I think a better explanation is a lack of personal relationships that you'd gain from working up the ladder. If you started out as a scout and worked up to GM, you'd know someone in the vast majority of front offices from having coworkers move to other offices. You'd have a strong professional network. Adams doesn't have that.
I also think there is a bit of understanding that when you have a rebuilding team, helping teams by retaining salaries or taking on salary dumps is a unsaid quid pro quo so when you are a good team, you have a good relationship with the other GMs. Adams also did not participate with that. Nobody owes him any favors
So, he's essentially been 'isolationist' as a GM. So it's not surprising that he is having problems now that he suddenly wants to be part of a marketplace he's mostly ignored and has no relationships in. When he was selling, teams wanted to buy, so things were easy. Now that he's buying, he's competing against other teams that have established relationships and he is offering up what everyone else is, picks and prospects.
He's being given the outsider price and he wants the insider price without doing the things to get the insider price. You can hear the frustration when he talks about the trade market. He feels like teams are trying to screw him over. And they are. And even if they are giving him fair value, he doesn't have anyone he trusts that he can call to see if the price he's getting is fair.
Unfortunately, its likely that Adams tenure is going to serve as a cautionary tale. Being a GM is more than just about understanding hockey. Its about knowing how to build a team, knowing how to address needs, and understanding that you need strong personal/business relationships with 31 other organizations so you can address needs when you have them.
Bringing in an outsider with no support system is going to be a rough go, even if he's the most competent hockey mind ever. And I think Adams has shown he's not that.