Lame Boring Injuries

It’s a bit tricky to write about what Steven Adams is up to in the NBA when he hasn’t actually been up to anything. It’s been one injury on top of another injury on top of the same injury again but re-aggravated. This is how he finished the last couple weeks, overlapping with the period that went into KS #7...

• vs Orlando – Exited game with left-ankle soreness

• vs Spurs – Played 31 minutes in a loss

• vs Clippers – Didn’t play with Right First MTP Sprain (a toe sprain)

• vs Denver – Returned but could only last the first half before being ruled out

• vs Thunder – Didn’t play due to the same toe injury

• vs Timberwolves – Also didn’t play

• vs Warriors – Still not available

• vs Warriors – Back and raring to go… but only lasts 23 minutes before hurting himself on a hustle play where he dove out of bounds to keep the ball in then got and up and went straight down to the locker room and would soon be ruled out for the remainder of the game with... a right first MTP sprain.

• vs 76ers – DNP with that same right first MTP strain

• vs Hornets – DNP with that same right first MTP strain again

• vs Grizzlies – You know the drill, no deal with that right first MTP strain

• vs Mavericks – Still ‘questionable’, still sat this one out

• vs Warriors – Still questionable but again missed the game – with Coach Van Gundy suggesting that it was less than likely that Adams (and also Brandon Ingram) would return for the season finale

• vs Lakers – Sure enough, Adams (and Ingram) did not return for the season finale

The Warriors game that he came back for was an odd one because he was getting well involved but the whole way you could tell that he just wasn’t at a hundy percent. Not even close. When he was subbed off in the first quarter at his usual time he whipped his shoes off on his bench seat. Didn’t get a clear shot of it on the telly broadcast but this (out of focus) screenie almost shows the state of him as long as you know that he was playing in bright orange shoes...

Eventually he busted himself up in the third quarter diving out of bounds to save a possession, trying to throw it out off of Draymond Green. He did exactly that and right in front of his teammates on the bench too but as they rushed over to scoop him up and celebrate he clearly wasn’t keen on the hype-fest. Instead he got up favouring his left foot, signalled to the coach, and went straight down the tunnel to the locker room. Where he passed an also-injured Brandon Ingram. It was about time for Adams to be subbed out anyway in the usual rotation but no doubt this was injury-related.

He was soon ruled out for the rest of the game and made doubtful for the following game, which he missed. Then he was questionable for the one after that but still didn’t play. And the one after that. And the one after that. Et cetera. Steven Adams missed the last six games of the season, missed 10 of the last 14 games, and only completed one of those 14 matches. An unfortunate way to cap his first season in New Orleans but you know those right first MTP strains can be right old bastards... you do now anyway. Whether he’d have played through it if they were still in playoff contention, that’s another matter. But seeing as they weren’t there just wasn’t much point in asking him to do so.

72 & Done

And thus ends Steven Adams’ first season as a New Orleans Pelican. It might yet be his only season as a Pelican, there are never any guarantees come free agency/trade window time... the last couple years have shown that for sure. It’s a point that keeps being repeated in these pieces, for a good reason, that the Pels may have had a bummer year overall but they achieved their number one objective: they figured out how to unleash Zion Williamson in superstar mode. Everything else becomes a lot clearer now that this Pelicans galaxy has its sun at the centre.

Start of the season and many smart basketball people criticised the Steven Adams trade (which technically was part of the Jrue Holiday trade) for the damage it’d do to the spacing around Zion... the three-point line was definitely a drama for the Pelicans both offensively and defensively but not sure you can point the blame at Adams for either of those (his defensive impact was worse in that regard). And there’s no stepping on Zion’s toes here either as Williamson ended up moving further away from Adams’ position rather than closer to it. Instead of becoming a stretch five he became a point guard. A Power Point. Hence there’s no reason why Steven Adams definitely can’t be a valuable teammate next to ZW – solid defence, big effort, rebounding, physicality, and leadership are all attributes that any coach would love, especially an old school lad like Stan van Gundy.

Having said that, there’s no escaping that this was not a strong season for Aotearoa’s only current NBA representative. He seemed to struggle with a changing role throughout the season, his points totals fluctuating along with most other major stats... apart from rebounding of course (games with 10+ points: 20 / games with 10+ rebounds: 23). The Pels were one of the top rebounding teams in the NBA. Adams averaged 8.9 of them but the Pelicans as a team hauled in 47.4 which was third only to the Jazz and Bucks, plus they were first in offensive boards per game. Adams might not have been logging Wilt Chamberlain numbers there but his expert boxing out ensured that the team was far better for his influence in that spot. The only players who had a higher rate of box outs in as many games or more played were Bam Adebayo and Jonas Valanciunas. When Adams boxed out, the Pelicans got 94.2% of rebounds. When he didn’t, they got 54.2%. Big disparities. He was sixth in the league in offensive rebound percentage (13.2%) too.

