The Brooklyn Nets were undercover darlings of NBA culture by the end of last season. With no relevant draft picks and only a couple of players with any real trade value when Sean Marks took over as GM, the Nets somehow managed to go from rock bottom to the playoffs within four years and they did it through all the things that the basketball zeitgeist loves to see…
This Thunder season has been a pretty fascinating one. It wasn’t supposed to be, they were meant to be a tame if competitive losing team that could beat a playoff team if they dropped their game but otherwise would live in the lottery with all their hoarded future draft picks. Except that everything’s kinda clicked into place instead.
Alright, it’s time to get back on the Steven Adams beat for real now. It’s been a strange old couple months as the Oklahoma City Thunder franchise adjusted to life without Russell Westbrook for the first time ever and adjusting to losing a guy who’d had such a record usage rate was always going to require some time.
Of all the bonkers things that have gone on during one of the most insane single seasons ever witnessed from a professional kiwi sports club, a sudden 180 flip in form isn’t the most unexpected of those things but it’s up there.