Steven Adams is a Tough Bastard: An Exploration
The NBA is a year-long event. No sooner do the playoffs finish than the draft cracks into action and then we’ve got old mate free agency popping by for a few brews and next thing you know it’s Summer League and then preseason and then right back where we started with the real stuff. That calendar of fun ensures that the league is in constant news rotation… though that doesn’t quite work on the individual level and, gotta be honest, it’s been lonely without the weekly Kiwi Steve columns. It’s been lonely without Steven Adams fullstop.
Luckily the bloke’s got a book coming out soon, which will hopefully ease us through the last quarter of the offseason. Still a little heartbroken not to get the buzz as ghostwriter for that one but so it goes. Bound to be a good read and you’ll probably get a review of it in these very pages.
In the meantime there are a hundred things to love about Kiwi Steve to bridge the gap between now and then, from his sense of humour to his outrageous appetite…
… but today’s lesson, dear children, is all about what a tough bastard he is. Take it away, Kevin Durant.
Kevin Durant: “The long hair and the beard and all of that stuff didn’t show up until later, but the physicality and the bruiser was there since Day One. The look kind of grew with his play a little bit. Definitely looks the part now and plays the part.”
Looking the part is always a boost. You can still be a tough bastard even if you look like a dweeby prick but not too many people are going to take notice if you do. A real tough bastard looks like a real tough bastard because they understand that intimidation is a big part of the deal. Then looking like a Dothraki warrior is taking that concept to a whole new level.
KD was there from the start so he knows what’s up. It’s no coincidence that Adams’ teammates absolutely love playing with him, they’re always saying hugely complimentary things about his game and his personality. It’s hell to go up against him and when he’s on your team you love him, as Carmelo Anthony once said. That’s the tough bastard in a nutshell.
Both Paul George and Russell Westbrook, two multi-time All Stars, have talked about him as one of if not the best offensive rebounder in the league. That’s some high praise and they’re not just saying that to get invited to his golf tournament next year. These dudes genuinely appreciate him.
Russell Westbrook: “He’s the best rebounder in the league. [Steve] does an amazing job of getting himself in position, using his body, sacrificing his body and keeping balls alive.”
Teammates love him, opponents fear him. Opponents also hugely respect him. Here’s another multi-time All Star singing from the hymn sheet…
Right from the very start Adams was ruffling feathers in the NBA. Even before the long hair and beard and all of that stuff. Way back in the day, The Niche Cache published what’s still one of our most highly viewed articles ever (shared by the legendary King Kapisi on his facebook and it even got a mention in Le Equipe in France, which was weird) all about the established veterans who’d been ejected from games for lashing out at this stoic as kiwi rookie. Chur to the absolute chur.
Those ejections soon chilled out as players learned what to expect from Adams. Plus, you know, once the look grew to match the game and once the game grew to settle at the top level it wasn’t so embarrassing to get popped by a rookie that you had to bowl him over on the way back to the halfcourt. Although DeMarcus Cousins sure had to think twice before leaving this one in the rack.
It’s a bit of a kiwi source of pride that we’re calm in the face of danger, willing to do the hard work where others might wilt. Steven Adams reflects that right back upon is in the high-stakes, high-profile, high-drama world of professional basketball. Of course it also helps when you’re seven foot tall and built like the brother of the world’s finest shot-putter of this millennium.
Folks, we now enter Exhibit B: NBA Players Talking About How Unbearably Strong Steven Adams Is…
Larry Nance on Steven Adams: “He’s the strongest player in the league in my opinion, and it’s not close. With a guy like that, you just have to be active. It’s almost like a heavyweight, if he gets his hands on you, it’s a problem.”
For the record, Steve himself strongly disagrees with that suggestion. It’s not his strength… it’s his understandings of the principles of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu that make the difference.
Call it strength or technique, whatever, it shows itself in a few different ways. One way is in how impenetrable he is to injury. That time he busted his hand and then made a free throw with his left instead? Or the multiple times he got kicked in the nuts and continued playing? Having one of the best games of his career in the playoffs despite a debilitating migraine? Not to mention all the hundreds of knocks that we never know about because he plays through them without making a big deal about it.
Then another way he makes his presence known is with those utterly ruthless screens that he drops on unsuspecting buggers. Patrick Beverley knows what we’re talking about.
So does Isaiah Thomas.
Kyle Anderson too, although this is a bit of a flop here.
Ah yes and how could we finish without acknowledging his most noble pursuit of strength: breaking up fights. No NBA player is more committed to the persistence of peaceful sportsmanship than Kiwi Steve, which is a helpful attribute when playing next to Russell Westbrook. Shoves get thrown and next thing you know there’s a seven-foot tall New Zealander dragging you out of there before you can get yourself ejected or suspended. Time and time again. Even when Jae Crowder’s elbow gets in the way.
Yeah nah and that’s basically it, aye? Smack an ad if you enjoyed that and then pop on over to Patreon and get involved there to keep TNC churning it all out.