KU coach Bill Self ‘thankful’ sophomore power forward KJ Adams chose basketball
Kansas basketball coach Bill Self says he sometimes looks at powerful sophomore forward KJ Adams and envisions somebody who could be a multi-sport athlete in college.
“I’m just thankful growing up in Texas that some defensive or offensive coordinator didn’t get hold of him in sixth grade or something, because that dude, … he could be starting at tight end in the NFL,” Self said of Adams, a 6-foot-7, 225-pound graduate of Westlake High in Austin, Texas.
Adams — he scored 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting, grabbed six rebounds and had a fierce rejection of an Aidan Shaw shot in KU’s 95-67 rout of Missouri on Saturday in Columbia — actually does have some football in his background.
His dad, Kevin, played football at New Mexico. KJ played some football as a grade schooler.
“My dad never wanted me to play football because of all the concussions,” Adams said Monday as player guest on Self’s weekly Hawk Talk radio show. “After my eighth grade year I told him I was retiring from football.”
Adams’ mom, Yvonne, played basketball at Texas A&M. She led the team in scoring in 1989-90 and 1990-91. Adams’ sister, Brittany was an all-conference volleyball player at SMU.
“It always starts with my mom and my dad. They met at Blinn College and worked their way to playing D-I,” Adams said on Hawk Talk. “Just knowing they worked through it, … to go juco to D-I is not an easy thing to do. They did it.
“My sister played volleyball D-I at SMU. She told me, ’You’ll have hard nights playing D-I basketball.’ I work hard to get through it. They helped me be who I am today.”
He noted the best athlete in the family “is probably my dad just because he has a similar figure to me. My mom is the most skilled. She can shoot it from half court if she wanted to.”
Adams also has a background in another sport. He was a standout lacrosse player as a youngster and even in high school.
“I started playing lacrosse in fifth grade,” Adams explained. “As basketball came around, I kept building and building (in hoops). I stopped (lacrosse) my sophomore year. Then I played again my senior year to end it off having a fun season. That was my first love until basketball came around.”
Self sees a bright future in hoops for Adams, who is averaging 8.2 points a game on 68.5% shooting (he’s made 8 of 21 free throws for 38.1%). Adams also averages 4.5 rebounds per game with 24 assists against 17 turnovers. He’s averaging 25.2 minutes in 10 games (10 starts) after averaging 4.8 minutes in 37 games his freshman season.
Self compares Adams to a young Draymond Green, a 6-6, 230-pound forward for the Golden State Warriors.
“Coach has been telling me to watch Draymond Green film ever since the summer,” Adams said. “I’ve been studying, trying to get like him, do the little things that he does to impact the team. Coach is wanting me to be like a player I know I can be like.”
How is that?
“Just his grit,” Adams said. “He does a lot of things that help NBA teams that don’t really go on the stats. The last game (vs. MU) I did a couple things that land on stats. Usually his game is to play hard defense and have a high motor. Those are things that don’t show on stats but help winning.”
Self conceded that Adams “reminds me of Draymond Green every time I watch him play. ... I’ve said that for a while now. When Draymond was a freshman at Michigan State he didn’t play hardly at all. He just kept getting better and better and better, He gets to the point he was good enough to be a high second-round draft pick. Next thing you know he’s a world champion, NBA All-Star and all that stuff.
“If KJ could become a little bit better screener in some ways I think there’d be a ton of similarities. ... Draymond is such a good passer and great in the open court. KJ, you saw the other day, is good in the open court and a terrific passer. There are a lot of good things that can happen when we are able to play through our 5-man when our 5-man can short roll and play 17 feet from the basket like KJ does.”
Adams said his goals for improvement include “being more aggressive all the time. I think trusting that Juan (Harris), J-Will (Jalen Wilson) and Kevin (McCullar) are always going to find me when I get open. It’s a mental thing, getting over the hump. I think I got over it last game, so just building on that and playing defense like I need to.”
No. 8-ranked KU (9-1) will next meet No. 14 Indiana (8-2) at 11 a.m. Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
