Fun Steve is back, baby. The endlessly quotable and hilarious kiwi big man was on full display as he rocked up to his first official team appointment since being traded to the Memphis Grizzlies. Not his first team activity overall as he was glimpsed hanging out with the fellas at Summer League and there have been open court training sessions, no doubt a few community outreach things too. But Media Day is when the cameras come out. Media Day isn’t optional (unless you’re in New York or California and you’ve been reading those websites for your vaccine research). And straight after Media Day, the training camps start. Media Day is the threshold between offseason and preseason.

Therefore Media Day was effectively an unveiling for Steven Adams as a Grizzly and it’s fair to say he made a glowing impression. He joked around, he gave generous answers to questions, he was open and honest and friendly with everyone. They bloody loved him. You know they did because in the subsequent hours the interwebs got swamped with that good Kiwi Steve content in a way that hasn’t been the case since his OKC days.

It’s a shame that he wasn’t able to make the same connections with fans in New Orleans. He never even got the chance to, really. The nature of how he ended up in New Orleans, coming in with Eric Bledsoe as an appendage to the Jrue Holiday trade, put him on the back foot to begin with as fans were (understandably) sceptical of what that front office was up to. Then covid did the rest. The arenas were mostly empty while he was a Pelican. Interactions with reporters were limited. Plus he spent a lot of the second half of the season injured. So when the team was unable to climb above their own struggles, he (and Bledsoe) were regularly scapegoated for their perceived poor fit to the team and it was no shocker when he was traded. One and done as a Pelly.

Whether that course of history might have been different if he’d been able to connect more with the New Orleans community... dunno. Potentially not. The fit worries were more true about Bledsoe than Adams but that doesn’t mean they were unfounded. Zion Williamson is already an elite paint scorer so having another starter whose scoring is mostly limited to the paint is kinda pointless. Regardless, the vibe just stunk for him in New Orleans.

The Memphis Grizzlies on the other hand, mate this could hardly be a better fit for him at this stage of his career. It’s been written about already but the Grizzlies have a history of appreciating the exact qualities that Steven Adams offers any basketball team. They have a young group of dudes with a great work ethic, who unlike his last team play serious defence. In fact they pride themselves upon it. Ja Morant is the closest thing to Russell Westbrook in the comp, the dude that Adams played his best ball alongside. His screen setting prowess is going to come heavily back into prominence with this team. All signs seem to point towards a major bounce back season for the man.

Not that that’s any guarantee of anything... but it’s a whole lot better than the alternative, that’s for sure. And that was before he rocked up at Media Day and got everyone laughing and enjoying his presence and we heard his teammates already talking about him with a combination of awe and chumminess and the coach had nice words to offer him and the reporters fell in love with him and the fans are digging it all. In Memphis the vibes are golden.

The History vs Memphis

It was Steven Adams’ rookie season. The Oklahoma City Thunder were up against the Grit ‘n Grind Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs, one hell of a test for a raw international centre with one year of college under his belt. Competing with Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol. But the Thunder, who had lost to the Grizz in the second round the previous season (having made the NBA Finals the season before that), recovered from 3-2 down (with four of those five games going to overtime) to win it in game seven. A pair of elimination games and that season’s MVP Kevin Durant dropped 36 and 33 in each as OKC triumphed. Russell Wesbtrook got a triple-double in the clincher. There ya go.

But that’s all coming from a Thunder perspective. From the Grizzlies side of the fence the series came to be defined by Zach Randolph’s suspension for game seven, a devastating blow which many Grizz fans believe ultimately cost them the series. Why was he suspended? Because he lashed out at Steven Adams while running down the court in game six. An incident that was not soon forgotten in Memphis and Steven Adams’ name would be greeted by boos there for the next few years. Funny thing is, Adams didn’t really do anything. As he told Chris Vernon in that clip below: “I got punched and now I’m the arsehole. Okay, fair enough guys. My bad”.

Sports fans have long memories... but the irony is that the qualities which Adams was once despised for in this town, the hard-edged toughness and unflinching focus, will pretty quickly make him a fan favourite in Memphis. That’s how these things work.

