Kiwi Steve in the NBA #1: Welcome To Grind City
For all the constant chatter in NBA circles when it comes to evaluating players – judging prospects, comparing stats, debating trade balances, etc. - the most overlooked factor is often fit. As in, does this player suit the team that he plays for and do they suit him in return. Especially when it comes to veterans who’ve been around long enough for multiple waves of fresh new rivals to come along. If a team’s gonna struggle, fans tend to prefer younger players who have more scope for improvement (and front offices prefer them because they’re way cheaper).
Vets don’t get that same margin for error. Have a bad season after the age of thirty and you’ll get thousands of keyboard warriors telling everyone who’ll listen how washed up you are. Steven Adams hasn’t hit that age yet but he’s been around long enough that he could easily fool you into thinking so. Hence it wasn’t always a pretty sight trying to catch the vibe of New Orleans Pelicans fans last season. Writing these Kiwi Steve roundups often felt like trying to come up with as many different ways to say that Steven Adams is actually a very good player, this just isn’t a great place for him to show it.
It could have been. The first few weeks of his time there we saw lots of Adams at the five and Zion Williamson at the four – which was what Stan Van Gundy had in mind when he and front office bossman David Griffin traded for him. Then it quickly became apparent that Zion Williamson was not an overskilled big man but an oversized point guard. He moved into a ball-handling role and Adams’ task suddenly got a whole lot murkier. Pairing a guy who in his third season was already scoring at a legendary rate in the paint with a paint-clogging centre without shooting range is hardly ideal. Maybe if they had better perimeter shooters then that additional spacing would have allowed Adams and Zion to figure it out and become the unpunkable duo that SVG first envisioned. But they didn’t – the 2020-21 Pelicans were the fifth worst team in the NBA for 3P% (34.8%).
Adams had a much better season there than history is gonna remember. Instrumental in NO being one of the best rebounding teams in the league (first in O-Rebs, third overall) and he himself was fourth in the league in offensive reb percentage. His free throw numbers hit a career low (44.4%) but he shot 61.4% from the field. It’s just that once Zion became a ball-handler, there wasn’t much need for a non-shooting big man. It was a bad fit. No shade on Adams, no shade on the Pelicans (not for that at least). The trade made some sense at the time but things changed and Adams was collateral damage... then once SVG got the boot there was no way they were keeping him. For PR reasons as much as anything – gotta show the fans that they’re addressing past mistakes.
The Memphis Grizzlies, on the other hand, you could hardly conceive of a better fit for this lad. Everything aligned beautifully. A franchise with a history of adoring the intangibles that Adams has made a career out of - grit ‘n grind, baby. A young team with ambition and an abundance of three-point shooting. A budding superstar point guard who’s like a carbon copy of the past teammate that Steve had his best successes with (Ja Morant aka Russell Westbrook 2.0 with a better three-point shot). A coach in Taylor Jenkins who had a specific role in mind for his new centre that embraced his best attributes rather than trying to shun them. The only question mark was the fan reception, thinking back to the time Zach Randolph got ejected in a massive playoff game for striking an elbow at Adams way back in his rookie season... but a glorious media day showcase put those worries to bed.
Sure enough, preseason was a beauty. Adams looked fit and energetic and he was immediately embraced by his teammates and he racked up the stats. But that was only preseason. The real stuff is when it counts. And... well, the first few games of the regular season went basically the same as preseason had only with more fourth quarter minutes and therefore even bigger stat lines.
This is what it looks like when a good player finds the right role on the right team at the right time. Underneath everything else we all just wanna be accepted, right?
The Dish
The first five years that Steven Adams was in the NBA, he averaged 0.9 assists per game. 345 assists in 387 games. His sixth year that took a wee boost as he rocked up to 1.6 apg. Then Russell Westbrook left Oklahoma City and Adams’ assist numbers skyrocketed up to 2.3 per game. Then Steven Adams left Oklahoma City and while he wasn’t quite able to sustain those same numbers with New Orleans he did still manage 1.9 assists a night which was better than any other season.
