Adams’ increase in scoring draws attention around NBA
PORTLAND — Thunder center Steven Adams jokingly asked sideline reporter Lesley McCaslin if she was still allowed to interview him as he walked off the floor Friday morning after shootaround at the Moda Center.
The last time she interviewed him live on FOX Sports Oklahoma, he had accidentally dropped a non-family-friendly synonym for cow manure.
Adams’s personality filled interviews have long inspired basketball fans’ adoration. But the 2019 NBA All-Star voting first returns showed that fans have come to see Adams as one of the most talented big men in the league as well. In last year’s first returns, Adams didn’t crack the Top 10 among Western Conference frontcourt players. This season, the early fan votes have him ranked No. 6.
“I get the question all the time, ‘Is Steven Adams a forgotten man in Oklahoma City?’” Nuggets coach Mike Malone said before playing at Chesapeake Energy Arena in November. “If you ask 29 opposing coaches, they’d all say. ‘No.’ The impact he has with his screening, with
his rebounding, with his improved post play.”
That night, Adams grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds in the Thunder’s 105-98 loss.
A combination of the All-Star ballot format and the concentration of talent in the league makes it hard for traditional big men like Adams to receive recognition. Voters choose two guards and three frontcourt players from each conference.
In the first fan returns, Adams came in behind LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis and Paul George among frontcourt players in the West. In naming the 10 AllStar Game starters, fans account for 50 percent of the vote, and NBA players and a media panel combine for the other half.
There’s a gap of about 300,000 votes between George (580,055) at No. 5 and Adams (261,327) at No. 6. But Adams was able to slip ahead of Nikola Jokic, Denver’s impressive combination of big man and facilitator.
Adams is in the middle of the highest-scoring season of his career. He entered the Thunder’s matchup with the Trail Blazers on Friday averaging 15.6 points to go with 4.9 offensive rebounds per game, third-highest in the league.
Asked if he thought Adams knew how good he was, Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook said: “I think he knows, but I don’t think he really cares. I know that he just wants to win, and that’s all that matters to him . ... I make it my job, my priority to make sure he gets the ball and gets more shots because when he plays well we win.”
Westbrook’s hunch meshed with Adams’ response to what it would mean to him if he did make the All-Star team. His answer to that topic when it came up two weeks ago was predictably unique.
He shook his head and shrugged several times before finally saying, “I don’t care, mate.”