Brandon Adams ties his two career interests together with a single philosophy.

Whether the junior forward of the Hawaii men's basketball team is working on his shooting on the court or from behind a camera lens, he has learned one thing: patience.

The athletic Adams arrived at Hawaii this year with the goals of both furthering his basketball career coming out of Diablo Valley College (Calif.) and getting a degree in media arts.

While the 6-foot-7, 220-pound Adams possesses boundless energy on the basketball court, he is deliberate in honing the skills he'll need to succeed. That includes sharpening ideas for his budding moviemaking career, which will be put to the test in specialized classes starting next semester.

“;It takes time—movies are not rushed. Bad movies are rushed,”; Adams said. “;'Snakes on a Plane' was rushed.”;

Building his self-confidence in basketball is also a gradual process—Adams' personal rating went from “;I suck”; early in high school to “;a work in progress”; today.

By playing to his strengths—explosiveness and tenacity—he averaged 13.4 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 56.4 percent shooting in becoming the Big 8 Conference Most Valuable Player last year.

Adams' integration with the Rainbow Warriors was hampered by a murky redshirt situation; he initially wanted the extra year to give him time to adjust to a Division I school. But it soon became clear that both he and his coaches wanted him to play, and Adams was relieved when he was cleared the day before the team's season opener against San Francisco.

It set him back in learning the Rainbows' flex-motion system, something coach Bob Nash fully realizes.

“;Now we just gotta get him up to speed on some of the things he's missed because the expectation going in was that he wasn't going to play,”; Nash said. “;He's shown that he can play at a very high level, play way above the rim (with a 41-inch vertical leap). Gotta get him into the flow of things so he can find his niche, find his role and I think he'll be a tremendous asset to us.”;

Adams has shown he can contribute, with a 6.3 points a game average on 52.9 percent shooting and three rebounds a game for 2-2 Hawaii. He made a start against Idaho State and scored nine of the Rainbows' first 11 points before Nash went away from him because of the Bengals' zone defense.

Outside shooting is Adams' biggest focus now as he strives to become a more well-rounded player. He wants to possess the mid-range game and energy of his basketball idols, Amare Stoudemire and Charles Barkley, but also appreciates what his fellow Hawaii forwards bring to the table.

“;Petras (Balocka), he uses his body. That's his strength. Bill (Amis), he connects with his left hand,”; Adams said. “;Me, I try to use my quickness. I can't power guys 'cause they're bigger than me, so I front them. On the wing, I can take them off the dribble because I have a quick first step.”;

“;B.A.,”; as he's called by his teammates, moved back and forth between Washington and California with family several times while growing up, and shifted again with his mom after completing two years at Garfield High School in Seattle.

That might help to explain his maturity—at 21, he's already married to his childhood friend, Jessica, and talks more in terms of life goals than immediate rewards. (Jessica moved to Hawaii with him and attends every game at the Stan Sheriff Center).

He seriously doubted he had any future in basketball during his time at Garfield, despite throwing down vicious dunks since he was in the seventh grade.

Adams thanks coach John Raynor at his second high school, San Ramon Valley, and burly teammate Omar Samhan (now a center at St. Mary's) for injecting him with the confidence he needed to play in college.

Today, he wants to blend a professional basketball career with all aspects of filmmaking—producing, writing, directing, acting.

Bring up the subject of movie scripts—particularly about the 'Bows—and Adams' face lights up immediately. Off the top of his head, he tossed out an idea of a short film starring teammate Ji Xiang.

“;A kid from China ... comes here, it's hard for him to play, not doing so good. And he finds this shoe. And he starts to dominate. It goes on from there, Ji is this good player, goes to the NBA, realizes he's not really playing well and takes the shoes off. Starts playing good without the shoes and all along, it really wasn't the shoes. It was just him.”;

Someday, perhaps, coming to a theater near you.