In Memphis, however, it seems he’s in line to absolutely shatter any previous assistages. 3 dimes in three of his four preseason games. Then 3 against the Cavs on debut. 5 against the Clippers. 6 against the Lakers. 2.3 apg is his previous best... he seems to get at least three even on an average night with the Grizz. This is not just a passing fad or an anomaly – this is a very deliberate part of the way that the Grizzlies play basketball. If you’ve watched him throughout his career you’ll know that Adams has some super underrated passing abilities thanks to some big hands and a gentle touch. Now he’s on a team that doesn’t only recognise that but are actively embracing it.
Some context here... 35 players averaged 7+ rebounds last season. Here are the ones who also had 3+ assists per game:
Dejounte Murray, Draymond Green, Zion Williamson, Pascal Siakam, Ben Simmons, Jayson Tatum, Luka Dončić, Bam Adebayo, Mason Plumlee, Julius Randle, Nikola Jokić, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Russell Westbrook, Nikola Vucević, and Domantas Sabonis
How many of them are centres? Depends on your definition of centres but really it’s only Adebayo, Plumlee, Jokic, and Vucevic. And if you raise it to 4 assists per game then only Adebayo and Jokic remain. Put simply, this is not a way of operating that you see from too many proper big men.
It’s also not a coincidence. As we’ve seen, this was a trend that began to find some consistency in his last couple years at OKC and head coach Taylor Jenkins is on record as crediting that emphasis to assistant coach Darko Rajaković. Wouldn’t you know it, Coach Darko just so happens to have spent a few years with Steven Adams during those OKC days. Initially from Serbia, he began his American coaching career with the Tulsa 66ers in the G-League (the first non-American G-League head coach ever) in 2014 before spending the years 2014-2019 as an assistant with Oklahoma City. He then joined ex-Thunder colleague Monty Williams’ staff with the Phoenix Suns for a year before hooking up with Memphis.
Gotta imagine that Rajaković had something to do with Memphis trading for Adams in the first place. Gotta also imagine that Rajaković’s experiences working with his Serbian national team – like when he was an assistant at the 2019 World Cup – working with a certain Nikola Jokić may have also played some part in his thinking when it comes to what Adams can do as a passer.
Nikola Jokić is the reigning MVP and it feels like he’s still somehow underrated so it’s not like we’re gonna see the full Joker package being run by Steven Adams. He’s not a three-point shooter so we won’t get him playing facing the basket from the perimeter, where Jokić flexes a lot of his very best passing work. Jokić is so damn good he can do things off the dribble too. He’s remarkable. With his threat as a shooter he gives defenders so much to worry about and then the vision that he has to spot things before they’ve even unfolded is next level and the precision to thread a pass through the tightest of avenues... mate. If you want to spend 26 minutes with your jaw on the floor, watch this supercut of NJ assists.
With Adams, he’s going to get his fair share of centres assists as per. Offensive rebounds kicked out to open shooters and things like that. Hand-offs to dribblers. Maybe even an outlet pass to a cherry-picking teammate now and then, similar to this banger where he actually orchestrates the jump ball move with Ja Morant beforehand and then executes it perfectly. Gorgeous basketball...
But the reason for the boost is this action right here, the high-post screen...
The vast majority of his assists so far have come from collecting the ball in these spots, something designed to that purpose. Then the rest of the Grizz fellas offer up a few options and it’s up to Adams to react to what the defence does in response to make the right decision.
For starters, he’s dragging his opposition big man away from the rim. Jarrett Allen for the Cavs seemed pretty aware of this and tried to hang back a little on this occasion, knowing that Adams wasn’t likely to turn and drive or turn and shoot... in fairness he has put the ball on the ground once or twice from the high-post but, y’know’, you pick your poison as an NBA defender most of the time. Allen’s idea here was to prevent any cutters getting past him for easy lay-ups...
... so what Adams does instead is wait patiently for De’Anthony Melton to get around a Desmond Bane screen. Melton then cuts towards the hoop, taking both his and Bane’s man after the botched switch, and Bane was left wide open for a three. Adams flips it gently to the dude and boom. Bane, by the way, shot 42.3% from deep as a rookie last season. That fella knows what he’s doing.
Or there’s this option. Ivica Zubac doesn’t push up too hard but he doesn’t drop back either. Then Eric Bledsoe, Steve-o’s buddy from last season, gets a little greedy and lunges for the ball in SA’s hands. That’s all the invitation that Desmond Bane needs to break free towards the rim and Adams slides that bounce pass in around Zubac for the lay-up...
