OKC Thunder Season Preview: Expect big things from Big Kiwi

Steven Adams enters the 2018-19 season as the OKC Thunder starting center and is looking to build on his productive 2017-18 season.

Steven Adams is coming off a season filled with career highs in terms of both volume and efficiency.

He averaged 13.9 points per game, 9.0 rebounds per game (5.1 of which were offensive rebounds), 1.2 assists per game, 1.2 steals per game, and 1.2 blocks per game. He also shot 62.9 percent from the field, which was fourth best among all qualifying players. Those numbers, outside of his blocks per game average, are all career-bests.

The most impressive part of his play last season was his ability to grab offensive rebounds at such a high rate. He was a close second in offensive rebounds per game behind Andre Drummond.

His usage percentage was pretty much identical to that of his 2016-17 season, which makes his offensive jump that much more impressive. It’s also indicative of how much he’s refined his offensive game.

All in all, he proved himself to be a key part of the Thunder’s core going forward.