to that elite level kinda read, that’s more of a body language read. So you need to know that it takes a bit more time. And its really small stuff bro, say you’re driving and you’re angled like this, then I’ll have to respond to you doing this as opposed to this. That small stuff, that’s where it’s a like a different level off chemistry. But that just takes time, mate.”
Steven Adams, meet Chris Paul. Chris Paul, meet Steven Adams
“I’m sticking by meat, mate. I’m a huge fan of meat. Quite impressive though, the stuff aye? The science behind it? Pretty impressive I will say that. Might be a little locker room debate.”
Chris Paul’s on that plant-based diet buzz. Steven Adams is a spokesperson for Oklahoma Beef. Always keep an open mind though.
“So basically... point guards in general nowadays have to be able to probe, regardless. Russ is the most explosive fuckin’ player in the world so he has a bit more leeway to kinda do what he wants to do, right? He plays a certain way. Most guards can’t do that, he just takes off and it doesn’t matter who’s in front of him. Boom. Because he’s so explosive. Not every player can do that so they they use a bit more of the ball manipulation, changing angles, holding the defender off. It’s a different game but you’re still accomplishing the same thing. Either one works, mate. Either one works. Just depends on the system.”
Chris Paul versus Russell Westbrook, whaddayareckon?
“Everyone wants me to teach them the haka.”
Chris Paul wasn’t in the 2014 FIBA World Cup team that faced the Tall Blacks haka so he probably feels like he missed out.
“I’ll tell you what my best compliment was, because I haven’t heard it ever. Someone came up to me, I was at Top Golf. Someone came up to me and said: I just need to shake your hand because you’re the best thing to happen to the beef industry in Oklahoma and I just wanna thank you so much. And that hit home! Bro, he was so deep. I was like, holy shit. Knowing me, aye? I just went with it. Oh yeah mate, no worries. Coz I didn’t know the response so I kinda played it off. My boys were there from New Zealand, they were just like: shut up, man. To me.”
Speaking of the beef industry there are certain perks that come with being a spokesperson although those perks don’t always fly so with the ol’ kiwi humility well when the lads are around.
“Just working out bro. Same routine. Wake up, go lift, then go do some basketball training. Then just go play afterwards and that’s pretty much it. Day in and day out. Athlete’s lives are pretty boring in that sense. You go to, like, Spain, go have a little holiday, but it’s usually wrapped around this training scene.”
What was the summer like? First of all the summer was winter when it’s spent in New Zealand. Other than that it was all sticking to the routine outside of a quick trip to Ibiza (where he paid ex-teammate Alex Abrines a cheeky visit, what a fella).
“Yup. So basically, like any other player, I run a basketball camp. We managed to make the camps for free so then we targeted the poor areas of the country – I shouldn’t say poor areas, just smaller cities. Usually we hit the big cities relying on people to come in but we tried to spread out to these smaller ones where people can’t really make it out to the big cities. This’ll be my seventh year. There’s three camps around the country. Roughly the average is about 400-500 kids. It’s not a skill camp, it’s not high performance or anything like that. It’s just kids come in, you get a free basketball, a free t-shirt. They go home with a bit of food as well.”
Yarns on those excellent basketball camps he runs back in Aotearoa during his off-season.
“Umm, we’ve gotta figure it out mate. The game has actually evolved to where there’s less and less pick and rolls now. Strangely enough. And that’s just because the way the game is, you’re better off running a hand off instead of a pick and roll. Either way mate we’re gonna try do our best. I’m still gonna do my old things and Chris is obviously more than capable to bloody do whatever he wants he’s a bloody floor general, he’s able to manipulate anything. He’s been in this league longer than me and he knows all the tricks of the trade, mate. I just stand in the way of people. That’s what screening is.”
Some prescient words about the pick and roll game, leading into how he meshed with Chris Paul. Losing out on those Westbrook/Adams P’n’Rs kinda took away one of his major scoring avenues but with CP3 comes a different sort of excellence.
