Steven Adams – A New Zealand Professional Basketball Player

Steven Adams has the honor of being the first man from his rugby-loving country to be selected in the first round of an NBA draft. The New Zealander, who according to analysts, is getting close to being the best player in his position in the league, is known for using his brute strength and impeccable positioning instincts to cause damage as a part of the offense while also contributing to the defensive part of the game.

Biography

Steven Adams was born to Lilika Ngauamo, a Tongan mother, and Sidney Adams, a Bristol-born English father, in Rotura, New Zealand on the 20th of July, 1993. He began playing basketball as a teenager after his older brother introduced him to the sport and put him under the tutelage of Wellington basketball legend Kenny McFadden. Adams had in the past been somewhat of a truant but was able to begin to concentrate on school and the sport when he joined Mcfadden's academy.

Adams attended and graduated from Scots College in 2011. During this time, he was playing for New Zealand National Basketball League side, Wellington Saints, where he averaged 5.5 points and 4.1 rebounds per game in 15 games to be named the league's Rookie of the Year as his team won the championship.

Following his exploits in the Kiwi league, Adams moved to the United States to enroll at Notre Dame Preparatory School for a semester before he would eventually join the University of Pittsburgh in 2012. Adams did so in order to get an orientation into how NCAA basketball would feel like since the game stateside was different to how it was played back home.

Steven Adams went on to play one season of college basketball, averaging 7.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game in 32 games and earning Big East All-Rookie Team honors before declaring for the 2013 NBA Draft where he was selected by the Oklahoma City Thunder with the 12th overall pick.

Thanks to Steven Adams' father's high fecundity, the basketballer has a total of 17 siblings, although some local New Zealand reports have said that the number could be way higher than that. It was reported that some of Adams' siblings did not know themselves until their father died and they discovered each other at his funeral because even though some of the women who had his kids were at one point legally married or cohabiting with him, the others were not.

Despite not being able to take care of all his kids, the towering former Royal Navy seaman whose height was said to be between 6 feet 8 inches and 7 feet, left his kids with genes that have made them household names in their home country and notable figures in their sporting endeavors. All the Adams children have outstanding athletic ability, strong work ethic, and gigantic size, with the average male being 6 feet 9 inches tall and female being 6 feet 0 inches.

The most successful of the lot is Adams' older sister, Valerie, who is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, three-time Commonwealth Games champion, four-time World champion, four-time World Indoor Champion, and two-time IAAF Continental Cup, among numerous other accolades, in Shot Put, making her one of the greatest women in the sport. Two of her other siblings, Warren and Sidney Jr., had successful careers in the New Zealand National Basketball League.