Steven Adams’ scout

OKC can thank Pittsburgh’s former coach for bringing the Thunder’s charming center to the U.S.

Jamie Dixon liked what he saw out of the youngster from New Zealand. Back in 2009, Dixon was in New Zealand coaching Team USA in the FIBA Under-19 World Championship. But he never stopped working his day job. He was the head coach at Pittsburgh then, and he was always looking for talent.

He decided to ask Kenny McFadden about the kid. McFadden had been Dixon's teammate when they played professionally in New Zealand, and McFadden was coaching the country's under-19 team.

McFadden agreed about the kid's talent — but then said he wasn't anywhere close to being the best young prospect in New Zealand.

Dixon wanted to know which of the players McFadden was talking about.

McFadden said the

phenom wasn't on his team.

"Why is he not playing on your team if he’s so good, if he’s the best guy?" Dixon said. Dixon had his doubts. Steven Adams erased them.

Entering the final days of fan voting for the NBA All-Star Game, Adams can strengthen his case for inclusion starting Tuesday at Atlanta, then continuing later in the week with marquee matchups against the Lakers and the Sixers. An invite would cap what has been an amazing decade for the Thunder big man — from unknown in New Zealand to star in the NBA.

Even though lots of people had a hand in the journey, NBA stardom might not have happened for Adams without Dixon.

Adams came from an extremely athletic family. His sister was an Olympic champ. He had brothers who played pro basketball. But all remained rooted to their homeland. Nothing wrong with that, but the top league in New Zealand isn't quite as big a deal as the NBA.

Adams might not have become a Thunder treasure if he hadn't come to the United States to play for Dixon.

"I'm not at all surprised," Dixon, now the coach at TCU, told me recently when asked if he foresaw Adams' greatness. "I really thought he had the talent."

That's why Dixon offered a scholarship when Adams was only 15.

Even though Adams was already 6-foot-7 and Dixon knew of the family’s intensity after playing professionally with Adams' brothers Warren and Ralph, plenty of folks around Pitt questioned Dixon’s decision. The Panthers were riding high in those days. They had their pick of prospects.

"A lot of people were like, 'Why are we taking this kid that no one knows about and isn’t ranked?'" Dixon said.

Even in New Zealand, Adams was largely an unknown. He played sparingly for the national teams, and even though he was part of a club, he didn't play a ton of games for the top squad. During his last year of high school in 2011, he was part of the Wellington Saints' New Zealand National Basketball League championship team, but he wasn't like many international phenoms who get worldwide exposure before college.

Offering Adams a scholarship was a risk. Calculated, but still.

"It’s just projection," Dixon admitted. "Knowing Kenny and seeing how he was coaching him and developing him and knowing the history of the family ... you just figured he was going to work hard."

Dixon's decision didn't seem so risky by the time Adams arrived at Pitt. After graduating high school in New Zealand, he spent half a season at Notre Dame Prep in suburban Boston to ease the transition to American basketball. As Thunder fans know, Adams doesn't ease into much. He burst onto the scene, going toe-to-toe with high-profile recruits such as Nerlens Noel and Kaleb Tarczewski and soaring toward top of the recruiting rankings.

All the while, Adams had his eye on Pitt.

"One of the best things we did is we gave him ... direction, gave him a goal," Dixon said, adding that Adams' brothers Warren and Ralph continually told him to go play college ball in the United States and do things differently than they'd done. "He's 15 at the time — 'This team that's one of the best believes I can play.'"

Adams wasn't at Pitt long, only five months really. Even though he wrote in his autobiography a year ago that his time there wasn't all that great, it was a carrot that encouraged him to reach and strive.

Maybe Steven Adams would've developed into an NBA power without that early scholarship offer to Pitt. Maybe he would've broken ties that bound all his older siblings to New Zealand. Maybe he would've become an OKC favorite regardless.

But Thunder fans don't have to wonder.

They can thank Jamie Dixon for that.