“This is insane. Amazing how they get preserved like this, aye?”
“I wanna be able to be an astronaut. I’m too big.”
“Yeah that’s cool. Got ya whole constellations.”
Genuine fascination during a trip to the science museum with the local kiddos.
“Just chemistry mate. Yeah it’s just chemistry. Get a bit more flow. As players, reads, all that sorta stuff. Just constantly building mate. This stuff ain’t easy, especially when you ramp up the pace.”
A slow start for the Thunder, who lost four of their first five games as a largely new team took time in adjusting to things. This was the prescription for what needed to improve.
“So, if they set up the zone, in terms of you playing faster: no. Because they’re already set. That’s the whole thing, if they make you play half-court then in terms of speed or whatever you don’t wanna just come down and jack a shot with a set defence. So to beat the zone you can either get out quick, get ahead of them and then they kind cross-match and try to figure out which is which. That’s when you can unpick them. I mean, we coulda done a better job on that but once they’re set, now you start playing with pace. Drive past them. Kick. We were getting some decent looks.”
Little bit of a defensive clinic there.
“Hey mate, it’s me Steven Adams. Pro basketball player and creator of the Steven Adams Academy of Smashing Steaks. And right now for a limited time only I’m offering you a chance to enrol in this incredible programme: the Steven Adams Academy of Smashing Steaks.”
Introducing the Steven Adams Academy of Smashing Steaks. Heaps more ads where this bad boy came from, most of them following the same kinda theme. Steven Adams smashes steaks and you can too.
“Nah nothing much. Just a bit of a bruise mate.”
Just a bit of a bruise, in the fourth game of the season, but it’d rule him out of the next two games. And then another game a week or so later after re-aggravating it. Stuttering start with the injury there.
“Well he’s just so fast, bro. So fast. Very direct. There’s one thing with say most people who are in transition, [against] one player, if you’re kinda in between him and the basket for the most part you kinda slow him down. Like, Russ is not that kinda guy. If he decides to go it’s pretty tough to get back and not foul him. That’s the only difference. It’s a big one though.”
A few words on suddenly having to play against Russell Westbrook instead of with Russell Westbrook.
“The aim was to just get the ball down as fast as possible, right? So one of the things that was good with Russ is he could just go get the ball. Now it's just a bit more traditional sort of joint: You rebound, try to find the closest guy to outlet. As opposed to Russ, bro, as soon as they see he had it, they're gone”
“It's like my guy is over here, and I'm boxing him out so far, and the ball just hits the ground. Which, for a coach, is not a bad thing. But for practicality, obviously, someone needs to go get the fucking ball.”
For the longest time the joke was that Russell Westbrook was stealing rebounds from his big men. Now Russ wasn’t there any more and sure enough Adams’ defensive rebounds went up (from 4.6 to 6.0 per game and in fewer mins – his DRB% rose from 14.0% to 24.0%). But the strategy had to change without Russ too.
“Hunter x Hunter. And One Piece. And One Punch Man. Between those three. I grew up watching like Dragonball Z and stuff and I guess it was just entertaining, bro. My brother got me onto One Piece and I explored Hunter x Hunter from there. It’s just one of those things, pretty cool. But you have to watch the Japanese version, you can’t watch the English Dubs. Definitely subs over dubs. The English dubs are kinda cringey. It just doesn’t sound good. Pretty gross. But the Japanese voice actors bro, they’re like damn. They’re coming in real hot.”
If you don’t know of Stevie’s anime fandom then you don’t know Stevie. Allow him to lay down some recommendations.
“I mean, I wasn’t thinking of this particular situation but those situations do arise and honestly all it is, mate, is this: I can’t do a good technique pass so I just resort to like a baseball pass. It worked out well.”
Something odd began to happen as the season got into the proper swing of things... the Thunder started getting good. They started winning games despite those preseason expectations of futility. One of those wins was an overtime W against the Timberwolves in which Adams threw a 94 yard inbounds pass/assist to Dennis Schröder with 1.1 seconds on the clock trailing by two points. Obviously he had to do some post-game telly work after that one. Just so happens he’s practised that exact style of pass many times.
