Steven Adams Is Getting Back To His Old Self Again After A Slow And Steady NBA Revival

It has been a mission of patience tracking the revival of Steven Adams and his NBA career. Finally recovered from his long term knee injury and looking resplendent in red for the Houston Rockets... progress has been slow. Not because of any major setbacks, simply because the Houston Rockets weren’t prepared to take any risks. There was no reason to. They’ve been managing his minutes, steadily building up his match fitness, and generally taking their time in making sure he gets where he needs to be. The Rockets didn’t care if it took him half the season (or longer) before he was ready to re-inhabit his former aura. Nobody cares how you start the season, it’s how you finish it that matters.

Skip over all the dramas with Memphis and the worries of misdiagnoses. That’s all in the past. Steven Adams turned up ready to rock for the Houston Rockets during preseason and everyone seemed chuffed to have him around... but returning to the NBA court after roughly 21 months of absence ain’t exactly like riding a bike. He had to restore his peak fitness. He had to get his legs under him. He also had to be careful of aggravating that knee again before it was fully recovered, not to mention the little side niggles that can emerge from subconsciously favouring one leg over the other. One such issue, a minor calf strain, ruled him out of the first three games of the season. So it was that by the time Adams finally stepped into his Houston Rockets debut, he’d gone 646 long and empty days between NBA games.

Rockets coach Ime Udoka was very clear about the situation. At the start of the season, he told everyone that Adams was on a 15-minute limit per game with bursts of no more than five mins at a time. They also resisted playing him on short turnarounds, settling into a groove throughout November where he effectively only kitted up for every second game – ensuring Steve always had at least two rest days between appearances. And in more than half of those November games he didn’t even reach his fifteen minute maximum.

For kiwi ball fans who were used to seeing him start and go 25-30 minutes per game prior to the injury, this was like only having access to the salad bar at the all-you-can-eat buffet. But it was all part of a clear plan. The pattern changed in December when Adams began to play consecutive games... although these tended to come with fewer minutes. He only got on the court in eight of the team’s first 19 games but he averaged 12 minutes when he did. Then came a run where he played in 13/15 games but only averaged nine minutes. So the availability was expanded but the minutes were shrunk in compensation.

That’s how it went in December, except we’re not in December any more. We’ve crossed over into a new year and with that comes an update to the Steven Adams journey, one which symbolically began with his most impactful game for the Rockets to date when he logged sixteen and a half minutes in a win over the Los Angeles Lakers. Adams checked into the game for the first time with around three and a half minutes left in the first quarter and the Rockets up by two in an evenly contest. Houston subsequently went on a 15-3 run to close the frame. That run continued into the second so Adams stayed out there for a bit longer, setting hard screens and grabbing tough boards and even doing a bit of this...

The next time he checked in, apart from a two-second cameo for rebounding purposes at the very end of the first half, was with a little over four to go in the third. By this point, the Lakers had gone on a funky run inspired by LeBron James and Anthony Davis (naturally) to close the gap to a mere four points. Therefore the hombre Adams went and scooped up a bunch more offensive rebounds and when he sat down again he did so with his team up by nine. The Rockets ended up taking the win 119-115.

We’re talking about a four-point victory in which the Rockets were +17 during the 16 mins that Adams was out there for. Best plus/minus in the game. Tips logged a solid 8 points and 9 rebounds individually, with a remarkable seven of those rebounds coming at the offensive end... and what’s more, he was fouled on four other occasions while competing for O-boards. That’s eleven extra possessions that Steven Adams supplied for his team in a narrow win. Jalen Green scored 33 points while Amen Thompson had a sizzling 23 points and 16 rebounds so those were the blokes that everyone wanted to talk about but they would not have won that game without what Steven Adams brought to the picnic. And his coach sure seemed to appreciate the plate...

Ime Udoka: “This is who he’s been his whole career. We were understanding that it’s going to take some time with two years off and injuries but that’s why we’re giving him minutes regardless of outcome out there. He needs to get his legs back under him, get his rhythm back, and when he does he’s been this throughout his whole career. That’s what his career arc looks like. Offensive rebounder, a great one, but not only that he holds three, four guys off and allows others to clean up as well. That’s great there and then just a deterrent at the rim in the paint. Not gonna block a lot of shots but he’s a big body down there that guys don’t really want to attack as much.”

You wanna know about how he holds guys off so that teammates can share in the rebounds, just take a peek at what happens here...

