Tag: Steven Adams

Cavaliers’ Evan Mobley working out with NBA veteran Steven Adams

The Cavaliers rookie was spotted recently in Los Angeles working out with Grizzlies center Steven Adams.

Cleveland Cavaliers rookie Evan Mobley was spotted recently in Los Angeles working out with Memphis Grizzlies center Steven Adams and NBA trainer Olin Simplis.

Mobley went to work with Adams after a strong showing in the Las Vegas Summer League. He averaged 11.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, three assists and 1.7 blocked shots in three games. Mobley produced his best game on Aug. 11 with 14 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

The opportunity to train against a veteran like Adams should prove to be very beneficial for Mobley. Adams has often been regarded as perhaps one of the strongest players during his eight years in the league and can be a tough defender inside the paint.

Mobley enters next season with high expectations as the third overall pick. He projects to be a great addition to the Cavaliers’ frontcourt as a player that can make an impact on both ends of the floor. He believes he can be a generational player in the NBA and it is easy to see why.

This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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Report: Former Thunder C Steven Adams traded from Pelicans to Grizzlies

Steven Adams, traded by the Thunder a year ago, is reportedly on the move once again.

Steven Adams, who was traded from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the New Orleans Pelicans just a year ago, is reportedly on the move once again.

The center is being traded to the Memphis Grizzlies as part of a package that includes center Jonas Valanciunas and the No. 10 pick in the 2021 NBA draft, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Here are the full details that Woj reported:

Grizzlies receive: Steven Adams, Eric Bledsoe, picks No. 10 and 40 in 2021, top-10 protected first-round pick in 2022

Pelicans receive: Jonas Valanciunas, picks No. 17 and 51 in 2021

Adams was part of a four-team trade last season between the Thunder, Pelicans, Milwaukee Bucks and Denver Nuggets. The centerpiece of the trade was Jrue Holiday, who went to the Bucks. The Pelicans received two first-round picks, two swaps, Adams and Bledsoe.

The Thunder received players including George Hill and Darius Miller along with draft picks.

A year later, Adams and Bledsoe are on the move once again, this time to the Grizzlies.

In this trade, the Pelicans managed to get off the contracts of Bledsoe and Adam and acquire a good center in Valanciunas. The Grizzlies received a pair of good veteran players to assist another playoff run, and as importantly, moved up to No. 10 in the upcoming draft.

The Pelicans will now pick No. 17, right between the two Thunder selections at 16 and 18.

The draft will take place on Thursday beginning at 7 p.m. Central Time.

Woj: Pelicans acquire Valanciunas, swap picks for Adams, Bledsoe

The Pelicans acquire Jonas Valanciunas while opening up significant cap space with the departure of Stevens Adams and Eric Bledsoe.

The New Orleans Pelicans and the Memphis Grizzlies are finalizing a trade that sends Jonas Valanciunas, the No. 17, and No. 51 picks in Thursday’s NBA draft to the Pelicans for Steven Adams, Eric Bledsoe, the No. 10, No. 40, and a top-10 protected 2022 first-round pick from the Los Angeles Lakers, first reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Reported by Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, Bledsoe isn’t expected to remain with Memphis.

For the Pelicans, trading both Adams and Bledsoe opens up the needed cap space to be able sign the likes of All-Star Kyle Lowry, who Marc Stein reported last week is at the top of New Orleans’ wish list. Pelicans guard Lonzo Ball is a restricted free agent and reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic, is unlikely to have a ‘significant’ offer sheet matched by the Pelicans.

With the trade, which can’t be finalized until Aug. 6 when free agency officially begins, the Pelicans could have between $25-$36 million in cap space, depending on if restricted free agent Josh Hart is resigned.

In Valanciunas, the Pelicans are acquiring an underrated big who averaged 17.1 points and 12.5 rebounds per game last season. His improving ability to spread the floor was intriguing over Adams swallowing up space in the paint for Zion Williamson and others to work with.

