Steven Adams recently revealed a lot of details about his tenure with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the team that he called home for the first seven years of his NBA career. He created a lot of memories there but now it’s time to create new ones with the New Orleans Pelicans.
However, he doesn’t forget about his time at the Chesapeake Energy Arena and all the great teammates he had, especially Russell Westbrook, the leader of the team and one of the best players in franchise history. After Kevin Durant left in 2016, Brodie became the leader of the Thunder and even though he’s been criticized for not being able to lead his teams to the Finals, Adams revealed that there was nothing wrong with Westbrook during a recent interview on JJ Redick’s “The Old Man and the Three” podcast.
“He’s great. He was awesome. He reminds me of my older brother — they’re intense, and they say a lot of things, but you kinda like sift through all that and see what they’re saying. It doesn’t really matter how intense they say it, as long as the message is getting across. It’s not for everyone either. Not everyone can respond to that sort of intensity.”
The New Zealand player also said that Russ isn’t afraid of taking risks and he’ll always hold himself accountable for his mistakes, as the leader he is.
“The biggest thing I like that not many people understand is that he will make a decision, and that’s actually pretty crucial. Say for any sort of scheme that you have, some people say it and are kinda like on the fence; they won’t come out and fully like, ‘No, no, no, we’re doing this.’ That was the biggest thing that I liked about Russ. He’ll make a decision where no one would have the guts to say, ‘Hey, this is what we’re doing instead.’ So everyone’s on the same page, no problems.”
Well, that has been a problem for a lot of people who love Westbrook’s style of playing and everything he does on the court but aren’t so sure about his decisions down the stretch. He caused a lot of trouble to the Thunder because of that and where Adams sees something good, the rest of the people see liability for his team.
Still, Westbrook is great and he keeps playing great basketball, leading his new team the Washington Wizards, as Bradley Beal recently said. Brodie left a big mark on OKC and Adams with his leadership and nobody can change that.
