Steven Adams was an instigator par excellence right from his rookie year. But some of his past actions are now coming back to ‘haunt’ him.
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The Memphis Grizzlies traded Jonas Valanciunas to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for Steven Adams, who’d only been in Louisiana for the past season before.
Adams had played all 7 of his previous NBA seasons in Oklahoma City. He grew into an integral part of the identity of their core, built around Kevin Durant first and Russell Westbrook later on.
The moustached giant from New Zealand is perhaps the strongest, most physical center in the entire world today. The likes of Jimmy Butler, among others, have acknowledged his seemingly superhuman strength in interviews while talking about navigating his screens on D.
That is just a small part of a lot of intangibles that the 7-footer brings to the table. Adams is also known as a guy who checks his opponents out mentally with a few choice gimmicks.
He’s admittedly pinched his opponents hard in the past in order to gauge their resilience. His NBA opponents acknowledge that Adams has also mastered the ability to use his words to rile his opponents up.
Why are Memphis Grizzlies fans upset with Steven Adams?
Well, this takes us right back to Adams’ rookie year in Oklahoma City. He was a rotation player at the time, but coach Scott Brooks saw his value as a defensive force despite his limited offensive skills at the time.
He began getting valuable minutes even early on. It got to the point where he was seeing playoff action against Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol – two of the most elite post scorers in the NBA at the time.
It was during Game 6 action at the Chesapeake Energy arena that Zach Randolph was ejected for punching Adams. Now, there’s no doubt that Randolph deserved it – and the Game 7 suspension that followed.
His act was definitely dangerous and warranted such action. However, expecting homers and sports fans to be unbiased in matters like this is wishful thinking. So naturally there’s a faction of Grizzlies fans who’ve held on to their hate of Adams.
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“Have a bloody beer, mate!”: Adams’ hilarious proposal for Grizzlies fans
Adams spoke to the public for the first time as a member of the Grizzlies this past week. He had a simple message for those fans who still begrudge him for riling up Z-Bo 7 years back.
Oh, have it your way you magnificent Aquaman lookalike!
