The “Thunder from down under”, Steven Adams, is a tough and rugged player from New Zealand who doesn’t back down from anyone. He’s tussles with veterans at the start of his rookie career, like here with Vince Carter.
He gets under the skin of fiesty point guards and get them ejected, like here with Nuggets point guard Nate Robinson.
https://youtu.be/3RsvqwZCnT0
He gets mid-western big men angry and pushes them to the brink of punches, much like how he did with Bucks center Larry Sanders.
Or even getting bench players tossed out of the game for having punches thrown at him like here with Nuggets forward Jordan Hamilton.
Finally, most famously, Adams getting punched by Memphis Grizzlies power forward Zach Randolph, who himself has quite the mean streak, and costing Randolph game 7 of their first round playoff series versus the Thunder.
So of course when the Thunder and Grizzlies squared off this preseason, the questions arose once again.
Darnell Morbery of The Oklahoman reported the following between Adams and Randolph about Adams’ “dirty play”.
“I mean, seven players have gotten suspended because of him. You’ve got to look into that,” Randolph said. “Why are players getting into it with this particular guy?”…
“Honestly, I feel like that was his whole plan and I fell for it,” Randolph told Memphis reporters Monday. “I take responsibility. I’m too old for that…to get me off of my game and I went for it. It bothered me all summer. That was their plan.”
Adams, perhaps to no one’s surprise, shot down the idea that he had some sort of secret plan to target Randolph, as well as the idea that he’s a dirty player.
“No, not at all,” Adams said Tuesday, hours before facing the Grizzlies in the Thunder’s preseason home opener. “I was just playing hard. I mean, it’s unfortunate that it happened. Honestly, I was just focusing on the game.”
Whatever the case may be, whatever Adams is doing, he is doing right. Adams progression could be the reason the OKC Thunder move the horrible contract and waste of space that is Kendrick Perkins and use him more inside. If he’s doing all this, as a reserve to some top tier players, imagine if he was an everyday starter, got starters minutes and messed with the heads of guys like DeMarcus Cousins, Dwight Howard or Al Horford. Time will only tell for Adams.
