Steven Adams's Draft Night

Basketball players are great. Even the short ones are above average. So when a bunch of basketball players gets ready for one of the biggest evenings of their lives, they need a bespoke suit. I was sent to an agency that suited for big guys like me and asked what I wanted in a suit. To be honest, I just wanted it to match. They asked what colors represented New Zealand. Shit, how should I know? They suggested a green line to represent farmland. Sure why not? For the tie, they suggested white stripes to represent milk and dairy farming. Everything seemed a little candle to me, but I did not know anything about fashion, so I just nodded and said it looked awesome. The only request I made was that the New Zealand flag be sewn into the lining. This was not an unusual request. Some players received the logo of their university, but I wanted to represent New Zealand from start to finish.

I was told to remove my suit from the agency the day before the draft. When I walked into the room, the first thing I noticed was a Cleveland Cavaliers jersey with the cut logo. One of the women told me that a player had asked that the Cavaliers logo be sewn into the lining of his jacket. I thought it was brave bloody. No player knows for sure where they will end up and no organization knows for sure which player they will choose until they do it in the night. I had the intuition that I was going to Oklahoma City because of the way my tours were gone, but I would never have dared to tell anyone, let alone the logo. from Oklahoma City Thunder in the lining of my suit.

I needed to know who was the man with the biggest draft bullets. So while I was looking across the bay for my suit, I had a look at all the outfits of the other players. All were pretty standard until I saw one who had the singlet number of a college team from one side of the lining and the other was the logo of the Cleveland Cavaliers. I could not believe this guy was so confident, and in one way or another I knew the Cavaliers would not pick him first. The universe would let nothing happen so easily. I regretted not putting the logo of the Manawatu Jets basketball team from the other side of my jacket just for the shits and the laughs. It seemed as appropriate as a Cavaliers logo. When I told my brothers, we were all in agreement that it was a bots move and that I came back worrying about my own future.

David Stern returned on stage to announce the first choice. NBA Draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers choose Anthony Bennett. "

The whole room was gasping.The ESPN guys screamed in surprise.This table was staring at the floor as if someone had just died.I have never seen a group So disappointed on such an occasion.If the camera had cut our table, it would have all shown us mouth wide open, trying not to laugh.It was an incredible moment.

People seemed sorry for him, but not me.We were about to be recruited by an NBA team and live our dream.No one of us deserved the sympathy of anyone.We were the guys The luckiest of the world that night.

When this guy was finally selected, I watched as he flaated one side of his jacket and then held the other side closed. as he squeezed David Stern's hand on stage, there was a sigh of relief throughout the room when his name was read, as if the being selected in an NBA draft was a kind of torture.

The Phoenix Suns were the stopwatch for the fifth pick in the repechage. I had been to Phoenix for a workout and I really liked it there. It was very hot, but it did not bother me because it reminded me of Tonga. The Suns had seemed very interested, and it was a pleasure when my agent, Darren's Mats & # 39; Matsubara received a call from them in the night.

When you look at the draft on TV, it looks like the floor of the arena is filled with players and their support teams. But what you do not see is that the other half is filled with media and agents who frantically call organizations and sort offers for their players. It's one of the liveliest nights for them. I was glad that all I had to do was sit there and not take my nose in front of the camera.

All players go into the draft without knowing where they will end, but the announcement of their name is not a complete surprise The officials of each team call the player's agent five minutes before to announce their choice. However, not all calls to an agent end in a contract. The Suns called Mats and they talked a little bit, then they chose Alex Len, a center of 7 '1'. & # 39; s & # 39; Ukraine. I have no idea what was said in this phone call and I have never asked. For all I know, they dialed the wrong number.

It was slowly beginning that I began to change my life. I had to go somewhere between 10 and 20 in the draft, and he was getting closer. But I was hungry. It was a huge event and we all dressed and sat at tables so I assumed they would feed us at least. But there was no food. Like, at all. The only thing on the table was a bottle of Gatorade because it's a major sponsor of the NBA. At the eighth choice I was thirsty and moist and wanted to have a drink, so I grabbed the bottle and went to open it, but it was stuck. They put the bottles of Gatorade in front of a band of nervous athletes and then closed them so that we could not drink them.

I began to wait for free stuff from any event related to the NBA. I mean, who does not like free stuff? The day before, I went door to door at the hotel and took free swag bags from a bunch of big companies. They all wanted their stuff to be worn and used by the next group of NBA players, but they were not very fond of me, probably because I was dressed in a tricky way. I do not seem to be about to be recruited by anybody.

AP

Adams dunks against the Philadelphia 76ers this year.

