During exit interviews Steven Adams covered a wide range of topics. Including hair, shooting threes and taking veiled shots at Carmelo Anthony.
Steven Adams is coming off his best season as a pro. Andre Roberson‘s season was cut short due to a patellar tendon injury. Both players play vital roles on the OKC Thunder, especially on the defensive end.
As noted in an ESPN piece last week Adams and Roberson are very close, even living in the same neighborhood. It felt natural to group Roberson and Adams interviews together.
With that let’s start off with Steven Adams
Steven Adams on potentially shooting threes
"Yeah, I mean,I work on everything every summer. I’m comfortable shooting it. I mean, the tough part is just making them, you know (laughing).Maybe, maybe. It’s hard to say. When you say me, it’s not me. I ain’t going to just make a decision to shoot a three. It has to be run through, you know, everyone first, and say that this is a good shot or whatever."
After practice, once reporters are let onto the practice court it is commonplace to see Adams working on his three-point stroke. It’s been a season-long debate will Adams ever shoot in-game threes?
That is a horrible idea. Steven Adams is one of the best offensive rebounders not only in today’s NBA but all-time. Why would you want to pull him out of the paint onto the perimeter? Many adjustments need to be made on the Thunder Adams stretching to the perimeter is not one.
What you don’t get to see in the actual games...this is why most of us beat writers think Steven Adams will shoot 3s at some point. He hit seven straight here: pic.twitter.com/JR6J42J6i0
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) April 13, 2018
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On when he last cut his hair, would he sell it on Ebay
"It’s been a really long time, honestly. It’s growth, it’s growth. It might have been December.Oh, I don’t know. People sell their hair on Ebay? That’s crazy."
Adams cut these questions off with a thoroughly disgusted ‘eww’ complete with a genuine gag. This was absolute peak Steven Adams and hence why he is a fan and media favorite.
What an exit interview with Sam Presti and Billy Donovan includes
"Well, I don’t know. Just a normal sit-down chat. Just a big debrief, really. Go on about what happened throughout the year, what we thought was successful. What can we work on, stuff like that. Normal kind of meeting stuff."
This quote was interesting because it’s unusual to get a description directly from a player on the interworkings of the franchise. Adams similar to Carmelo has little to no filter, ask and you’ll likely get a straight forward answer.
However, Adams is known to put his own sarcastic, yet charming flare on his answers therefore deciphering can often be required.
On how Westbrook made adjustments this season
"You can give him credit for it. It’s expected of him. I don’t think it’s any surprise to anyone, is it?It’s something that you do as a professional athlete. You got to this point by making a bunch of different adaptions anyway for whoever you played for. So it would be weird if you can’t. That would be more weird."
Although the question was about Russell Westbrook, this scribe believes it was a subtle shot at Carmelo Anthony. During Game 5 Steven Adams and Carmelo got into a verbal altercation, it appears they may not like one another.
Just as an average working environment one will not like all their co-workers, it’s the same concept in the NBA. The question is can you co-exist with a co-worker or teammate you do not get along with.
What travel itinerary for this summer
"I don’t know, mate. Obviously, I don’t have any plans. So, yeah, just got to figure them out. Couple days or so, or few days just figuring out what’s going on. Definitely probably Pop into Japan though, and get a good old Bowl of ramen."
Steven Adams will likely make his annual summer trip to his homeland of New Zealand. Japan would have been my second most likely stop for Adams. Japan is the anime and video hub of the world.
Steven Adams says he doesn’t have any summer plans yet, but will probably “pop into Japan. Get a good ol’ bowl of ramen.” He was particularly happy about this.
— Erik Horne (@ErikkHorne) April 28, 2018
If you follow Steven on Instagram you’ll quickly learn about his off the court passion for anime and video games. A delicious bowl of ramen is a bonus.