The Morning Rumble recently spoke with Kiwi NBA star Steven Adams, covering everything from basketball camps to what it was like working with our very own Mulls and some of his career highlights.
Getting straight down to business about hilarious career moments, the first question from Bryce was, "Did you once scratch yourself to try and bleed just to gain a timeout?
Adams had no shame in admitting this was true.
He elaborated that he was going to punch himself in the nose “because that’ll bleed better”, but his coach “looked at him weird” and said, “Dude, don’t do that”.
Fair call.
Bryce also asked about an infamous moment between Adams and Kevin Garnett, one of the greatest to ever do it, but also one of the most infamous trash-talkers.
Adams' tactic to avoid trash talk from Garnett was to simply tell him that he didn’t speak English: “He’s one of the best trash talkers in history. I mean, he’s nice, but he’ll make you feel so small. So I just avoided all that, bro.”
Last, but certainly not least, Bryce asked about the time when Draymond Green from the Golden State Warriors, who has a reputation for being one of the dirtiest players in the league, kicked him right in the nuts.
“Was that the most painful thing you’ve ever felt, and does it remain that way?” asked Bryce.
“Most painful, I would say yes… You just don’t expect it, dude.”
Adams explained that while he plays, he feels like “everything’s accounted for, we know how to move our body parts,” and then all of a sudden, it was “Okay, boom, kick in the dick, bang”.
Hilarious way to describe the pain.
Adams is known for his down-to-earth attitude, but behind the humor is a relentless work ethic. Speaking to Mulls, Adams simply explained his philosophy: “You always just gotta do the mahi, bro. That’s it. Just do the work. If it works out, cool. If not, that’s okay as well.”
When Bryce asked him about how proud he must be of himself to be able to mentor young basketball players and to be able to give back just like those before him, you could feel Adams’ sense of pride through the phone.
He spoke about the late Kenny McFadden, an American basketball player and coach who was one of Adams’ early mentors in the sport.
“He’s the one who introduced me to showing me how to give back. He always did camps… you’ll hear stories all the time of people, ‘Oh Kenny Mac came to my school and told me whatever about basketball.’"
For Adams, running his own camps is now about carrying that torch: “It was like a full circle moment, brother… It’s just carrying on his legacy.”
Given the rise of participation in basketball among youth in recent years, Adams said that he knows basketball “offers a lot” to kids, and he just wants “to make sure that the kids out there are just having fun and coming together and just playing sports in general”.
Between the start of his career at Scots College with McFadden, being picked 12th in the NBA draft, and a now illustrious 12-year career, Adams has stacked up an impressive resume.
One of these includes co-starring in the Air New Zealand safety video with Mulls.
Speaking on the video, he said, “It was awesome. Mulls could tell you, bro… the whole production was so cool because of just like how integrated all the kids were. It literally felt like a basketball camp, almost.”
“Mulls and I, we’re heavy basketball people. We have a really deep appreciation for it… It’s like, oh, bro, this thing is awesome.”
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The fellas were quick to mention that these comments from Adams made Mulls smile like a “cheshire cat.”
It is without a doubt that Adams is a certified Kiwi legend, and we couldn’t be more proud of everything he’s achieving currently, including his 3-year contract extension with the Houston Rockets.
Way to go, Stevo!
