If Steven Adams makes history and steps under the bright lights of the NBA this morning, the woman who guided him there will be watching with pride - and not a trace of disbelief.
"It's not a surprise to me, it was a matter of when," says Blossom Cameron. "It'slike when you're having a baby and you don't know what the sex is - it's kinda like, I want to know what team. And then we'll go from there."
Ms Cameron became Adams' legal guardian after he was brought to Wellington as a 14-year-old by his older brother Warren, after the death of his father.
She had similarly helped Warren years earlier. He went on to play for the Tall Blacks, an achievement about to be put in the shade by the baby of 18 siblings.
Adams, 19, is in line to be picked in the first round NBA draft this morning, which will make him an instant millionaire and one of New Zealand's top athletes.
In his own words, Adams was "rough" when he arrived in Wellington. Ms Cameron taught him life skills and gave him a stable environment. His potential was always evident, she says.
"You can't coach height, at the end of the day. And this is a game about height. So really, everything else just had to be put in place.
"And he had to want it as well. But otherwise, he was just like an unbroken racehorse to me ... with good bloodlines."
The brother of Olympic shot-put champion Valerie Adams demonstrated talent in athletics and many other sports, Ms Cameron says:
