It’s a special thing to be able to watch Ja Morant be Ja Morant on a basketball court. He’s having a genuinely astounding season, surging into the upper echelon of NBA star talent with his dynamic scoring excellence

The All Star Break is also a convenient chance to put the ol’ feet up for a couple of days, a rarity within any typically frantic NBA schedule. Between travel and games, teams barely even have a chance for proper training sessions let alone rest days

Trade deadline was predictably bonkers as it came and went on Friday morning NZT. Sean Marks was front and centre as he often seems to be, but the other kiwi in the league spent the morning blissfully preparing for a game. The Memphis Grizzlies didn’t do anything

It has been called the moment that Memphis truly fell in love with Steven Adams. Fourth quarter of the Grizzlies’ win over the Chicago Bulls and as Ja Morant tried to attack past Tony Bradley, the Bulls big fella deliberately fouled him…

So what’s the point of offensive rebounds? Free possessions is what. Every one of those boards is an extra possession with the potential for an extra shot. Even the ones he chucks straight back up there for misses that he subsequently rebounds again himself.

Steven Adams has been rebounding excessively, dishing out his cheeky assists, and defending the lights out with a consistency that we hadn’t really seen from him in a Grizzlies jersey before. That’s all come at a time when the Grizzlies as a team have had this sudden explosion of form. Not a coincidence.

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

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.

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

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.

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 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.

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.

The trade deadline came and the trade deadline went. Months of speculation were brought to a conclusion. How would the New Orleans Pelicans add to and complement their young core? What moves could be in store to launch this 19-24 team into playoff contention?

When bringing you these yarns about Steven Adams throughout the NBA season, it’s always important to keep things in context. Especially for a team-first dude like Adams who wouldn’t think twice about sacrificing his personal stats for team success