Chris Dokish has what many of us have been waiting for - more information on recent commit, Steven Adams out of New Zealand. For starters, his coach thinks he's still growing:
“He’s about 6′10″, 6′11″, and about 225 or 230 pounds,” says Kenny McFadden, Adams’ coach in Wellington, as well as the Development Officer of basketball in the country. But I think he’s going to eventually be over 7′0″ feet. He’s only sixteen.”
You might ask how Jamie Dixon found him all the way in New Zealand. Here's your answer - he played professionally with Adams' coach:
“We played professionally in New Zealand together many years ago,” says McFadden, who played for George Raveling at Washington State. “And we have been friends ever since. When Jamie was down here for the World Championships, we sat down and I told him about my players. He was interested in Rob Loe (6′11″ center) at the time, but he went to play at St. Louis. And I told him about Steve, and I told him that he was even better. He is bigger and more skilled than Rob was.”
His coach also thinks his NBA aspirations can be reached:
As for the future for Adams, McFadden doesn’t mince words. “His aspirations are to play in the NBA and I think he can. We’ve had a few others from here play in the league, like Sean Marks (9-year veteran who played at California), and he is going to be better than all of them.”
I've seen Marks play and trust me, he's no Shaq. Still, NBA players are the best in the world and if you get there, you're quite a player. Here's hoping he remains a relative secret, though that will be tough as he's scheduled to make his first visit to the U.S., playing in Las Vegas soon. He's only 16, so it's a long way before his commitment to Pitt will be finalized.
Courtesy of Ray Mernagh over at the NBE Basketball Report, 2011 recruit John Johnson talks more about his commitment to Pitt:
“When I went on my visit there it was like a family,” Johnson said, “the coaches can be like father figures to me and that’s important because I don’t want to go to college just for basketball…I want to become a good man too.”
Be sure to check out the article because Mernagh's got some first-hand experience watching him play recently and gives a good report on him.
And a quick mention on Pitt's recruits this year - albeit from Wednesday of last week. J.J. Moore scored 23 points in the most recent Greentree Summer League games. Cameron Wright contributed ten points in his game.
At first reporting it sounded like Adams was just a skinny white Kiwi who could play some BB - but now that it's been reported that he's part Tongan it put this in a whole new light for me... seriously.
ReplyDeleteHe'll grow into a big, tough young man.
Yeah, I noticed that, too, Reed. And from the pictures I've seen of him, the Tongan part doesn't really appear to show.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm encouraged by that article by Dokish - sounds like a player to me.
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