Problem was, rebounding was his only resounding success. Elsewhere even in the areas where he’s usually quality he struggled to have the same impact. The Pelicans defence got better in the last couple months of the season but it was tough work getting to that stage (and Adams missed a lot of those games). The usual excuses still remain. No preseason, playing through injuries, first season with a new coach, inexperienced players around him, condensed schedule, etc. But you’d still hope for a little better than this in his eighth NBA season:

• 14 games missed – most in his career

• 5.3 field goal attempts/game – fewest since year three of his career

• 2.3 free throw attempts/gm – fewest of his career

• 44.4% free throw shooting – worst of his career

• 8.9 rebounds/gm – fewest since year four

• 0.7 blocks/gm – fewest since his rookie season

• 7.6 points/gm – fewest since his rookie season

• 112 defensive rating – worst of his career

• 15.1 player efficiency rating – worst since year two

• 11.7% usage rate – lowest since he was a rookie

• 4.0 total win shares – lowest since he was a rookie

• -0.2 on-court plus/minus per 100 possessions – lowest of his career, first time ever in the negatives

• Missed the playoffs for the first time since year two

I mean, the snoozingly low usage rate explains some of that... some but definitely not all. There was never really that old OKC plan of getting Steve-o the ball three or four times early to set a tone on offence and Zion Williamson tends to be absolutely dominant in the paint meaning that Adams had to clear out of the only zone that he’s comfortable shooting from. Some games his only shooting chances were when he grabbed an offensive board... on that note it’s concerning that he only had six and-one opportunities all season. He’s usually up around the 20-mark.

Two things that contribute to that: a hesitancy to play through the contact at times, something that’s always kinda been there with him. It’s not a cowardice of any kind, it’s him seeing that he’s being guarded and choosing to pass or attempt a floater as opposed to powerhousing his way through the challenge to dunk. Steven Adams is not one to bring that Shaq energy. Then also his hands were pretty bad this season. It’s not immediately visible in his turnover numbers which were decent... but they should have been better. A lot of fumbling of passes or passes that escaped him which go down as a teammate’s turnover. Not quite getting those ones on the money like when Russell Westbrook (or Chris Paul) was tossing them to him. It was a rebounding factor too. There seemed to be a directive to tip the ball out for rebounds for the whole team, though Adams also let a few get away from him just because he couldn’t get his mitts around the thing.

As always you have to wonder if there were injuries contributing to that. He played through an ankle injury for a decent chunk of time and of course it’s hard to get elevation on a busted ankle. Then by the end of things it was a foot injury (a toe, specifically) that kept him out/limited. He’d surely have played through it if there was something worth playing for but so it goes.

Next season there’ll be a training camp. There’ll be an opportunity to specifically work on things that Stan Van Gundy wants to see, to explain to each player their specific roles and expectations before the games start to matter. There’ll also be a different roster, as always. The two All Star level dudes on the team, Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, will be a year older and wiser. Steven Adams will have had an offseason to rest up and get back in top shape. Plenty of these dramas will be taken care of outside of Adams’ control.

Will he be a part of the team by then though? Nothing is for certain. Eric Bledsoe shapes as the obvious guy that they need to move given his underwhelming performances, while Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart are both restricted free agents and that’s a volatile one. Doubtful they can afford to sign both to long term deals but a sign-and-trade with Ball would be a decent possibility if they can’t keep him. So obviously Steven Adams is available too if the right offer comes along.

As much as he can add plenty of value to this team, they also got decent value out of Jaxson Hayes and Willy Hernangomez for a fraction of the salary (which to be fair we have to give the influence of Steve-o at least some credit for their growth). At a guess, I reckon he’ll still be there next season and I reckon SVG is probably pretty excited about having him around under better circumstances. But absolutely they’re not gonna be committed enough to say no if a shiny offer comes their way. It’s a wait-and-see kinda deal.

Quotes & Notes From The Exit Yarns

On the defensive improvements over the season: “Maybe comfort level for rotation. We’ll have to see bro because a lot of those numbers are within like 0.6 like, it’s one of those weird ones. I could harp on about it like “yeah we came together...” but mate if it’s 0.2 that makes us jump from 29 to 23 then it’s maybe just luck of the draw. That’s how the game goes, right? I will say, take the analytical cap off, I feel like we did start seeing a lot more consistency with rotations. And thus just comes down to players prioritising different threats. Not being bamboozled by smokescreen plays. Yeah dude, XYZ.”

On his fellow centres Jaxson Hayes & Willi Hernangomez: “Oh it was amazing bro. Turns out I was just dead weight, you know what I mean? These dudes are amazing.”

On becoming a vocal teammate: “I’ve always talked quite a lot, maybe not my rookie season or second year, but I haven’t done so much big speech, like “everyone calm down and listen to what I say”. Nothing like that. It’s more like one on one kinda stuff. That’s all I was doing all year with Willy and Jax. We play similar positions. Try and help them best I can. Just words, mate. Make it up. Claim it if they do anything good. Deny it if they do anything bad.”

On working with Stan Van Gundy: “Yeah dude, it was just like any other coach. Getting used to different coaching. Just a normal coach change I think. Different system. It’s a weird year with everything, there were a lot of adjustments that had to be had outside of even that stuff. That’s always gonna be the x-factor for this year.”