“My eyes were closed every time mate. I was actually aiming for the top right corner of the backboard and instead they were going in. Nah just trying to stick with one routine and not think about it too much. And yada yada yada.”
That wasn’t the only time he pulled off some late-game heroics in December either. He’d also nailed 5/6 free throws in the last three minutes of a close win over the Pelicans a few days earlier. Big boost after starting the season a disastrous 8/27 from the line beforehand. What’s the secret sauce? Don’t look.
“I wanna say yes but it sounds like a loaded question mate... oh in that case mate, just so you don’t go down the rabbit hole: yes, absolutely.”
Shrugging off the question of whether his battling injury status was to blame for those early FT shockers. And everything else too, pretty much. Considering he’d play way better every time he came back from some rest... hard to argue with the logic of the question.
“It’s just comfy. … I don’t wear [jandals] while driving, so I just kick them off while driving. And sometimes in the mornings I just can’t be bothered, mate. That’s how lazy I get, mate. It’s just, yeah you can slip them on but I’m like, ‘Agh, whatever.’ Let’s go. Then just walk in.”
“That’s how I dress up, to be honest. I put on shoes and then people are like: ‘Wow, this guy’s fancy! Jesus.’ I go for the wow factor.”
“The problem is that the shoe technology, it kinda favours those whose foot isn’t open if that makes sense. Just because I wear bare feet all the time, my toes are quite well spread apart. My physician would say it’s a ‘healthy foot’. But the problem is, the reason why my toes are wide, spread out, there’s gaps between them, it doesn’t actually fit into these narrow shoes that they make now. You know what I mean? So that’s one of the main things. Then, when I do try to go into a narrow show, my knees start kicking in.”
“I take a different approach. I’m not saying that I don’t care about fashion. I think there’s a time and a place for it. I’m more of a practical sort of guy if that makes sense, which seems ironic because I wear blazed shorts and slip-ons in fucking the middle of winter. So, maybe half-practical.”
Top notch fashion talk from an article about the NBA’s most fashionably fashion-agnostic man. From wearing jandals in the winter to that one time he wore a suit for Russell Westbrook’s Oklahoma Hall of Fame induction to the troubles of getting quality shoes when you wear a US size 19 to his (distinctly kiwi) half-practical approach to dressing one’s self.
“Did you guys see the charge? That’s the first one of my career. I don’t usually brag, but it’s the first one of my career. 7 years. So, write about that please. Screenshot it. Whatever you guys got to do. Send it to me.”
Look, when it takes you seven years to achieve anything you might as well be proud of yourself.
“It’s probably not looking too bright. Look around the league it’s not that much of an emphasis, is it? There’s very few post-ups. But yeah if you ask me personally I still think there’s a lot of value there. I might be biased but the passing angles from there, you get some bigs who are really good passers from the post, it’s just tough to help. Some of the high splits you can kinda get there. Just coz there’s a lot more space and you can kinda come over. In the post it’s tough. Once that pass goes in it’s pretty tough to actually pull over and help. But that’s me. Unbiased opinion.”
As it says on the tin, the state of post play as discussed by a premier NBA post-player.
“It’s grown tremendously in terms of numbers. Very, very popular sport at the moment. Which is cool, because it is a cool sport.”
How has basketball grown in New Zealand over the last few years?
“Yeah I absolutely shat my pants.”
Back on that clutch buzz, OKC were down 26 points to the Bulls at home in mid-December only to surge back and win it late on with none other than Steven Adams being put in the unfamiliar position of winning the game from the free throw line. It was 106-106 when he banked that fella, 4.3 seconds left on the clock. He missed the second one but it didn’t matter.
“I didn’t realise how much time it takes to put on all that shit. It’s a lot longer than what I normally... I didn’t account for it. I was just like: eh, fuck this, mate. Trying to fucking put all this in and button these up. Lots of buttons, a lot of weird things.”
