Adams to Light it Up Further for Kings with Family Down Under

Written for nbl.com.au by Chris Pike

He's the MVP, he's fresh off 59 points in two semi-final games and now Jaylen Adams is ready to light up the NBL Grand Final Series for the Sydney Kings with his family coming down under to watch him in action starting Friday night.

It's not like Adams needs added motivation. He put together a first season in the NBL that saw him win the MVP award having put up 20.1 points, 6.0 assists and 5.2 rebounds a game.

If that wasn’t enough, he went up a notch in Sydney's 2-0 semi finals win over the Illawarra Hawks combining for 59 points, eight assists and 13 rebounds across the two games. And that was with the Damian Martin Trophy winner Antonius Cleveland up in his grill for most of those 80 minutes.

So it's remarkable think that Adams could still have another gear to rise to in the Grand Final Series beginning against the Tasmania JackJumpers at Qudos Bank Arena on Friday night, but if anything could lift him further, it would be his family.

When Adams now reflects, it's his father who is responsible for him becoming the basketball player he is. It's his mother who has been his biggest supporter and helper his whole life, and he wouldn’t be where he is now without their help.

That's why after every game this season despite his dad having to watch in the middle of the night, Adams jumps on the phone to dissect it with him afterwards and his mum hasn't missed a minute of him out there lighting things up for the Kings.

Having their support from back in the United States is great, but now all of a sudden a whole slew of Adams family members are going to be visiting Australia this week for the first time and watching Jaylen in action at Qudos Bank Arena on Friday night.

It's hard to imagine Adams can raise his game any further than the level he's already playing at, but he sure can't wait to have his family in the building watching him.

"They will be here on Friday actually. My mum, my grandparents, my little brother and girl are all flying in so it's going to be lit on Friday," Adams said. 

"It's gonna be lit, it's as simple as that for me. It's going to be lit, they haven't got the chance to catch the show in person all year so I'm going to play my heart out. 

"It's self-explanatory, it's the Grand Final anyway and whether they were here or not, I was going to turn it up. But now they're here, I've really got to turn it up."

While Adams is sure his family is looking forward to seeing him play, having an excuse to come have a holiday in Australia is something he has no doubt they were excited for too.

"Nobody's ever been to Australia and that's really why they wanted to come here even though obviously I'm here," Adams said with a beaming smile on his face.

"I think they just wanted an excuse to come to Australia because they might never get this opportunity again. Being able to watch me play basketball while enjoying a beautiful country made them all pretty excited."

It's not as if Adams' family coming to see him in person in Australia is a chance to catch up, because the constant support he's receive from them this whole season including when he was named MVP last week has been enormous.

"It was a crazy reaction from my family. My mum called me ASAP, my dad stayed up to watch the awards show and it's really 3:30 in the morning for them," he said. 

"They're my biggest supporters and I wouldn’t be here without them. My dad is responsible for everything that I am as a basketball player and probably a man, and my mum has been my biggest supporter in my life. I wouldn’t be here without them, so shout out to them for sure."

Now when he reflects on especially the role his parents have played in getting him to where he is now, it's his dad who got him started in basketball and remains his biggest role model while the support from his mother is something he'll never be able to thank her enough for.

"It was more than encouragement, my dad put the ball in my hand and taught me everything I know about basketball," Adams said.

"To this day we still talk and right after our games when he's up at 3 o'clock, by 6 o'clock in the morning I'm on the phone talking to him about what I can do better for the next game. 

"For him, it's more than encouragement, he put the ball in my hand for sure. And my mum took me to every game since I was a kid, every practice and sacrificed a lot for me."

Adams might not have needed the help from his parents in deciding to come sign at the Kings to play in the NBL and reconnect with coach Chase Buford, but he's grateful they've supported him every step of the way.

"They had no say in that, though, I'm too old for that now but my mum really wanted me to come out here," he said. 

"She wanted to see me play again at a high level and just get an opportunity to have a ball back in my hands and make some plays. She really wanted this to happen but I make my own decisions at this point."

While Adams is delighted in the decision he made to join the Kings and come play in the NBL, it wasn’t an easy call to at least put his immediate NBA aspirations on hold.

However, from the moment he arrived in Sydney and even despite the ankle injury that sidelined him for five games early on, he's never doubted for a second that he made the right call for his career.

"It was a difficult decision because it's just never easy to pick up and change. Everybody's dream especially coming where I come from as a little kid loving basketball is to play in the NBA," Adams said.

"I feel like I've been really close and I've played in games, and had chances to really be on rosters, so it's not easy to just switch your goal like that. But I think you have to trust your own path and know that nobody else is walking in your shoes. 

"I think it was a beautiful opportunity and I'm thankful it's worked out. I ain't break my leg, I just rolled my ankle so I knew that I would be back. It just took me a minute to get healthy and it was a lower body injury so I knew it would take me a couple of weeks to get back, but I was always confident and knew the player that I am."

Adams now isn’t thinking about anything beyond this Grand Final Series and trying to help Sydney win a first championship since 2005.

When that's done he'll worry about his future, but he couldn’t be happier with how it's all turned out so far.

"It feels great, man. It's that time of the year, we're in the Grand Finals and it feels great to be here. We're just relishing this opportunity and preparing for Friday the best we can. I'm just trying to finish the Grand Final and leave with a championship, that's all I'm thinking about," he said.

"I think I just came here trying to be the best version of myself and a lot of things went well for me this season. I can't take all the credit for it, it's not possible without my teammates, my coaches. But I have worked hard in the past and it's nice to see some of the work coming to the forefront."

Now thinking about taking on the JackJumpers in the Grand Final, while Josh Adams is fresh off 30 points in Game 3 in their win over Melbourne United having been named to the All-NBL Second Team, Jaylen is fully aware they have plenty more than just him to lock in on.

"Josh is a big threat, you saw what he did to Melbourne. It's pretty self-explanatory and he's been doing it all year," Adams said. 

"He's a great player, they're a great team and he's not alone over there. They have a bunch of guys and have one of the better back courts in the NBL, they play hard, they're well coached and we're locked in on them. 

"We have to try our best to make life difficult for them. They have been our focus from Monday on going into Friday. We watched them play against Melbourne and it's nothing new, we played them three times and we're excited."

Adams was proud of the way the Kings locked in to overcome the Illawarra Hawks in the semi finals and now wants more of the same with their attention to detail against Tasmania.

"Everything just turned up a little bit and we paid a little bit more attention to detail, we're locked in on the scout and it's little things knowing you have to send right or how you have to defend certain people when they're in the ball screen action," Adams said. 

"It's just the small details that are so important and that's really the big difference for the finals. We've been playing hard all year but the real difference from regular season to now is locking in on every possession, and understanding what they are going to do on every possession."