[5] After earning his GED from a Massachusetts junior college, Adams enrolled at UNLV to play for the Jerry Tarkanian-coached Runnin' Rebels basketball team.
[8] Adams never made the final roster, getting cut in training camp, and his professional career consisted of a short stint in the United States Basketball League as well as a select few games in South America.
[3] Adams also had a short stint in the Continental Basketball Association, splitting the 1985–86 season between the Bay State Bombardiers and Baltimore Lightning.
[9] He was on a self-destructive path throughout college and that continued even after he was drafted by an NBA team; one day after Adams was chosen by the Bullets, he was arrested for car theft in the Bronx.
[3] In 1996, Adams was arrested for manslaughter after Norma Rodriguez, a 15-year-old high school girl, was found dead from a violent stomping on October 15 of the same year.