Be a teammate of steven adams is a remarkable experience. It must be said that in addition to his impressive physical size, the New Zealand pivot has a career and a rather unique personality in the world of the NBA. The “Kiwi” notably grew up in the midst of 17 brothers and sisters, and he took advantage of the Covid break to… become a farmer again in New Zealand and maintain his physical condition with his cows!
Suffice to say that we are never safe from a crazy anecdote with Steven Adams. A guest of the “Podcast P with Paul George” podcast, Jaren Jackson Jr, his current teammate in Memphis, delivered some of them in the company of Paul George, who shared the locker room of “Steve-O” in Oklahoma City, from 2017 to 2019.
“He’s one of the best personalities in the NBA. That’s what I tell everyone, he’s just different.”, launched PG. “He is one of the favorite teammates, just because he was himself, a good human being, from A to Z”.
He self-harms to get a time-out
Paul George thus described a “tough guy” player with a commitment that commands admiration, like when he tried to obtain a time-out for his team… by making himself bleed!
“Among the funny stories that I experienced with him, we were at the end of the match, we no longer have time-outs. The game had stopped, I think it was because the referees were reviewing something, or something like that. We needed a time-out, but we didn’t have any. And I look at Steven, and I see him start scratching his cheek, but really hard. I ask him: ‘What are you doing?’. And he said to me: ‘We don’t have any more time-outs. I’m trying to bleed!’. He wanted to start bleeding so the referees would give us a time-out. I said to myself: ‘Brother!’. But I respect that. There were loads of moments like that, he really is a warrior. He’ll take a hit, and just say, ‘It’s nothing’.
Steven Adams would not have much attachment to his style of dress, and his sensitivity to the cold would not be the same as ordinary mortals.
“He still wears his tap shoes everywhere he goes, with his feet in the air? », asked Paul George. “We were in Chicago one day, and he was wearing his tap shoes, when it was really cold, it was a polar vortex! You will see him wearing a big coat, but with flip-flops, his feet in the air, without socks”.
But what obviously impresses the most about Steven Adams is his physical size, his build and therefore his ability to withstand shocks.
“He returns to the locker room injured almost every game. And he comes back. We’re at the point where if you see him in the locker room, it’s like it’s normal. He “just” twisted his ankle, but he will come back afterwards”, says Jaren Jackson Jr, for whom “there is no stronger player” in the NBA. “All the players have their own physical trainers, with their respective programs. This guy warms up on his own, he trains on his own, he does his rehabilitation on his own, he does his bodybuilding on his own”.
Needless to say, he is not one to fake, and his knee injury was serious to prevent him from helping his teammates in the second half of the season, an absence that will have cost the Grizzlies dearly.
pivot mover
His Herculean strength is particularly illustrated during the hot moments that can occur around matches. When, with great serenity, he has to calm things down.
“There is no way to move it”, added Paul George. “If there was a fight, he took the opponent’s pivot, carried him and moved him like he was a child. If there was an altercation, he would take the player and move him away to the other side of the field, like, enough is enough”.
Then pivot of the Bulls, Tony Bradley could attest to this, he who had had the misfortune to lose his temper in front of Ja Morant, and had found himself being “moved” by Steven Adams, also passionate about UFC.
The exchange with Jaren Jackson Jr. concludes with the possibility of having Steven Adams on the Paul George podcast one day. And the defender of the year to warn him: “We will have to find him, because there he must be in the middle of nowhere, hunting, doing crazy things. He won’t even be shooting, but probably running after something, bare-knuckle fighting with animals to get them home.”
| steven adams | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2013-14 | OKAY | 81 | 15 | 50.3 | 0.0 | 58.1 | 1.8 | 2.4 | 4.1 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 3.3 |
| 2014-15 | OKAY | 70 | 25 | 54.4 | 0.0 | 50.2 | 2.8 | 4.6 | 7.5 | 0.9 | 3.2 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 7.7 |
| 2015-16 | OKAY | 80 | 25 | 61.3 | 0.0 | 58.2 | 2.7 | 3.9 | 6.7 | 0.8 | 2.8 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 8.0 |
| 2016-17 | OKAY | 80 | 30 | 57.1 | 0.0 | 61.1 | 3.5 | 4.2 | 7.7 | 1.1 | 2.4 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 11.3 |
| 2017-18 | OKAY | 76 | 33 | 62.9 | 0.0 | 55.9 | 5.1 | 4.0 | 9.0 | 1.2 | 2.8 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 13.9 |
| 2018-19 | OKAY | 80 | 33 | 59.5 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 4.9 | 4.6 | 9.5 | 1.6 | 2.6 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 13.9 |
| 2019-20 | OKAY | 63 | 27 | 59.2 | 33.3 | 58.2 | 3.3 | 6.0 | 9.3 | 2.3 | 1.9 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 10.9 |
| 2020-21 | NO | 58 | 28 | 61.4 | 0.0 | 44.4 | 3.7 | 5.2 | 8.9 | 1.9 | 2.0 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 7.6 |
| 2021-22 | SAME | 76 | 26 | 54.7 | 0.0 | 54.3 | 4.6 | 5.4 | 10.0 | 3.4 | 2.0 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 7.0 |
| 2022-23 | SAME | 42 | 27 | 59.7 | 0.0 | 36.4 | 5.1 | 6.5 | 11.6 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 8.6 |
| Total | 706 | 27 | 58.7 | 6.7 | 53.6 | 3.7 | 4.5 | 8.2 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 9.2 | |
How to read the stats? MJ = matches played; Min = Minutes; Shots = Shots made / Shots attempted; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; Off = offensive rebound; Def= defensive rebound; Tot = Total bounces; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost bullets; Ct: Counters; Points = Points.
