The Memphis Grizzlies Extended Steven Adams' Contact, Now To Go Win Some Championships
The focus of this Memphis Grizzlies off-season can be summed up in one word: continuation. A young team, many of them drafted by the organisation, who had their first proper playoffs run last time out... many general managers would look at that and think that they’re one big trade away from contention. But not this general manager with this team.
The Grizzlies did make an offseason trade but it wasn’t exactly a blockbuster. Because Grizzlies GM Zach Kleiman, and by extension the coaching staff and ownership and the rest of the front office, don’t believe that they’re one trade away. They reckon they’ve already got everything they need and it’s simply a matter of giving these dudes the trust and space to prove it.
That’s actually one of the main reasons why they traded for Steven Adams in the first place. It wasn’t purely about head to head talent. If it was then that was a bit of a weird move because when you compare Jonas Valančiūnas’ final season with Memphis to Steven Adams’ first season with Memphis... it’s not particularly flattering to Steve-o. Here are those per game averages for the pair of them...
| MIN | FGA | FG% | 3PA | 3P% | FT% | ORB | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steven Adams 21-22 | 26.3 | 5.1 | 54.7 | 0 | 0 | 54.3 | 4.6 | 10.0 | 3.4 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 6.9 |
| Jonas Valanciunas 20-21 | 28.3 | 12.0 | 59.2 | 0.9 | 36.8 | 77.3 | 4.1 | 12.5 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 17.1 |
Obviously that trade wasn’t merely a like for like swap, there were other players involved (it was a three-team trade after all), but Adams for Valančiūnas was the major outcome. And it’s a walkover win for Jonny V looking at that, right?
Except hold on, wait a minute, something’s missing. And that something is Context. Let’s instead look at this from a different angle: the season to season growth made by the rest of that Grizzlies core...
| FGA (21) | FG% (21) | FGA (22) | FT% (22) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dillon Brooks | 15.4 | 41.9 | 16.4 | 43.2 |
| Ja Morant | 15.2 | 44.9 | 20.6 | 49.3 |
| Jaren Jackson | 11.4 | 42.4 | 13.3 | 41.5 |
| Kyle Anderson | 9.5 | 46.8 | 6.8 | 44.6 |
| De'Anthony Melton | 7.6 | 43.8 | 9.5 | 40.4 |
| Desmond Bane | 7.3 | 46.9 | 14.5 | 46.1 |
| Tyus Jones | 5.9 | 43.1 | 7.6 | 45.1 |
Say would you look at that? Adams arrives taking seven fewer shot attempts per game than JV and the Grizzlies get to distribute those shots to guys like Morant and Bane who therefore take huge leaps forward in their careers. Morant literally won the Most Improved Player award and was in deeper MVP consideration for a while until injuries caught up with him. Morant being Morant, he then tried to gift that trophy to Desmond Bane whom he thought deserved it more... but he could just as easily have gifted it to Steven Adams whose presence was one of the crucial factors in Morant emerging into superstar status as he did.
The idea within Grizz HQ is that, with another year under their belts, these players can continue on that steady growth trajectory. Especially given that last year involved a run to the second round of the playoffs, an experience that Adams said recently (and he’d know) is something you can never truly prepare for. The only way to learn about that level of basketball is to play that level of basketball. This Grizz team has now done that. They were beaten by the eventual champion Golden State Warriors and it’s pretty clear that they gave them a tougher contest than anyone else from the Western Conference was able to.
Hence why there were no drastic trades or big free agent signings this past offseason; instead it was all about solidifying what they’ve got. Ja Morant was given a max-level extension. Kyle Anderson was allowed to leave with the team prioritising backup point guard Tyus Jones instead, whilst the one trade that they did make was flipping De’Anthony Melton to the Philly 76ers in exchange for Danny Green and rookie David Roddy.
That’s hardly an obvious Win Now move when you consider that Green is going to miss almost the entire season as he recovers from an ACL tear and that Roddy is likely to have to settle for limited minutes in his rookie season with a priority on development. Just like Santi Aldama before him, who totalled out at 360 minutes last season as a rookie, with zero starts in 32 games played, but is poised for a breakout sophomore campaign with Jackson Jr still rehabbing after undergoing foot surgery in late-June. Aldama’s draft class buddy Zaire Williams is the other power forward who’ll help fill that gap though Williams did actually play substantially as a rookie last term.