WATCH: Steven Adams shows off 3-point shot in offseason workout video

It’s #BigManShootingThreesSZN after video of Steven Adams showing off his range surfaced this week.

If the Pelicans are looking for a floor-spacer to pair next to Zion Williamson, Steven Adams may be submitting his name for consideration. The annual trend of big men in the NBA showcasing their 3-point range in offseason workouts is one that leads to optimistic fans expecting the most in the upcoming season.

In reality, it’s something that rarely leads to tangible results on the court once the regular season rolls around. That doesn’t stop centers from working on it as a skillset and posting those videos online, which brings it back to Adams.

On Wednesday, a video surfaced of Adams showing off his range from the 3-point line.

Will Adams actually shoot 3-pointers in games next season? He’s attempted 13 total in 588 career games so it’s unlikely. He’s only made one of those. Adams has never shown much of a shooting touch on jumpers.

Does it make it any less fun for fans to hope? Not at all.

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2020-21 New Orleans Pelicans Player Review: Steven Adams

Steven Adams may have had a good season individually, but the Pelicans continued to falter, leading to questions for both sides future.

Largely speaking, the Pelicans got exactly what they would have expected from Steven Adams statistically in the 2020-21 season. While the raw numbers took an expected dip as he entered a front court with two All-Stars in Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, he was still the brute force in the paint that anchored the boards and finished around the rim.

The problem, though, is that may not be what the Pelicans need long-term out of a center next to Williamson and Ingram moving forward. Adams may have anchored the team, but the team may not need an anchor.

Thus, Adams becomes part of the number of questions to answer this offseason for the Pelicans.

Stat of the Season

61.4%.

While his field goal attempts went down, Adams had one of the most efficient seasons of his career, shooting 61.4% from the field, the second-best mark of his career.

Notable Exit Interview Quote

On team’s improvement in the second half defensively…

“I feel we did start seeing a lot more consistency with rotations. And this just comes down to players prioritizing different threats, not being bamboozled, if that makes sense, by smoke-screen plays, allowing them to actually react to the actual threat. That’s a really big part.”

Overview

The Pelicans had plenty of confidence in Adams’ fit with the roster, so much so that they gave him a two-year, $35 million extension before he even stepped foot onto the court. That, though, did not prove to be money well-spent this season.

Adams was more or less a neutral player this year, finishing with a minus-0.1 net rating. With Williamson and Adams in the paint, the Pelicans ranked second in the league in points in the paint, first in offensive rebounding and second in rebounding percentage.

That, though, was not a successful identity for the Pelicans in 2021. In an era where 3-pointers are shot at an unparalleled rate, building a roster based on bruising play in the paint was one of the critical flaws of the Pelicans.

So, while Adams was not a negative player individually, the way he forced the Pelicans to play led to negative results.

Outlook

Adams represents a huge swing and miss last offseason by the Pelicans. Neither Adams nor Bledsoe could help the franchise take a step forward. That so much money is committed to those two players – $35.1 million next season and at least $21.7 million in 2022-23 – spells all sorts of problems for New Orleans.

Add in the fact that both Jaxson Hayes and Willy Hernangomez were roughly as productive, and sometimes even more, as Adams at drastically lower costs this season and the questions of whether Adams’ future is in New Orleans.

He still has value. If he were on the open market this offseason, his contract would likely be in the neighborhood of the one he is under the next two seasons. But finding a willing trade partner will be a difficult task this offseason.

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Examining the likely salary cap crunch for the New Orleans Pelicans

Following a disappointing season, the New Orleans Pelicans will have some tough questions to answer this offseason.

The New Orleans Pelicans are one of just two franchises – along with the Charlotte Hornets – in the history of the NBA to never pay the luxury tax. Despite the boom in money into the NBA over the years, the Pelicans have never crossed that threshold even during the years with Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday leading the team.

That makes the upcoming offseason particularly interesting for New Orleans. After a disappointing season that saw them not even earn a spot in the play-in tournament, the Pelicans now face the potential of heading into the luxury tax for a team that finished as the 11th seed last season.