“I know how to do a tie. I went to a private school for high school. It was quite preppy. A bit bougie, mate.”
Another rare time to wear a suit, this time after Chris Paul got everyone specially tailored kits as a sort of team bonding thing or something. Whatever it was, it served up some goal.
“Interestingly enough I was watching Peaky Blinders on Netflix and I went to go get a beard trim and they were selling these. That’s why I bought one. I didn’t know, but I was like: Oh I’ll wear this one day. I picked out the hat so if there’s any good articles about the hat, that was all me. Full credit for myself.”
Yes, the hat he wore with his CP3 suit was inspired by Peaky Blinders, since literally everybody was asking. And it wasn’t the tailor who suggested it either.
“Probably my funeral, mate”
The next time he reckons he’ll wear a suit.
“It’s like an ex-girlfriend, mate. Gotta get past it, don’t ya? Don’t look back.”
Dealing with defeat the Steven Adams way.
“It was a weird play. Chris had a wide-open lay-up, you know what I mean. It was just one of those weird plays. It’s an anononon... anonon... anonononono... anomaly.”
Tongue-twisters. They’ll get ya.
“Umm, that's a tough one. Nah nah, he didn't. I think he wanted to flail. He intentionally wanted to flail. But I don't think like: Ah, let me just pinpoint this shin right into old mate's crown jewels. You know what I mean? I don't think he thought that. He thought: There's contact, flail, bang. Twice. In the same series.”
Welcome to... the Lowe Post Podcast. Where Zach was joined, back in January 2020, by the main man Steven Adams for yarns a-plenty. In case you can’t tell, that particular quote was after Zach asked him if Draymond Green had intentionally kicked him in the bollocks in that 2016 WCF series.
“ *indistinguishable howl* ”
Sometimes the call just doesn’t go your way.
“I’d seen something pop up in the feed. They were kinda bickering back and forth, yeah? They're not doing much so they’re probably just bored, mate. But it’s entertaining for you guys I bet, yeah? You guys getting a little kick out of it?”
Many things are blown out of proportion during an NBA season. Kendrick Perkins and Kevin Durant, two teammates of Adams’ from when he was a rookie, having a war of words over twitter is one of those things.
“I thought the tribute video to him was really good. Quite nice. Quite a... putting on the tears, isn’t it mate, you know what I mean? The video. You’re just like, wow man that’s awesome. But yeah I know that he definitely felt good about it.”
On the topic of ex-teammates, in early January Russell Westbrook played his first game in Oklahoma City as a visiting player. The Thunder played a tribute video. Handshakes were shared. It was cool.
“If you’re a stats guy you’ll be like: Oh cool, bro. But if you’re a system guy, you’d understand it a bit more.”
Sums up his attitude to the whole game, really.
“Oh I’m not sure about chatter because there’s a lot of chatter. Whatever, mate. I dunno, there’s a lot of stuff like that. But as we all know, what Woj says is prophecy. You know what I mean? He’s the main guy. I guess most players kinda just rely on that, I think everyone relies on that.”
Anyway, the season progressed and despite starting 6-11 the Thunder began to steadily turn things around. Chris Paul’s clutch play. Dennis Schröder off the bench. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Dan Gallinari. Billy Donovan’s coaching. Yes, even a bit of Steven Adams. Suddenly the trade deadline came and went and OKC stood still, choosing to play out the rest of the season with this unexpectedly competitive team. Not that there weren’t rumours, of course...
“I didn’t add it, really. I just never really did it, honestly. It never really worked back in the day. Like, I’d try to take a charge, but I’d just fall over, and they’d just be like: What are you doing? You’re stronger than that, mate. Get up.”
Not only did he keep playing for the Thunder but he kept taking charges too. None in seven years and suddenly three in a handful of weeks. Enough that The Oklahoman did a story on it.
“Yeah it was weird because we had a competition yesterday. Like, half court shots, just a competition amongst the lads. And I ended up winning that one because I did exactly the same shot and I dunno, it just managed to go in today. As you could tell I was hyped. After the shot went in I kinda blacked out. I’ve kinda seen what I’d done, mate, shimmies and shit. I dunno, alter ego coming out.”