As the choices continued – Detroit, Utah, Portland, Philadelphia – I started to look heavily on Oklahoma City. They were my best shot with the twelfth choice. I was supposed to go in the top 15 because I was in the green room, the floor of the arena, where the players have their own tables and the NBA pays for their families to be there. I was not starting to be nervous, but I thought it would be smart to go to the Thunder at 12pm. While Michael Carter-Williams left the scene after being selected by the Philadelphia 76ers, Mats received a call from Thunder's management. He spoke for a minute and I waved, hoping it was not a joke call. David Stern came back to announce the twelfth choice. For the first time that night, I would have liked the crowd to stop whistling so that his voice would become clear. All I could think of was – if it's calling your name, do not stumble or stumble when you climb the stairs.

"With the twelfth pick in the 2013 NBA draft." Do not fall. "The Oklahoma City Thunder selects." Do not stumble. Steven Adams. "

I have not heard the rest.I have hardly noticed that Stern absolutely cut down the pronunciation of my hometown, Rotorua.I got up on tail, hugged Sid, hugged Mohi, hugged My mentor and coach Kenny McFadden, who hugged Mats and raised his daughter, was my team, the only other person I would have liked to be there was my sister Viv, but that's not the only thing I could do. is another story.

Before moving, a woman with an OKC Thunder hat and I suddenly had a whole new problem – my massive head – my dome had been measured before the event but I always had the feeling that the hat would not fit because my head is huge.I could say that it was going to be a tight fit, so I just sat on my head and I l & # 39; I left there, I think I removed the look very well.

Thanks to the mantra I 've been singing all night long, I climbed the stairs smoothly and squeezed Stern's hand Some of the early players were gone for a handshake too, but I was not ready to take that risk so we shook hands like two men from Business meeting for the first time. In my mind at that time, the only thing worse than stumbling down the stairs would have been to make a strange handshake combo with Stern that people would mock forever. And it was said that I would be interviewed by Shane Battier, who had just won a championship with the Miami Heat. Everyone had said that Shane was a cool guy, so I tried to chat with him before our interview, but he just ignored me. I thought 'dude, what a dick', but then I saw that he was wearing a headphone and that I was probably given all my bio information at the same time. Our interview was sweet. I have to show the New Zealand flag in my suit and give a shout to everyone at home by watching and encouraging me. And then it was over, and it led me to the back where there was a massive newsroom and I had to do interviews for two hours. I hardly remember it, except that a chain had sent a little boy to interview us. He was cute and quite funny, but it is quite difficult to have a conversation about basketball with a five year old.

Some journalists wanted me to read random comments, which I happily did. My dopamine levels were across the roof, and I would have probably said and done everything that someone asked for. I am too scared to watch interviews tonight because I swear that my voice rose an octave, I was so happy. I made a video for Facebook thanking everyone in New Zealand who had supported me and for one reason or another I was perspiring despite everything, even though I had not done anything about it. Exhausting all day.

I was excited, I was always on a big stage and I had forgotten that I had not eaten for hours. My agency organized a dinner for me and a few other players that they represented. By the time we ate it was 2am and I was knocked out. I heard that other agencies had organized parties for their players, and I was secretly happy that mine did not do it because I just wanted to eat and that I I spent 12 hours.

The next morning, I woke up. What to do. After years of working toward a goal – to get to the NBA – I had done it. Now what? I obviously knew that I would have to go to Oklahoma and work hard during the off-season to make the list, but what did I have to do the day after I was enlisted in the NBA?

It turns out, nothing. Everything started to be done for me. The Thunder owner sent his private plane to New York to rob me, my family, Andre Roberson (who also drafted the OKC) and his family in Oklahoma City immediately. I posted a photo on Facebook in front of the plane and some people thought that I had splashed and bought a plane already. I had not even been paid yet. In addition, NBA recruits receive SUV money and not private plane money

My brothers and I were trying to imagine that we had so much money to buy your own plane. Once we got up, it was a relief to be away from all the hype and media that surrounded us all week. Some of the guys were slumbering or ordering food, but all I could do was sit back and try to make sense of everything. I was just a scruffy Rotorua child, known in the city as "one of those Adams kids."

Being an NBA gambler had not been one of my dreams, so it was a good day. was a six-year goal. Until then, I was the youngest boy of Sid Adams, destined for life on the farm. But here I was in a private plane to start a dream that I had barely had time to register as being possible.

As Oklahoma City appeared and we started our descent into my new life, I wondered what my father would have thought of all that.

Excerpt from Steven Adams: My Life, My Fight, $ 40 RRP, published by Penguin NZ. Available tomorrow.

– Tips and Tricks