On seeing a fan’s attempt to recreate the iconic orange Steven Adams slides: “Fuck me. Look at that. What is that? Type of shit you’d see on the caves mate, from what’d they’d bloody drawn back in BC. What the hell? Nah nah nah he’s fine. I can see where he was going. He got the hair, the main parts. Not trying to diss him bro. Cheers for the drawing mate... is he twelve? Nah I’m just kidding, that was the last one.”

The first thing SVG talked about was how proud he was of his team’s “defensive improvement”. He cites that they were 29th before the All Stars and 7th after it... and he credits that to the decision in a game in late-February against the Celtics when he asked the team to play less aggressive on the ball in pick and roll situations. Playing a little shallower they stayed in better positions to recover/help and that led to two fewer three point makes against them per game.

Unfortunately a lot of those defensive improvements came while Steven Adams was in his limping-to-the-finish stage so we didn’t get as much of a look at him within that scheme as we might have. Still saw a fair bit though and sure enough his defensive rating was five points better per 100 poss after the AS break.

There was a point made by SVG as well about how he reckons Williamson and Ingram are “really coachable” players... but that he didn’t get to really do much coaching of them in that way because of the covid stuff. The preseason was truncated and the schedule didn’t offer too many off-days. And that was something they couldn’t prepare for because of the uncertainty of the calendar (something that’s been said about Luka Doncic’s slow start too: apparently he was only halfway through his preseason fitness regime when the season started because most teams were anticipating a January start).

Apparently at the start of the season even video sessions were limited to 15 mins to prevent excess exposure during covid protocols. That was loosened as things went along but those covid protocols were difficult the whole way through – especially because, again, there was no preparing for them. Gonna be a lot of people who overreact to what was an all-time wonky season. Next year’s Most Improved award could be wild.

Coach Van Gundy also mentioned that he had inklings of how he might use Zion on the perimeter (based on his college days) but that he had no idea the extent to which he could dominate in that role. Basically because there just wasn’t the evidence, given all his injuries as a rookie. Initially he thought of him as a post-up player (and this is around the same time as they acquired Steven Adams so go figure).

A coach’s job is to “maximise the potential of the players you have, particularly your best players”... make of that what you will with regards to Adams.

“I don’t think we’ve reached the full extent of what you can do with a guy like Zion, how you can build around that. I don’t think we got there. But I think now the advantage is you’ve seen it now and you’re at a much better starting point going forward.”

On to GM David Griffin now, who was disappointed in missing the playoffs (duh), saying that as pleasant as the defensive improvements may have been they clearly weren’t “coalescing in winning basketball”... winning basketball was a phrase he repeated multiple times in this interview.

Griff’s three main things to improve: 1) Basketball IQ, 2) Toughness, 3) Shooting. Two out of those three things are improved with Steven Adams on the roster so that’s a good sign.

Apparently the Pelicans blew 14 double-digit leads on the way to defeats. That’s a lot. Also they were 2-11 in games decided by three points or fewer which Griff presented as evidence of that lack of winning bball.

Pretty clear that the front office sees Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram as the centrepieces, DG said how rare it is to have two All Stars aged 23 or younger on the same team. Added that they have “high character quality veterans” around them. The franchise plans to build the roster in the way that best suits those two and then it’s a matter of figuring out roles around that nucleus.

Everyone is accountable. That accountability is always with regards to winning. This is a young team that’s still developing and that takes time but the organisation has continually to ask itself whether they’re on the right track at all levels. Emphasis, yet again, on having that “winning mettle”.

Griff talked up a big offseason. Said they have a lot of “optionality” thanks to some decent draft picks and a lot of players on rookie scale contracts which will allow them to go out and be aggressive. They want to put the next roster together in a way “that makes sustained success possible”. Pedal is going to hit metal. Them’s fighting words from the big dawg.

As for the current roster, Griffin admitted that it’s “wonky”. He said that they “need to make the pieces fit a bit better”, and the example he used was the lack of shooting which restricted SVG from utilising more versatile lineups. Added that there was only a two-week transaction window before the season instead of the usual 20 weeks so everything was crammed in which is partly why the roster didn’t mix.

Also there were basically no opportunities for 5v5 practices which made it tough to address bad habits for young players. A two-week preparation didn’t help with strength and conditioning either (“fatigue makes cowards of us all”) which he hinted may have affected their injury toll. It definitely affected their poor start to the season as a lot of the work that would have been gotten out of the way with in preseason had to be worked out during the games that counted.

Of the nine coaches the team interviewed, only Stan Van Gundy saw the potential of Power Point Zion.

Also echoed SVG in saying that Zion is “one of one” as far as his skill set goes and that makes it tricky to arrange a team to suit him as there’s no precedent for his type of player. Excited about the challenge though blah blah. Wants/expects to see Williamson & Ingram become more vocal and effective on the defensive end next term. No plays off and all that. Toughness and Bball IQ.

Marvel-lous

SLAM DUNKS

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