OKC Thunder Season Preview: Expect big things from Big Kiwi
By Yams
Final Remarks
Entering the second year of his 4-year, $100 million contract, Steven Adams must continue to refine the tools that are in his possession.
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He must also increase his scoring output without sacrificing other parts of his game. That will be easier to achieve now that Carmelo Anthony is gone.
The OKC Thunder must make it their duty to give the ball to Steven Adams at a higher and more consistent rate during games, which they failed to do last season.
Whenever Steven Adams started things out with a hot hand, he would find himself frozen out of the offense not too long after. It wasn’t a case of “Oh, it happened once. It’ll never happen again.” I mean, how often have we seen Steven Adams score 9-11 out of the Thunder’s first 15 or so points only for him to take 2-3 more shots for the rest of the game?
But outside of getting him more shots, there isn’t much else Billy D can do to get more out of Steve-o. For the most part, he’s made good use of him.
In conclusion, Steven Adams will likely continue to perform at a high level thanks to his physicality, skill, and consistency.
Stat line projections:
My projected game average stat line for the Big Kiwi this season is 15.7 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.2 blocks.