OKC Thunder Breakdown: 3 key areas Steven Adams can improve upon next season

Used more as a passer:

Last season with the OKC Thunder, Steven Adams set a career-high in assists accumulating 124 assists over his 80 games played.

While that only averages out to 1.6 a game, Adams has surprisingly good passing vision, especially from the post.

Adams does a great job of hitting guys cutting to the rim, whether he’s posted up on the block or the elbow.

Adams catches the ball in the mid-range, and dishes to Russ for the easy backdoor cut.

Nick Collison

is so proud.

Great one-handed feed to Nader on the cut after posting up the smaller defender. Shields the ball from the defender and delivers a nice bounce pass in time for the easy layup.

Another one. Great backdoor pass to Grant, this time from the block.

Great awareness and recognition by Adams to see Ferguson open in the corner, didn’t even look at him while the ball was in the air and did a Jokic-Esque touch pass for the open three.

While Adams shouldn’t be used like Nikola Jokic, he is more than capable to handle passing duties when he’s posted up on the block or at the elbow.

Steven Adams passing might be his most underrated skill. With four potential shooters around him in the starting lineup, look for him to be more active next season when posting up and hitting open teammates for easy buckets.

In Conclusion:

Although being overpaid, Steven Adams provides teams with great screens, high-level offensive rebounding, good defense, underrated passing, and soft touch.

While he is not a floor spacer by any means, Adams positives outweigh his negatives in terms of his overall game. There isn’t much Adams can realistically improve on, as I don’t ever see him ever becoming a threat from deep or an elite shot blocker.

If Adams can improve his touch around the rim and work on his free throws, you could be looking at a 16 and 10 guy next season on 60+ percent shooting from the field.

With the additions of Chris Paul and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, look for Adams to have a career year next season with the OKC Thunder.