The Fit With The Lads

Steve-o, which is a nickname that goes back to Russell Westbrook btw, is on the record talking about how personality fits are a bit overrated within basketball teams. The hanging out away from the court, grabbing dinner or whatever, that’s all nice but it doesn’t make that much of a difference to the on-court stuff other than giving you more opportunity to talk about defensive schemes and such. But it’s obviously better to have your teammates enjoy your company, especially if you’re coming in fresh to a new team. And that’s clearly the case here. The Grizzly lads already love him.

And if they love him, then they’ll listen to him. Which leads directly into that on-court stuff that we’ve already talked about. There aren’t that many teams out there who would embrace a non-shooting big man in the way that the Grizzlies are moulded to do. They’re a defence-first franchise. They’re a don’t-cut-corners franchise. You’d better believe that was... not exactly a selling point because he didn’t get to choose where he was traded but let’s just say these are things that he and his teammates and his coach and his new fanbase all agree on.

Steven Adams: “It’s why I actually enjoyed coming to Memphis because its very much like a grindhouse, very hard working, gritty type basketball you know. It was always one of these games bro where you show up to the arena and you have to be mentally prepared. You cant just waltz in here thinking you’re gonna be like: yay. Nah dude. It is tough. It is grind the whole game. It’s why I was quite excited to come to Memphis because they like that kind of play and its a part of the DNA of Memphis. I’m excited to be here for that.”

Taylor Jenkins: “[Steve]’s excited about what we’re building here and the huge part that he’s going to be. You all know his history and stuff but he loves the game of basketball. He loves just being around a great group of people. He’s going to be a great fit for us.”

The Jersey Number

This isn’t one that you’d expect Steven Adams to care too much about, he’s not one for empty gestures or superstition, but he has worn the number 12 on his back his entire NBA career. He took it in OKC because that was the number he was drafted at. Then he kept it the whole way through and snapped it up when he was traded to New Orleans too.

But there’s already a number 12 in Memphis. Not only that but the guy who wears that number is kinda the best player on the whole team: Ja Morant. It’d be a bit like asking for the 12 jersey as a journeyman wide receiver coming into a Tom Brady quarterbacked team (they’ve actually just loosened up the rules in the NFL over which positions can have which numbers). So number 12 wasn’t happening for Steve.

Instead he’s gone with 4 and there’s a good reason for that. Two good reasons, in fact. The first being that all the cool numbers were apparently taken, at least that’s what he joked. 9 is the other single digit number available going by their training camp roster though he might’ve wrangled his way up the pecking order for something else considering he’s likely to be a starter and all. But he didn’t because the other reason he wants 4 is that it’s the number retired by the OKC Thunder in honour of Mr Thunder himself: Nick Collison.

Collison was a veteran big man on the Thunder when Steven Adams was drafted and fast became a mentor for the kiwi fella, both on the court and off it. Those qualities of selflessness, sacrifice, sportsmanship, dedication, honesty... these are things that he saw modelled by Nick Collison. Now as he settles into a role where he’s the senior big man on an exciting young team, just like Collison once was, it’s a fitting tribute.

The Vax Issue

Memphis doesn’t have the dramas that, say, Sean Marks’ Brooklyn Nets are dealing with at the moment. New York State (and California too) have put in place restrictions for organised group activities for people who are unvaccinated. Meaning that any NBA player that’s been dodging the vax - shooters who’ve finally found a shot they won’t take lol - will not be allowed to play in those games.

The Grizzlies are apparently on course to be one of those teams with everyone vaxxed by opening day. Definitely something close to that, meaning that this idea is only hypothetical. But supposing there is a hesitant harry in that team then that would mean several away games where that player would be unavailable. The team has a road trip that includes games against the Clippers, Lakers, and Warriors within the first ten days of the season so there’s the first instance where that could be a factor.

But yeah the Grizz seem to be in a good place there. Guys like Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr, Steven Adams, Kyle Anderson... they’ve all gotten it and generally in the NBA when your team’s top players do something, everyone else falls in line soon after.

Adios New Orleans

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