Steven Adams sends mixed messages
Steven Adams says he is a ‘‘proud’’ New Zealander, and portrays that image while plying his trade in the NBA with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
His Kiwi-ness, and unabashed determination to remain the person he is, is a big part of his character, his charm and his humour that makes him so beloved around Oklahoma City, the wider NBA community, and also back here in Godzone.
But now, after Adams’ latest decision to reject a well-timed invitation to play for the Tall Blacks, Kiwi hoops diehards and New Zealand sports fans in general are entitled to feel a little confused.
In fact you might be within your rights to call him on it and ask, if he’s so proud of where he’s from, why on earth is he so firm in his desire not to represent that same nation?
For the first time in . . . well, ever, we’re being asked to accept that a top New Zealand professional sports person loves his country and is proud of where he’s from, yet, at the same time, has no interest in pulling on the national jersey.
Talk about your mixed messages. Can you recall a Kiwi sports pro of Adams’ ilk who has simply refused to play at all for his country?
Given that Adams has never played for New Zealand at a senior level and, frankly, has never showed much interest, you could ask why should we be so gutted now? It’s been five or six years and he’s still jilting us. Get over it.
This particular Fiba international window, which spans just four days between June 28 and July 1, was seen as a hoops version of the perfect storm.
It falls smack-bang in the middle of the NBA off-season, the Thunder were eliminated nice and early in the playoffs this year, and both games are in New Zealand, where the big Kiwi has been until just recently decamping to, possibly, Asia.
Basketball NZ even graciously scheduled one of the games for Adams’ home town of Rotorua where the big fella could have completed a dream Tall Blacks debut.
Contractually, he’s in a good spot, just one year into that monster US$100 million (NZ$142m) new deal with the Thunder that makes him one of the world’s top 100 paid sports people; and, in terms of his basketball development, he’s fresh off a season that saw him take a giant leap in productivity across the board.
So, naturally, us Kiwi sports fans got our hopes up. He pops up here, gets a feel for the special nature of the team, plays some hoops with a collection of his old mates and then the floodgates are opened, so to speak.
Fronting up for the world championships in China next year isn’t such a big deal.
Instead we get another rejection. A continuation of the same lack of interest. And nothing much in the way of explanation, other than a statement from his management company about him needing to prepare for the next NBA season?
How would five or six days with the Tall Blacks have hampered his three-month off-season? It wouldn’t, is the answer.
Look, this is a special young man in a special situation. He makes more than the combined salaries of the All Blacks. His brand is becoming global in one of the world’s big-two sports.
But it’s hard not to shake the feeling that he’s damaging the one thing he holds true – his Kiwi-ness.
Can you recall a Kiwi sports pro of Adams’ ilk who has simply refused to play at all for his country?