When watching the OKC Thunder home game against the New Orleans Pelicans, I noticed the strength of the bond between the two centers.
During his time with the OKC Thunder, Steven Adams has been able to develop a strong bond with his fellow big men. First, there was the bond with Nick Collison who mentored the big man from New Zealand.
Then came the famous Stache Bros when Adams and Enes Kanter even grew matching mustaches, such was their bond. When Kanter was traded to the New York Knicks, one reporter even asked Adams how he would cope without Kanter. His answer; “I mean, he didn’t die mate.”
Steven Adams speaks on departure of Enes Kanter, his recent trip to zoo https://t.co/D0adycvkZr via @YouTube
— Mervsports (@mervsports78) December 1, 2019
Now Adams has developed what appears to be a strong bond with his current fellow big man, Nerlens Noel. This is the second season the pair are playing together and, despite not being on the court together, except to high five when they change over, the two have been building chemistry.
During the opening quarter of the New Orleans Pelicans game, Adams was huge. He scored ten points and was a complete handful. After that, Adams was not very prominent on the court until the final two minutes. In that time, Adams had a block, several rebounds, a putback, and this play to ice the game.
https://twitter.com/okcthunder/status/1200615384983822336?s=20
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What this clip does not show is that Nerlens Noel is the first player off the bench, he got to Adams first for the celebration. After the subsequent time out, Noel is still celebrating with Adams.
Noel has accepted his place on the team, he is the reserve center behind Adams unless the big Kiwi is out.
Noel has good numbers when Adams is out but is not able to have the same impact on the game as Adams. His body does not have the same impact on screens and Adams needs two players to stop him on the boards.
However, Noel is showing that he simply wants the best for the team. He was not able to crack the rotation at the start of the year with Mike Muscala being preferred. However, he came on and played every second hard when he could get on the court.
I am sure that he would like the starting role but he is so happy for Steven Adams when he has success, their chemistry cannot be denied. This will be a key for the OKC Thunder moving forward.