So... you know how he was talking about the possibility of shooting threes at the start of the season? Well in mid-February, just before the All Star Break, he finally drilled one. And he drilled it from the kinda range where even Dame Lillard would start sweating. A buzzer beating one-handed heave from inside his own half at the end of the second quarter of a game against New Orleans. It only took him 515 1/2 NBA games but he finally made a triple.
“One thing that kind of aligns well with Oklahomans and a thing that they kind of relate to is that real gritty, physical kind of nature. They really enjoy that, and Enes is very much that. So I think they liked him for his game play first but then found out the dude’s actually a really nice guy and is really passionate about his voice and wants to do a lot with his life while he’s here on this earth. It’s pretty impressive. You’ve got to be quite brave to take that path.”
Good vibes in February as the Boston Celtics came to town and Steven Adams got to catch up with his former Stache Bro (and NBA International Civil Rights Icon) Enes Kanter. Who is a capital letters Good Dude.
“I have a Belgian Malinois. It’s not a desert, don’t get hungry mate. It’s similar to a German Sheppard, just a bit smaller. Hyper as shit though, hyper as shit. She’s pretty good mate, that’s probably my favourite. I just taught her how to crawl which is quite nice, quite cute. And also she can climb about this high now, I took her to Lake Hefner. They’ve got like a rock wall, had her climb up stuff like that. So, it’s pretty good.”
The Thunder went into the All Star Break with a 33-22 record and looking sweet for the playoffs. Chris Paul was picked as an All Star and got to partake in the festivities of the weekend. Steven Adams, meanwhile, used the week off to train his dog.
“Yeah I am a big fan of UFC. It’s very entertaining for me. My favourite fighter has always been Khabib from way back in the day, it’s always been Khabib.”
“He’s actually really close with my sister, coz we’re from the same home town. Obviously he’s a bit older. Him and my sister they were friends all through high school – he was a hip hop dancer back then. The relationship there is more I have to respect him as an elder, you know?”
You may or may not know that Steven Adams is a massive UFC fan. If you follow his social medias then you definitely know. Funnily enough he also knew Israel Adesanya way back in the day in Rotorua so there’s a coincidence for ya.
“Umm, I dunno. Just happy we got the win to be honest. Sometimes these games happen. Good stuff. Good for you guys.”
Lad comes out of that All Star Break and bags 19 points, 17 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 steals in a win against the Denver Nuggets but he wasn’t having any of the praise, no way. (Also a couple mentions of a couple favourite sayings later in that clip: “puts a bit of lead in the pencil” & “golden horses”).
“Marvel’s a bit strong for me. I’d say he’s on the right track. There’s been a lot of young guys that come in and have that impact that the does. If you’re a young guy, you’re a young guy, we don’t discriminate. You’ve just gotta come in and play. It’s just that mentality that he’s doing really good at.”
Getting out in front of the bandwagon to discuss the rapid impact of undrafted rookie Lu Dort... who several months later would be one of the breakout players of the NBA playoffs with his immense defence.
“Cinderella, mate.”
Media fella jokes that he also wears size US19 shoes.
“Defensive chants? They’ll just be a bit quieter, won’t they mate? It’ll just be us on the bench: defence! Yeah I mean I really don’t mind. If they keep music, it’s all the same. That’s fine. All that sorta stuff. Half-time shows might be a bit bleak though, aye mate? Be a bit dull. Nah but jokes aside, I really don’t mind mate. In terms of what we’re dealing with, they’re putting everyone’s health first. It ain’t like we’re targeting anyone. It’s just like, this is the best interests of... humans.”
Then some things started happening. The coronavirus made it to the USA. Precautions were put in place. Teams began playing with empty stadiums. An eerie confusion fell upon the league. Soon enough the entire league was postponed for a couple months (an OKC game being the catalyst).
