Heading for a stellar career

Marc Hinton has a great story on Stuff today about Kiwi basketballer Steven Adams. It seems that he continues to impress his new bosses at Oklahoma City Thunder; check this out:

The Oklahoma City Thunder clearly have big plans for their Kiwi rookie Steven Adams, making him one of the highest paid athletes in New Zealand sport.
The Thunder recently signed Adams to his first contract after picking him No 12 overall in the NBA draft. Though details were not disclosed, leading US hoops websites have Adams listed at a salary of US$2,090,880 (NZ$ 2,600,758) for the 2013-14 season, rising to US$2,184,960 (NZ$2,717,780) for the second of his two guaranteed years.
That's well over the US$1.7m (NZ$2.11) prescribed for the No 12 pick by the NBA's salary scale for rookie contracts - teams are allowed to pay up to 20 per cent over the mandated amount - and a strong indication of how the Thunder feel about their young centre.
Adams' rookie deal has two guaranteed years and then two option years which could see the New Zealander's salary top the US$3m mark by his fourth season.
The outstanding contract, which makes Adams the Thunder's ninth highest paid player on their roster (superstar Kevin Durant will make US$17.8m this season and Russell Westbrook nearly US$14.7m) indicates just how highly valued he is at Oklahoma City.
When he was drafted, some pundits felt Adams was still a long way from being ready to play in the NBA and would be a long-term project for the Thunder. Many predicted at least a season in the club's D-League affiliate in Tulsa.
However, after a strong showing at the Orlando summer league, it could be that Adams' timetable has been revised.
He is still very much a work in progress and will need to be nurtured by the Thunder into a backup centre capable of playing legitimate NBA minutes.
But Adams' contract, which dwarfs the deals done by rugby stars like Richie McCaw and Dan Carter, indicates that the Thunder view their seven-foot Kiwi as someone capable of contributing sooner rather than later. 

Clearly Adams has taken to his new gig like a duck to water. He clocked up some impressive minutes in the Summer League, and is reported to have both a terrific work ethic and a teachable spirit.

We will be following Steven Adams' progress with considerable interest as the NBA season gets nearer. But he has already done brilliantly, coming from nowhere just a few months ago to #12 in the NBA draft, and now to the likelihood of court-time in his first season. That's fantastic for Steven Adams, and a real boost to the sport of basketball in New Zealand.

OKC signs Steven Adams

It's official; Kiwi basketballer Steven Adams has been officially signed by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA; nba.com reports:

OKLAHOMA CITY, July 12, 2013 – Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team has signed center Steven Adams and guard/forward Andre Roberson. Per team policy, terms of the deals were not disclosed.
Adams, the #12 overall selection by the Thunder in last month’s NBA Draft appeared in 32 games during his freshman season at the University of Pittsburgh where he averaged 7.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in 23.4 minutes per game.
Adams was named to the Big East All-Rookie Team after ranking first all-time in school history for field goal percentage (.571), second in blocked shots (63) and sixth in rebounds (192) for freshman seasons. After being selected by the Thunder, Adams became the first player from New Zealand to be taken in the first round of the NBA Draft. 

Selecting Adams in the first round of the NBA draft was only the first step in a process. Two weeks on, and the Oklahoma organisation likes enough what it sees in Steven Adams to formally offer him a contract.

And that decision has been made on the basis of form. Adams has impressed at Summer League, and looks to be taking to pro basketball like a fish to water. He announced his arrival in the league with a spectacular alley-oop with his very first touch, and the more court time he has been given, the better he has performed. Stuff reports:

New Zealand's Steven Adams has completed a dream debut with the Oklahoma City Thunder by playing a prominent role in his team's charge to the Orlando Summer League championship.
The Thunder today defeated the Houston Rockets 85-77 in the tournament's first official championship game to finish the week 5-0 and complete an extremely satisfying week's work in Florida.
Thunder management would have been rapt with Adams' efforts in Orlando, with the 2.13m No 12 draft pick exceeding expectations with a string of consistent performances in Orlando.
The big 19-year-old Kiwi rounded things off nicely today with another strong display in an impressive all-round effort by the young Thunder group.
Adams finished with a near double-double of 10 points (3/6 FG, 4/5 FT) and nine rebounds as the Thunder got five players into double-figures to dominate the Rockets most of the way. Once again he started at centre, playing just over 26 minutes, and also blocked a shot and had no turnovers in another effort that would have impressed his new team. 