Melton struggled pretty badly during the last playoffs as his shots weren’t dropping and his defensive impact wasn’t what it can be. For a guy who averaged 22 mins per game during the regulars, he only hit that mark in 4 of 12 games, with three games in which he played less than 10 and two in which he was benched entirely. A lot of that was in the Minnesota series in which Steven Adams was also dropped but we’ll come back around to that idea soon.
Melton’s been a useful swiss army knife kinda player for this team but others have commanded those wing minutes a little more and with guys like Zaire Williams pushing through, as well as the latest haul of rookies, moving on from him feels a lot like the JV thing where it’s as much about creating room to let others thrive. Especially when the bloke who’s replacing him won’t be fit until, like, April at best.
Plus Kyle Anderson has moved on, signing a 2yr/$18m deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Slomo was potentially a guy that the Grizzlies would have liked to keep but he was on very similar salary numbers playing off the bench in Memphis and the other factor about having this young emerging core is that they all need to be paid sooner or later. Jaren Jackson’s big contract kicks in this season. Ja Morant’s kicks in next season. It’s a hefty leap from rookie scale to max scale so pennies had to be pinched elsewhere to make the salary cap work. Hence why they only kept one out of Tyus Jones and Kyle Anderson.
You can see the working. Everything the Grizzlies have been up to lately has been about solidifying what they’ve already got in place. Going over the pencil outlines in permanent ink. Overwriting the previous save game. Hitting send on that email draft. Which is also why this happened...
Funaki was entering the final season of the two-year extension that he signed upon being traded to the New Orleans Pelicans... which was in turn the final year of the 4yr/$100m deal that he signed with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Strange one from the Pels to trade for a guy and instantly extend him... then never actually have him on the roster during that extension. But the Grizz situation is different. They’ve had a year to test the fit and still could’ve had another year if they’d wanted to risk his free agency. Instead they locked Steve-o up for a further couple swings basically as soon as preseason began.
Adams, as a twelfth overall pick, began in the NBA on a rookie scale four year deal worth around $2-3milly per season. All these are US dollar figures, by the way. His next deal was the big one. A lot of NBA contracts are back-loaded or contain kickers/incentives/whatever so let’s take the average and say the OKC extension gave him roughly $25m per season. Well, the Pelicans extension averaged out at $17.5m and this Grizzlies extension is $12.5m. Adams’ salary cap hit is shrinking at a time that the locally drafted blokes are coming into their own big extensions. Very important factor there.
But that’s not why they’ve extended him. They’ve extended him because the people who make those decision see him as a long term participant in this quest. The next step is to compete for championships. Steven Adams is potentially going to be with this team for at least the next three years. Put two and two together: the Grizzlies believe that they can win a title with Steven Adams as their starting centre.
A lot of that is down to his off-court influence. A humble and jovial presence in the locker room, a hard worker in the gym who is not only attentive but straight-up passionate about the small details that go into winning basketball games, a coach’s dream who does what he’s asked and makes a genuine effort to understand intentions... which in turn makes him a guy who can help translate those things to teammates. The fans love him. The media loves him. His teammates love him. His coach loves him.
He also just happens to have had quite possibly the best season of his entire career. Sure, his scoring was the lowest it’s been since he was a rookie... but he had career highs in rebounds and assists as well as - tell ya what, let’s just list accomplishments. It’ll be easier that way.
Adams led the entire NBA in offensive rebounds in 2021-22 and he did so in all three major categories. Total offensive rebounds (349), offensive rebounds per game (4.6), and offensive rebounding percentage (17.9%). Pretty big leads in all three too... the next dude in the totals was Mitchell Robinson who had 54 fewer O-boards
With 349 offensive rebounds and 256 assists, he became only the second player in recorded NBA history to reach both those markers in the same season (Charles Barkley did so five times... but playing way more minutes – scoring way more points too but that’s off topic)
That offensive rebounding percentage was the second best this millennium by anyone who played as many or more minutes... Andre Drummond had 18.3% in 2014-15
Steve-o led the NBA in total screen assists
Adams led the NBA in total box outs and box outs per game
The Grizzlies were the number one total rebounding and offensive rebounding team in the league – which is typical Adams areas. His team has been top five in total rebounds every year since 2014 with one exception: his final season in OKC after Russell Westbrook left, aka the beginning of the tank (OKC were number one three years in a row from 2014-15 to 2016-17)
Adams was also by far the NBA’s best jump ball winner, with 71/92 successes which was not only way more than anyone else (Jokic was second winning 60) but he also had a better winning percentage than anyone with more than ten attempts
Winning jump balls seems like a relatively minor thing but that’s kinda the point: Funaki pays attention to the little things and if you can gain a small advantage by giving a shit then you might as well do it. One more way to get an extra possession. The Grizzlies were the second top scoring team last season despite being ranked 19th in field goal percentage and 23rd in three-point percentage... that’s because they took more shots than anyone thanks in large part to a whole chunk of offensive rebounds
There are some more stat dives in this Kiwi Steve piece from the end of the last regular season (although ignore the match-up chat about the Wolves series, lol). And if anyone is still yapping about the old ‘but centres like him can’t stay afloat in the playoffs’ yarn then there’s a Kiwi Steve write-up for that too.