“Come to NZ bro. Got the mean feeds over here.”
Probs got too many foreign millionaires buying up bunkers here already but fair play to Diplomat Steve.
“I think that’s everyone’s first instinct to do when there’s a world crisis going on. Spend some time back on the farm. I was boxing out cows and all that bro.”
When the season’s interrupted by a global pandemic what are ya gonna do to stay fit? Head back home to the farm and do the mahi of course.
“There were a few hiccups, but New Zealanders are generally quite compliant with the rules. We’re a smaller country and our borders are more easily managed. The approach was right at the start go hard and kick its butt.”
Pandemic response level: Aotearoa
“Going in for a handshake now is very very sketchy. And I don’t want to be a dick.”
Pandemic response level: Steven Adams
“I’m not bloody sixty, mate”
No dramas with getting the zoom chats going.
“I think it's gonna be like a start new sort of thing and whosoever's able to get the chemistry going like really quickly and very sharp then that's the team that's gonna do well... As a player, you just gotta come in hot.”
Chatting ahead of the NBA restart. Apparently he used the word ‘whosoever’?
“It’s all good mate. Lets be clear, this is not Syria mate. It’s not that hard. Its not that difficult, bro. We’re living in a bloody resort, you know? Everyone’s got a complaint, everyone has their own preferences mate but you know. It’s not anything too serious. Just a bit of dry food here and there and you get bored every now and then but its all good man. It’s pretty cool. It’s actually pretty cool because you get to interact with players on the other teams too.”
Remember when players first transitioned into the bubble and there was a flurry of complaints and drama? Eventually things settled down into a cruisey vibe but before that Steve-o was there to lay down some truths.
“You about to be thrown out the bubble. Disney hosting you big fella.”
Just the usual Enes Kanter baiting on twitter there.
“First Légal mate for the lads! #EZGEGE”
Check. Mate.
“She looks pretty awesome if I do say so myself.”
The feelings when Sister Val gets her own barbie doll.
“Umm, fell over. Hurt myself. Found out that I made the bucket and then it just healed mate. That’s how it goes”
Bubble ball starts and Adams is looking fantastic. Plenty of time to rest up, free of injuries leading into the playoffs for maybe the first time in his career. Then he hurts a leg against the Lakers and the state of Oklahoma held its breath (he’d sit out a few games but be back all goods by the playoffs).
“It happened a couple times. About time bro. Bigs do it, we screen all the time. You know what I mean? About time the guards bloody showed us some love.”
Chris Paul set a screen and it was like Steven Adams had woken up in opposite land.
“He’s progressed really nicely. And it’s all the little things bro, it’s hard to... so like when we watch film we analyse it and he’s doing such an amazing job in terms of keeping this guy engaged, opening this guy’s... all the small stuff that won’t show up on the scoresheet or whatever you guys are into. Doesn’t really show up on that but in terms of engagement and how shifty he is, he’s doing a remarkable job at finding his teammates. And that’s progressed throughout the whole year.”
Words from a leader in the locker room about how well second-year player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is coming along.
“Erik’s gone, aye? That’s poor behaviour. Poor behaviour.”
Also from the above. Old mate had a delay on the zoom conference or something and Steve was having no patience for it.
“Is that live? Oh sorry bro. Greetings, salutations. Be responsible mate.”
Trans-Tasman rivalry... until you’re both on foreign ground. Gotta say g’day to Joe Ingles even if he’s trying to get on the technology with the media. Also shout out to his guitar troll of Patty Mills back in lockdown.
“Checkmate, motherfuckers.”
More chess. Note how the OKC social media person delicately chopped the end of this quote off... this ended up being about the last thing we heard from the fella though. There was minimal media access to players in the bubble with none of the local reporters in the bubble and players pretty much just got down to business (and online chess). OKC then fought extremely tough in the first round of the playoffs but were dropped in seven games by the Houston Rockets. Season over, bubble exited. Basketball done until next time.
“Kia Kaha”
The message on the jersey for all the world to see. Tu Meke.
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