OKC clearly sees the potential in the big New Zealand centre, and getting him on contract is the first step in Adams' development. We will follow his progress and career with much interest, especially if he can keep performing feats like this one:

And here's an idea out of the square; just as Liverpool and Manchester United will play Australian teams in the next week or so on pre-season tours, how about some entrepreneur get OKC out here for a pre-NBA match at Vector Arena against the Breakers; that would be an absolute must-watch. Does anyone have Dean Lonergan's phone number?

Tame on Steven Adams

Jack Tame is TVNZ's correspondent in the USA, and also writes a column in the Herald. He attended the NBA Draft in Brooklyn on Friday and reports thus on Kiwi hoops star-to-be Steven Adams:

Some overly thorough sports hack in some part of the United States apparently reckons that Steven Adams' hands are the second-biggest of any NBA prospect ever.
I can't personally clarify if that's of any rookie ever, or any basketball player ever, or whether it was measured on the thumb-to-pinky or middle-to-palm ratio. I can only assure you I have little intention of confirming it myself, but that greeting the man himself is like handshaking a front-loading washing machine.
Fortunately for those of us with humbler extremities, Steven Adams favours the knuckle-saving "bro" style handshake. And when he walked off the NBA stage to a waiting posse of NBA suits, I slapped that giant hand like the belly of a fish.
"OKC! Meeeean bro!" he grinned as he ducked under the door.
Never have you seen anyone so enthusiastic about Oklahoma.
"You know they have tornadoes, eh?" I asked.
"You know that the city's claim to fame is as 'The Birthplace of the Shopping Trolley'?"

"Bro, the chicks in OKC are meeeean," he whispered. "And the team has it's own chef."
To them, he's Kiwi-as. Fresh. Unsullied by expectation or the glitzy behemoth that is US professional sport.
In reality he could be any other 19-year old Wellington kid.
The posse pushed in. There were interviews to do, managers to meet.
I slapped that fish belly hand and hoped he doesn't lose his grip.

Adams seems to be a bit of a hard case. What you see is what you get, and unlike the American college players who have spent years being told how good they are and who believe it, he is one of the most unaffected young sportsmen we've seen for some time.

Adams is going to be mixing in some pretty select company in the next few years. But he is there because team bosses, most especially the head of the OKC outfit loved his attitude and personality. 

Here's hoping that the trappings of fame and fortune don't change Steven Adams, and that as he learns his trade at the highest level, that his unique Kiwi-as personality doesn't get squeezed out of him. He is as refreshing as he is imposing in physique.

Photo of the Day - 28 June 2013

The long and the short of it; seven-footer Steven Adams is welcomed to the NBA by Commissioner David Stern who is considerably less than seven feet tall!

UPDATED: Steven's big day

UPDATE: Steven Adams is the #12 pick in the NBA draft. He has been picked by the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder's fan base has just increased by around 4.5 million! 

Congratulations Steven Adams - New Zealand's first ever first round draft pick.

Hat-tip (for the photo): Jack Tame from TVNZ

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It's a huge day for Kiwi basketballer Steven Adams today. The seven-foot tall Adams is poised to become the first New Zealander ever to have been a first-round pick in the NBA draft.

We profiled Adams on Monday. And we will be keeping a close eye on the draft when it starts, live on ESPN around midday. Adams has impressed a number of team bosses and scouts, and the pundits are tipping him to be picked up inside the top 14 picks.

And Steven Adams will be there in person, having been invited to the Green Room at the Barclay Centre with other top draft hopes. It will be an exciting but nervous day for the young player.