It’s true that he got benched in a difficult head to head with Karl-Anthony Towns whose ability to shoot threes, pass accurately to open shooters, and drive to the basket from outside sort of exposed Adams by dragging him away from the paint thus taking away so many of the best aspects of his game.
It’s also true that he responded with maximum mana by becoming the best imaginable teammate from the bench, refusing to dwell on any ego hits and instead keeping a zen mindset about it all. Before enlightenment: chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment: chop wood and carry water. Steven Adams is a bloke who chops wood and carries water (not sure on his enlightenment status but it makes him a very good basketballer). Another good reason to want him around as this team chases ‘ships.
And it’s true as well that when he returned in the second round (after a bout of covid) he was immense. They lost the series to Golden State but Adams helped keep it competitive after Ja Morant was injured. As soon as he took the court, the rebounding advantage returned for Memphis. Points in the paint and second chance points, things that they’d made part of their identity that season... the Warriors had been beating them at their own game there but only until Adams came back. This dude had the best net rating on his entire team (+19.1) against GSW. The only problem was he only played 83 combined minutes (again, read that previously linked piece for way more where that stat came from) and not one single second of that came with Ja Morant also on the floor. Morant was injured just before Adams checked in for his return.
All of that is why Steven Adams was extended. And from his point of view, he’s experienced what it’s like to be part of a poorly constructed roster from his Pelicans days and for a non-shooting centre like him there aren’t that many situations that can rival what he’s got with the Grizzlies. This is a team with the (fair) belief that they can do serious things over the next few seasons. Adams was never gonna waste that so once the organisation made it clear they felt the same way... doubt those negotiations took too long. Adams is one of seven Memphis players currently contracted for at least the next three years, along with: Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr, Desmond Bane, Zaire Williams, John Konchar and Santi Aldama.
The next thing is to see, now that he’s locked in as part of that team core moving forwards, whether Steven Adams gets to partake in the upskilling too. He turned up in preseason being asked about three pointers. Every year for the last 3-4 seasons there has been a clip of Adams tossing them up from deep in the practice gym but so far he’s yet to take a triple attempt in his entire career that wasn’t a long distance heave. He did nail one from the corner in his last preseason with OKC but that never led to anything.
However coach Taylor Jenkins did suggest on media day that Adams has the green light to have a crack if he’s open. Which admittedly won’t happen very often as usually the only time he’s on the perimeter is for high screens and back-to-the-basket hand offs. Not to mention his natural reluctance towards jump shots. Still, this is as close as we’ve come to that possibility.
More to the point though, Jenkins has spoken about wanting to see a more aggressive Steven Adams. Someone more emphatic in their willingness to score, particularly from those second chance opportunities and perhaps even from the good old pick and roll, supposing that Ja Morant’s on board... and it seems like he is...
Adams doesn’t need to be a scorer for this team to be successful. He needs to rebound, defend, and chip in with a few assists – both of the traditional and the screen variety. But with Jaren Jackson Jr out injured to begin with there probably will need to be a group effort to overcome that and that could just boost Tips up into averaging a double-double for the first time in his career. He was fresh on the team last time. Now everybody understands each others’ tendencies and maybe that’ll have an effect on teammates looking to bring Adams into the game as a scorer where if it were up to him he probably wouldn’t care.
But, again, it’s not about scoring for Adams. Everybody can score the ball. What the Grizzlies need from Adams most of all is the stuff that only he can provide. The stuff that has led them to view him as a valuable part of this squad moving into what they reckon will be a championship window.
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