Last summer’s acquisitions of Steven Adams and Eric Bledsoe did not have the impact on the season that the team would have likely wanted. Adams’ two-year, $35 million extension did not seem out of line given his production in his career. However, receiving that money before playing a game alongside Zion Williamson – the franchise’s cornerstone moving forward – was a curious decision.

While the pairing had some positives on the season, including a ridiculous offensive rebounding rate of 30.6% when they shared the floor, it wasn’t the zag while the rest of the league was zigging that the Pelicans anticipated it would be.

Adams can still be an impactful player on a contender in a different situation that doesn’t include a bulldozing big man like Williamson in the frontcourt alongside him. Eric Bledsoe, though, did not produce the same kind of optimism for his future this season.

One year removed from a Second Team All-Defense honor, Bledsoe finished the season with New Orleans sporting the second-worst defensive rating, trailing only Adams. The offense wasn’t any better as his deficiencies as a shooter were glaring playing alongside Brandon Ingram and Williamson. Taking the third-most attempts from beyond the arc on the team, Bledsoe shot 34.1% on the season.

Effectively, the two offseason acquisitions anchored down the returning starters in Williamson, Ingram and Lonzo Ball. While the starting lineup had a net rating of plus-2.0 as a whole, the trio of returnees minus Adams and Bledsoe had a net rating of plus-15.5 this season.

This brings the Pelicans to their conundrum this offseason, which includes restricted free agents Ball and Josh Hart. If reports are to be believed, Ball’s contract could be in the neighborhood of $18-20 million annually after a career season in which he established himself alongside Ingram and Williamson.

Hart, meanwhile, saw his 3-point percentage dip even further below average this season but also saw his rebounding rate trend in the other direction as he averaged 8.0 per game in just 28.7 minutes per contest. In fact, his rebound rate of 13.8%, according to NBA Stats, puts him in the neighborhood of Miami’s Bam Adebayo, New York’s Julius Randle and Montrezl Harrell of the Lakers.

A conservative estimate of a contract in the $12-15 million range annually next season, then, means the Pelicans could be looking at paying $30-35 million to retain Ball and Hart. In a recent podcast, HoopsHype salary cap expert Yossi Gozlan noted the Pelicans would be roughly $37 million – including the cap hold for the No. 10 pick – under the luxury tax line.

The number crunch to avoid the luxury tax, which seems like an expectation from ownership given their history, will then get really tight really fast.

One of the logical conclusions would be to move on from their two offseason acquisitions from 2020 that did not blend with the core that they would be committing to. At the trade deadline, the Pelicans were reportedly shopping Bledsoe, though it was with a desire to get positive value back in a trade.

Following a disappointing year from both the team and the guard himself, would the Pelicans be open to cutting ties with Bledsoe at the cost of a draft pick from their war chest of draft assets?

Adams would certainly have more value in a vacuum. But at $17 million owed to him next season, finding a trade partner that can take on his salary without sending much in return is difficult. Teams like Charlotte, New York or San Antonio all may be interested in a big man as teams with cap space and a potential hole in the frontcourt.

Shipping out Adams also makes sense from a roster standpoint after a strong second half of the season from Jaxson Hayes, the No. 8 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. He would be able to step into the starting lineup and, at just $5.4 million next season, would be significantly cheaper than Adams.

It’s all a number crunch the Pelicans front office is going to have to navigate this offseason. Even if ownership is willing to pay the luxury tax, which David Griffin stated was the case under the right circumstances during his exit interview, it makes little sense to do so with a roster that finished outside the postseason last year.

Will Adams’ or Bledsoe’s time in New Orleans be short then? Or will Ball or Hart be the cap casualties in restricted free agency?

Lonzo Ball’s bad defensive mistake cost the Pelicans a win and Steven Adams couldn’t believe it

Not great, Lonzo.

