New Zealand could be seeing a little bit more of Steven Adams and his Oklahoma City Thunder team-mates during the off-season with the Kiwi suggesting a lot of the team are keen to head down under.
In 2016, following the team's disappointing conference playoffs loss to the Golden State Warriors, Adams brought teammates Andre Roberson and Nick Collison to New Zealand to run basketball camps in Auckland, Tauranga and Wellington.
And the affable Kiwi alluded in his exit interview that he might do it again this year, although his teammates would have to get in line.
"[I offer an invitation] to the people that haven't been [to New Zealand]," Adams joked.
"All the other ones I haven't invited, they invite themselves which sucks. They just think that they're coming along and I'm trying to stop them at the border.
"But [it's about] making sure that everyone gets to come down and see what it's all about, have a good time."
Meanwhile, following the Thunder being bounced out of the NBA postseason by James Harden's Houston Rockets, Adams was grilled about the Thunder season and his perspective on the results.
Having to accommodate for the losses of superstar Kevin Durant, who left for the Warriors, and Serge Ibaka who was traded to the Orlando Magic, Adams was forced to play a more aggressive-in-the front-court, enforcer role.
Also becoming a part of the Thunder's leadership group, Adams wasn't lost on how much he learnt during the season and what he had to work on.
"It was just different, on the basketball side of things, they were just taking stuff away, roles and stuff like that so that was different. I had to adjust to that."
Asked about the where he saw he needed to grow to become one of the best in the game, Adams was frank.
"There's no prediction really, the only thing is that I'm still really young. I'm willing to work with whatever I have to do."
This season, Adams and his Thunder teammates have come under fire for being too reliant on teammate Russell Westbrook who broke Oscar Robertson's record for number of triple-doubles in a season and finished the regular season averaging a triple-double.
Quick to quell any speculation regarding the team chemistry, Adams predicted a bright future for the team and said they hoped to shake ghosts from the Thunder's past.
"The team chemistry was amazing, honestly.
"With everything that happened, what we have, being able to make it this far, is just amazing in itself and it's a real credit to the coaching. It just comes down to having a really good group of guys…"
"Regardless of what happened, we're not trying to compete with what we were in the past, plug our way forward so that was really cool."
Newshub.
