The benchmark has shifted for Steven Adams. We were treated to some exaggerated excellence in the first week of the season as Adams averaged 11 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 3.2 assists across the first five games. Since then... he’s only scored in the double figures once
Does this Princepal Singh/Breakers signing sound familiar to you? Because it should... this is basically exactly the same thing that they did with Terry Li, the Chinese prospect who was picked up on the exact same length of contract two years ago.
The first three games that Steven Adams played for Memphis were damn near perfect. He was putting him big numbers and looking agile and energised. The stuff since then... it’s been a bit more inconsistent.
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.
The hype is there, the hype is always there. If there’s one thing these Breakers know how to do it’s to present an exciting, energetic, ambitious front. The hype ain’t imaged either.
It’s only preseason. There’s usually not much to learn from preseason games, guys are just trying to get their reps up before the ones that matter. Anyone who applies relevance to preseason results in any way is a lost soul and there are lots more of these exhibition games to get through
The Tall Ferns hit up the Asia Cup having not played an international basketball game in almost two years. Yet another Aotearoa national team who’d disappeared since the pandemic hit.
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.
No max contract free agents this time, was news for two years ago. No blockbuster trade on the way either, that was last season’s business. These days the job calls for a sneakily efficient series of transactions and, would you look at this...
It was back on July 9 that it was first reported that the Breakers had picked up Peyton Siva and Hugo Besson on import contracts for the upcoming NBL season. The pair travelled to Aotearoa some time in the subsequent weeks but it was only on August 22 that Siva was finally announced.
The Grizzlies didn’t trade for Steven Adams because they thought he was an upgrade on Jonas Valanciunas. And the Pelicans didn’t trade for Valanciunas because they were desperate for a bit of what JV had to offer.
It was Tuesday morning in Aotearoa, almost a week after the end of the NBA Finals and a few days before the subsequent NBA Draft with Olympic basketball also catching plenty of attention... and Adrian Wojnarowski had something to say.
What an odd season that was. Steven Adams was traded to New Orleans amidst a global pandemic and even if everything that followed eventually progressed as planned, it was all a little off. Like somebody broke into your house and didn’t take anything but moved all the furniture six inches to the left.
It hasn’t always been this way. This overflow of kiwi ballers in the Aussie league, it used to be a couple of top tier Tall Blacks plying their trade across the Tasman and then a large contingent of Breakers dudes.
It was already a case of very few guarantees when Steven Adams wrapped up his first season with the New Orleans Pelicans. Either your name is Zion Williamson or Brandon Ingram or your place on the Pellies is up in the air right now. Then Stan Van Gundy got the flick.
Well that was bloody awful, wasn’t it? Some nice moments along the home stretch perhaps, that was cool, but the New Zealand Breakers entered this season expecting to be able to challenge for a championship. That was the target.
It’s been five years since Sean Marks took the job as Brooklyn Nets general manager. Five long years as Buddy Guy sings. Five years since the Brooklyn Nets were considered the most hopeless team in the league.
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.
Let’s be honest here, the New Orleans Pelicans are probably not going to make the playoffs. Even with the scope being expanded to tenth place with the play-in potential, they’re still not gonna make it.
What exactly is Steven Adams’ role for the Pelicans these days? It’s a simple question to answer: he defends hard, he does the dirty work, he sets the cultural tone. But when his box score numbers seem to swing drastically from one night to the next that answer suddenly doesn’t quite seem sufficient.