The New Orleans Pelicans had a three point lead over the Knicks late in the final seconds of Sunday’s game at Madison Square Garden when Lonzo Ball made a really bad defensive decision that led to a tie game and a trip to overtime, where the Knicks rolled to a 122-112 win.

With the Pelicans leading by those three points, Knicks guard Derrick Rose drove down the wide open lane in the final seconds and kicked it out to his teammate, Reggie Bullock, who hit the game-tying three pointer.

Rose was able to find Bullock because for some reason Ball dropped down on Rose, even though a two-pointer wouldn’t have hurt the Pelicans.

Check out this defensive blunder:

Not great defense there.

Ball’s teammate, Steven Adams, was not impressed:

Twitter ripped Ball for it:

Flow chart: See expanded returns of Thunder’s 2020 offseason trades

With the 2021 NBA trade deadline behind us, see the expanded returns of the Thunder’s offseason trades of Chris Paul, Steven Adams and Dennis Schroder.

Click on the graphic for a larger view.

With the 2021 NBA trade deadline in the books, let’s take a look back at the Thunder’s transformative 2020 offseason to see the expanded returns of the trades of Chris Paul, Steven Adams and Dennis Schroder.

Every trade has directly led to at least one other as the Thunder worked to find the right mix of youth to start their rebuild.

As of March 28, the Thunder have acquired and held onto nine new players, four first-round picks and 10 second-rounders from those initial three major deals.

The trickle-down effect of those trades is not yet done. In addition to the remaining players and assets listed in the flow chart above, Oklahoma City created eight trade exceptions, including one from the Adams trade worth $27.5 million, one from the Trevor Ariza deal worth $12.8 million and one from the George Hill trade worth $9.6 million.

The flow chart does not include those trade exceptions, the sign-and-trade of Danilo Gallinari, nor the other minor deals unrelated to the Adams, Schroder or Paul trades.

This post originally appeared on OKCThunderWire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Steven Adams: Russell Westbrook reminded me of my older brother

Steven Adams joined JJ Redick’s podcast and talked about Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and the time he was punched by Zach Randolph.

When former Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams joined the podcast of his New Orleans Pelicans teammate J.J. Redick, an old friend came up in conversation.

Redick asked Adams about Russell Westbrook, who played with Adams for the first six years of the center’s career in OKC. Adams spoke fondly of Westbrook, even when talking about the energy that could rub some people the wrong way.

“He just reminded me of one of my older brothers, you know what I mean?” Adams said. “They’re intense and stuff, and they say a lot of things and whatnot, but you kind of got to sift through all that and see what they actually say. … It doesn’t really matter how intense they say it, as long as the message is getting across.”

https://twitter.com/OldManAndThree/status/1361487387579195393

“Off the court, bro, solid dude. Awesome. Really, really cool,” Adams said. “And then on the court obviously, he’s bloody passionate — whatever you want to call it, whatever you want to name it: intense, passionate, angry, freakin’ psycho, whatever.”

Westbrook was just one of the topics Adams talked about. He also spoke about Kevin Durant, the Thunder culture and playoff series, including that time as rookie when Zach Randolph hit him in the face and got suspended.

Pelicans reaction: 3 takeaways from a hard-fought victory against Detroit

Behind a combined 59 points from Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, the New Orleans Pelicans outlasted the Detroit Pistons, 128-118.

The New Orleans Pelicans’ offense was on full display tonight as they defeated the Detroit Pistons, 128-118. The Pelicans scored more than 30 points in all four quarters, and outscored the Pistons by 10 in the fourth to secure the victory after entering the final frame all tied-up at 96.

The former Duke Blue Devils, Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, led the way for New Orleans, as Williamson finished with 32 points, six rebounds, and five assists on 13 of 18 shooting. Ingram scored 27 points while grabbing seven rebounds, and dishing out eight assists.

Steven Adams returned after missing two games due to a right ankle sprain, filling the stat sheet with 14 points, 15 rebounds, three assists, one steal, and two blocks. Lonzo Ball did a lot of the same, finishing with 12 points, six rebounds, eight assists, and three steals.