Steven Adams getting stronger and better inside according to Pitt coach Jamie Dixon

Digging around the internets recently and stumbled upon this piece on Steven Adams and the New Zealand Tall Blacks on the FIBA website.

In it, the main topic of discussion is about the New Zealand national team. But there is a bit from Pitt coach Jamie Dixon talking about Steven Adams getting stronger and playing better inside:

"He’s gotten better at scoring inside," Dixon said.

"I don’t think that had ever been a strength of his. He’s kind of the international-type player. That’s probably the biggest thing. We had the summer workouts, so none of them are typical freshmen anymore."

Dixon added that Adams was getting stronger because he was lifting weights for the first time.

"And eating—he’s eating like he’s never eaten before," Dixon said.

Adams still has a ways to go offensively as evidenced by the Cincinnati game where he couldn't even muster a shot attempt the entire game. Some of it was foul trouble and some of it was the team not getting the ball inside enough. But this much is certain - part of it is because Adams simply is learning to be aggressive enough.

The improvement he made over the last several non-conference games was encouraging. And it should be noted that even though he didn't score in the game against the Bearcats, he did pull in a team-high nine rebounds. But the offense is coming along slowly and that probably will continue for a while.

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