Steven Adams looking good so far..

[Vincent_Askew]

One more note about Adams, he is actually incredible at getting low post position and making it so easy for a teammate to feed him the ball. He gets position and will not be bullied, pushed or denied from making himself an easy target for an entry pass. And once getting the ball, he has shown to have a pretty reliable/respectable hook shot.

Now if he develops his offensive game a bit more in the post, this will be huge because he makes it so easy for his teammates to get him the ball.

Conclusion: I want to be Adams' lover (PAUSE).

[ManualRam]

Depends on the rest of the roster. If you are starting out with a blank slate, obviously Jonas. If you are adding to a roster that maybe already has some low post scoring and you need roleplayer that will do the dirty work, I could see taking Adams. I think his defensive potential is higher. Jonas is the better player though.

Not sure about that, Adams is big as hell, sets great picks, rolls hard and has amazing hands like catcher's mitts, finishes well, that's already going to get him 10-12 PPG in Thunder's offense that's entirely predicated on side pick and rolls for Durant and high screens for Westbrook to get free.

I was a little doubtful about his isolation offense but he's shown up with some soft hook shots in preseason so far. Its really hard to project a guy who's barely started a good basketball program until he started playing in college.

Just because I need an excuse to post from last night's game:

that's one of things that sold me on him as a prospect. for as raw and inexperienced as he was, he did a lot of big man things fundamentally well, and with force. like setting screens, boxing out, sealing help defenders, establishing position, walling off at the rim instead of jumping at everything, etc. he was very well coached his 1yr in college and you can tell that he was receptive to a coach who's notorious for being hard on his players and a stickler for details.

[bondom34]

that's one of things that sold me on him as a prospect. for as raw and inexperienced as he was, he did a lot of big man things fundamentally well, and with force. like setting screens, boxing out, sealing help defenders, establishing position, walling off at the rim instead of jumping at everything, etc. he was very well coached his 1yr in college and you can tell that he was receptive to a coach who's notorious for being hard on his players and a stickler for details.

Yep, everything that OKC really needs is what he does. I'll take him doing this stuff and getting garbage baskets, extra offense is a huge bonus.

[Slava]

that's one of things that sold me on him as a prospect. for as raw and inexperienced as he was, he did a lot of big man things fundamentally well, and with force. like setting screens, boxing out, sealing help defenders, establishing position, walling off at the rim instead of jumping at everything, etc. he was very well coached his 1yr in college and you can tell that he was receptive to a coach who's notorious for being hard on his players and a stickler for details.

Yep, everything that OKC really needs is what he does. I'll take him doing this stuff and getting garbage baskets, extra offense is a huge bonus.

Did that pick come out of the Harden trade? If so, fair props to Presti. This guy fits the team to a tee.

[bondom34]

that's one of things that sold me on him as a prospect. for as raw and inexperienced as he was, he did a lot of big man things fundamentally well, and with force. like setting screens, boxing out, sealing help defenders, establishing position, walling off at the rim instead of jumping at everything, etc. he was very well coached his 1yr in college and you can tell that he was receptive to a coach who's notorious for being hard on his players and a stickler for details.

Yep, everything that OKC really needs is what he does. I'll take him doing this stuff and getting garbage baskets, extra offense is a huge bonus.

Did that pick come out of the Harden trade? If so, fair props to Presti. This guy fits the team to a tee.

Yep it did. This is pretty much the reason I don't mind the trade. Otherwise, they'd have Harden and either Perk or a center signed for the taxpayer MLE, so around 3 mil. I can't imagine they'd get that sort of value. Harden turned into Adams, McGary, and Lamb.

[ManualRam]

that's one of things that sold me on him as a prospect. for as raw and inexperienced as he was, he did a lot of big man things fundamentally well, and with force. like setting screens, boxing out, sealing help defenders, establishing position, walling off at the rim instead of jumping at everything, etc. he was very well coached his 1yr in college and you can tell that he was receptive to a coach who's notorious for being hard on his players and a stickler for details.

Yep, everything that OKC really needs is what he does. I'll take him doing this stuff and getting garbage baskets, extra offense is a huge bonus.

he was really the perfect pick for the thunder. there wasn't any big in the draft i would've taken over him for that team, even if they had a much higher pick. i would NOT have taken noel over him. roster-wise, he was the final piece, but i thought he would've been more of a project than he's turned out to be.

[ManualRam]

don't get me started on mcgary either. i think that was another home run pick. the only question is health.
the thunder is awesome at drafting.
now if only they had a coach who could get the most out of those players...

[bondom34]

don't get me started on mcgary either. i think that was another home run pick. the only question is health.
the thunder is awesome at drafting.
now if only they had a coach who could get the most out of those players...

Yeah, I worry about McGary too, but it seems like 2 freak injuries, so I'm hopeful. As for Brooks, this is his chance, he's got no real choice now.

[GREENE1148]

don't get me started on mcgary either. i think that was another home run pick. the only question is health.
the thunder is awesome at drafting.
now if only they had a coach who could get the most out of those players...

Hey man, did you get to watch yesterdays game? There was only an arena feed available, but it was almost like RW read your earlier posts about him blasting off ball screens and not playing a good 2 man game in PnR...

I agree with your analysis on that, but this preseason has shown a big change. I'm hoping it's because Russ finally has someone who can catch in traffic and not just a result of limited options with so many injuries to the roster. Westbrook apparently went to Steve in the 2nd quarter and told him "Every time down man" after he made an And-1 in the PnR. Then he scored another 5 baskets in something like 3 mins after that.

[Vincent_Askew]

don't get me started on mcgary either. i think that was another home run pick. the only question is health.
the thunder is awesome at drafting.
now if only they had a coach who could get the most out of those players...

Trues story.

McGary shocked me in the summer league and that 1st preseason game.

Adams, Ibaka, McGary frontcourt makes me want to jump off a cliff a** first and onto a dildo with excitement.

But as you mentioned, health is a big question mark for McGary thus far. If he's healthy, I have no doubt he will at the very worst be an elite big man off the bench and someone you can plug into the starting lineup and not lose a step whenever needed.

[PerkinsFor3]

don't get me started on mcgary either. i think that was another home run pick. the only question is health.
the thunder is awesome at drafting.
now if only they had a coach who could get the most out of those players...

Trues story.

McGary shocked me in the summer league and that 1st preseason game.

Adams, Ibaka, McGary frontcourt makes me want to jump off a cliff a** first and onto a dildo with excitement.

I know that feeling!

[HawaiianJazzFan]

[quote] It's just pure, brute, Maori power![/quote]

He's not Maori... He's Tongan.

[beans-boy]

Tongan and English.. 50/50!!

[madmaxmedia]

he's one of those players you would hate to play against but if he played on your team or for your team he would be a fan favorite. I hate him lol

I was just going to post the EXACT SAME THING. I don't literally hate him, but he's the type of guy that in big games, opposing fans will say multiple times in a game, "That f-ing guy, what a f-ing pain in the ass!"

I don't think OKC fans really need to worry about his future upside or whatever, just enjoy what he brings right now as a great complementary player to the team. He'll be able to gradually develop his ball skills and shooting and not try to rush it, which will be best for him and the team.

[fart]

I really like his game. He could potentially be the best player out of his draft class.