Adams has this reputation for being a guy whose efforts don’t always show up in the box score and there’s plenty of that still going on with Memphis. You don’t get an assist credit for a mean screen that allows Ja Morant to skip to the bucket for an easy two, for example (although they do count screen assists these days and Adams, to the surprise of nobody, is top ten there after the first week – 4.7 screen assists per game... plus he’s third equal with 4.3 box outs per game). But here’s an element of his game which has developed massively over the last few years and which is being embraced by his new team and which will absolutely show up in the base numbers that everybody notices.
When asked about his chemistry with teammates in these areas after game two against the Clippers, specifically regarding cutters, this is what Steve had to say...
“Yeah nah getting more comfortable with the system and shit like that. Seeing the passing lanes and whatnot. The boys are doing a good job cutting so that makes it easier on the passer. There’s not much talent needed from me, they just do a good job of getting open.”
Well, whatever the trick is, long may it continue.
More Coach Darko
Speaking of Mr Rajaković, this seems like a good time to rehash an old yarn from 2016. Steven Adams has always struggled with free throw shooting. Never been too reliable there. A lot of big men have that same problem. He’s had stretches where he’s been good though and one of those stretches apparently came about thanks to a unique approach from Coach Darko. Basically, in order to simulate the pressure cooker situation of shooting a free throw mid-game... he’d punch Funaki in the gut each time he lined one up.
“So what he does is, he'll come and, like, punch me in the stomach. I swear to God. He'll come punch me in the stomach or slap me on the arm really hard and he'll just say, ‘Make a free throw' ... That's what he does. It's not fun. I didn't say it was fun, mate. I'm telling you, getting a beating by a little Serbian, it's no good, mate. No good.”
No fun but it did seem to reap some rewards. At the time of that above clip he was twenty games into the 2016-17 season and shooting 78% from the line. He may have spoken it out of existence because he digressed to 56.1% over the remainder of the campaign... still good for his career best rate of 61.1% at least.
Tell you what, he’s now been reunited with Coach Darko and three games into the new season he’s shot five outta five at the charity stripe. Not a lot of attempts and it’s early days but maybe, just maybe, a few jabs to the ribs from a little Serbian are paying off once again.
Los Animales
The introductions go both ways with a new team. Here’s a fun piece where Steve-o gets to learn a little bit more about his new home city. Have a geeze. This bit was a particular classic, especially because you may recall he was once an enthusiastic patron of the Oklahoma City zoo...
DH: Ready to be surprised again? Ja Morant has an animal named after him at the Memphis Zoo. There’s a giraffe named Ja Raffe.
Adams: That’s sick! No way. I want one.
DH: Maybe we will have to get the zoo on the line. What zoo animal do you want named after you?
Adams: A Galapagos tortoise... I’m not sure if they have it, but a Galapagos tortoise.
DH: I didn’t expect that. Why a tortoise?
Adams: I don’t know, they are just sick, bro. You could just sit on one and it would move around.
DH: But that’s not a comparison to yourself or anything?
Adams: Oh, no. If I was doing that, I would say a gorilla. I would want to be a gorilla. There’s no name pun for Steven, though. Maybe like Adams’ armadillo? There’s some alliteration there. Put me in touch, bro.
BOX SCORES
vs CLEVELAND CAVALIERS (W 132-121):
32 MIN | 8 PTS (4/7 FG) | 14 REB (6 OFF) | 3 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO
at LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (W 120-114):
27 MIN | 17 PTS (6/9 FG, 5/5 FT) | 9 REB (5 OFF) | 5 AST | 2 STL | 1 TO
at LOS ANGELES LAKERS (L 121-118):
34 MIN | 14 PTS (7/11 FG) | 16 REB (8 OFF) | 6 AST | 5 TO | 5 PF
THE SCHEDULE
at PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS, Thursday at 3pm (NZT)
at GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS, Friday at 3pm (NZT)
vs MIAMI HEAT, Sunday at 1pm (NZT)
vs DENVER NUGGETS, Tuesday at 1pm (NZT)
vs DENVER NUGGETS, Thursday at 1pm (NZT)
SLAM DUNKS
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