We'll bring updates on the draft as it happens; kia kaha Steven Adams!

A star in the making

Like his sister Valerie, Steven Adams is a big lad, so it's no surprise that he ended up playing basketball. But Adams has the chance later this week to throw off the "brother of Val" tag and become a star in his own right when he goes up in the annual NBA draft. Marc Hinton from Stuff profiles him:

History will be made in New Zealand sport this week when Steven Adams goes somewhere in the first round of the NBA draft. But the truth is he's just getting started.
As kiwi hoops phenom Steven Adams prepares for the biggest night of his young life to date - and a landmark moment in New Zealand sport - his mentor Kenny McFadden can't help casting his mind back to when it all began.
On Friday (NZ time) in New York, Adams will, by general consensus, be picked somewhere in the first round of the NBA draft, probably in the region of 10th to 20th pick. That will open up a world of riches and opportunity for the 19-year-old from Wellington as he embarks on a career in the world's greatest basketball league with the potential to earn tens of millions of dollars.
It's all a long, long way from the shy, hulking near 15-year-old who rolled up to McFadden's Wellington basketball academy a lost soul who had been plucked from the mean streets of Rotorua by his brother Warren and brought to the capital to establish some direction and purpose in his life.
"He didn't have any money, he didn't have a pair of shoes that fit him, the only thing he had was determination and a goal," recalls McFadden who's now in Los Angeles helping his young charge prepare for Friday's draft.  "If anyone is prepared to take that and use it as motivation we're going to get a lot more [players] in there."
McFadden, an NBL legend who now develops young talent at his Wellington hoops academy, urges Kiwis to embrace this moment as Adams becomes the third New Zealander to play in the NBA (excluding Kiwi-born Aussie Aron Baynes), but first to be chosen in the first round of the draft. 

A late bloomer, Adams is an imposing physical specimen. At around seven feet tall and 255lb in the old money (this IS American sport we're talking about!) he's a big young man who has impressed with his work ethic and skill level in the pre-draft drills. 

And he is poised to become a wealthy young man as well; read on:

The draft thing is significant. First-rounders (top 30) receive guaranteed contracts (two-year terms with team options for two more) with annual salaries ranging from up to $US5 million for the No 1 pick down to around $US800,000 for the No 30.
In other words, the higher you're picked, the more you'll get paid. With Adams tipped to go as early as 10 his money worries are about to disappear. 

Opinion is divided on how far up the draft Adams will be picked, but as Hinton notes, he has attributes that can't just be conjured up:

It's hard to predict where Adams will go, as the draft tends to develop a life of its own, but the 2.13m New Zealander with the 7'5 wingspan and enormous hands has impressed coaches, GMs and scouts in three important areas.
His upside, or potential, is considered huge, given his late start and relative lack of exposure to top-level hoops. Everyone knows he's only scratching the surface of what he will become.
His physical attributes are also off the charts, with an NBA-ready body and size and athleticism that simply cannot be manufactured. He's also considered to have a good "motor" and strong work ethic.
Then there's his personality. Adams' easy-going manner and down-to-earth approach has impressed team executives throughout an exhausting pre-draft workout process that included visits to no less than a dozen suitors.
"I've been trying to show how versatile I am," said Adams at one his Phoenix Suns workout. "But I'm focusing on defence and rebounding and blocked shots. I feel like that's how I'll get my minutes in my first chapter [in the NBA], and if I can get that locked down I can then branch off into other parts of my game."
The truth is Adams will be a project for whoever picks him, whether it's Portland at 10, Philadelphia at 11, Oklahoma City at 12, Dallas at 13 or any of the other clubs around this mid-first round mark. They will have a lot of development to do.
But none of that matters. Adams will be on the fast track. He will play in the NBA and providing he improves as he's expected to he will eventually become an important part of someone's rotation. Too much money will have been invested not to give him his shot. 

We wish Steven Adams every success, both in the draft itself, and for a stellar NBA career. The basketball world is his oyster.