Once again, the hype was all for Amen Thompson getting his own put-back from a free throw but it only happened because Adams wrapped up two separate Lakers at once. Jaxson Hayes and Dorian Finney-Smith. Hayes is a former teammate of Steve-o’s from New Orleans but it’s DFS who really baulked here, getting so distracted by the physicality of Adams that he didn’t even turn his head to see Thompson pouncing until it’s too late. From this angle you can even spot the moment of realisation. Adams had some nice words to say about the unique abilities of Amen Thompson, the fourth overall selection in the 2023 Draft, when he faced up to media after the Lakers win but the funkiest part of that chat was when he was asked about the state of his knee...

Steven Adams: “It’s sweet. Back to normal. Yeah, sweet bro. It’s been, like, progressing more and more. We’ve been keeping an eye on it and my comfort with the team has been progressing as we play. And it’ll continually get better.”

No dramas there, mate. With a few simple words, he shrugged off any lingering doubt about his recovery because after a performance on the boards like that, putting Anthony Davis on the wobbles, you’ve gotta believe him.

Steven Adams Minutes Played This Season

  • October: DNP, DNP, DNP, 14, 10

  • November: DNP, 14, DNP, 16, DNP, 15, DNP, 7, DNP, 5, DNP, 15, DNP, DNP, 7

  • December: 4, 11, 18, 10, DNP, 6, 10, DNP, 12, 11, 3, 12

  • January: 7, 7, 17, 11

That Lakers game was followed by a much quieter effort in a win against Washington in which he did grab six rebounds but that was about all he did in his 11 minutes of exercise. So it goes. When you’re coming off the bench there are always going to be games where you simply aren’t needed as much. The thing about Steve-o’s limited role, however, is that he hasn’t been any less effective in those lesser minutes. The brother has logged 241 minutes overall across 23 appearances so clearly the per game stats aren’t going to be very noteworthy. Nor are his totals going to stack up against far more prominent folks. But balance things out with his per-36 numbers and you’ll see he’s still right up where he’s always been in his familiar realms of domination...

Steven Adams in 2024-25Per 36NBA Rank
Screen Assists8.41
Screen Ast Points19.01
Offensive Rebounds7.02
Total Rebounds14.73
Offensive Rebound %17.01
Second Chance Points6.03
Box Outs5.21

(Those rankings are filtered for all players with at least 100 mins played)

Another angle of that perspective, courtesy of old mate Funaki Stats...

Sidenote here to throw up a funky fact: The Houston Rockets get the rebound on 91.2% of occasions that Adams boxes out. Admittedly, a lot of those are when the other guy isn’t even really contesting which you see a lot on defensive boards… but the key to the fact is that Adams himself only gets 52.9% of those rebounds from his box outs. Most of the high-volume box out guys are around 60% or higher, though there are a few other selfless soldiers in the mould of Adams who don’t care who gets it as long as their team gets it. This is a trait that’s been with Adams pretty much since day one.

By the way, the Rockets are 10-9 when Adams doesn’t play or gets fewer than 6:55 minutes. They’re 15-4 when he exceeds that figure. Don’t for a second even ponder the possibility that he’s not playing his part in winning basketball. He recently logged a little under seven minutes against the Boston Celtics, during which the Rockets were +8 despite the fact that they lost the game by 23 points (meaning they were outscored by 31 in the other 41 mins). He was also +9 in 11 minutes of a loss to Sacramento and +10 in 17 minutes of a loss against Golden State in consecutive early December games. He has a positive overall plus-minus. He has a positive season’s net rating. There is a trend emerging here and it’s the same one that’s been present throughout his career. The Rockets are serving up quality basketball when Steven Adams is on the court.

Which brings us to a fascinating crossroads... because Adams is of course in the final year of his current contract. He’s earning $12.6m this year, a decent figure though one which most teams could fit within their salary cap, particularly if they’re trading someone back the other way. That’s not to say that the Rockets are planning on trading him. To be honest, the gut feel is that they’ll want to keep him around. He suits the hard-man stylings of coach Ime Udoka and his leadership and experience on a young team is already paying dividends. Adams isn’t greedy. He probably respects the room that Houston has given him to work on his recovery and might even feel some aspect of obligation for it. A contract extension could easily be in the works as we speak.

But that all depends. The trade deadline isn’t for another month and there are several teams that’d fancy a bit of Funaki goodness as they tool up for a playoff run, especially on an expiring contract. Decisions will need to be made. Decisions that were not possible until this moment given the nature of the injury he was recovering from. He had to prove his fitness before these conversations could be had. Now that he’s pretty much done that... let’s just say more than a few general managers will be taking notice. Whether the Houston Rockets are picking up that phone or not, well that’s a different story.

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