Adelman takes over for Rockets. - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

EricaLubarsky · 05-21-2007, 11:50 PM

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2878281

In a good sign for getting the job, Rick Adelman interviewed for the Houston Rockets coaching position before Jeff Van Gundy even left the position.

Rick Adelman has the highest winning percentage of any coach without an NBA championship. Here are the tough-luck coaches:
Coach

Rick Adelman 752-481 .610
Jerry Sloan 1035-689 .600
George Karl 829-582 .588

Multiple media outlets were reporting on Monday night that the former Sacramento coach and the Rockets have indeed reached an agreement. Adelman will reportedly fly to Houston on Tuesday and be introduced on Wednesday.

Rockets spokesman Nelson Luis told The Associated Press on Tuesday night that Adelman was expected to come to Houston on Tuesday, but said he had no details of his plans.

He confirmed that Adelman has previously been interviewed for the job, which came open when Jeff Van Gundy was fired on Friday.

Houston television station KRIV first reported the hiring on Monday night, citing league sources. The Houston Chronicle Web site and KTRH radio also said Adelman already has the job.

Luis said he could not confirm the information.

The Rockets' Game 7 playoff loss to Utah meant a first-round exit for the third time in Van Gundy's four seasons. The 45-year-old Van Gundy had one season left on a nonguaranteed contract.

Adelman met last week with Rockets owner Leslie Alexander, Luis said.

Adelman took the Portland Trail Blazers to the NBA Finals twice and also coached the Golden State Warriors. From 1998-2006 he was at the helm of the Sacramento Kings, taking the team to the playoffs every season but losing in the Western conference finals three times before being dismissed.

The Kings did not make the playoffs last year under Eric Musselman, who was subsequently fired.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

nashtymavsfan13 · 05-21-2007, 11:55 PM

Good hiring made by the Rockets, they'll be pretty solid next year.

Flacolaco · 05-21-2007, 11:58 PM

rearranging deck chairs on the proverbial 'playoff' titanic.

Nemesis · 05-22-2007, 12:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

rearranging deck chairs on the proverbial 'playoff' titanic.

totally agree... the problem wasn't the coach..it is talent. They have none to support Yao and the sinking T-Mac

spreedom · 05-22-2007, 12:37 AM

Plus, Adelman is just going to push the ball, and that's going to hurt Yao big time.

I'm really surprised that Indiana didn't make a ridiculous pitch to Adelman. I think that would have been a great hire by them.

LonghornDub · 05-22-2007, 12:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

Rick Adelman has the highest winning percentage of any coach without an NBA championship. Here are the tough-luck coaches:
Coach

Rick Adelman 752-481 .610
Jerry Sloan 1035-689 .600
George Karl 829-582 .588

What about Avery? Pretty sure his Win % is a lot higher than .610....

dirno2000 · 05-22-2007, 01:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spreedom

Plus, Adelman is just going to push the ball, and that's going to hurt Yao big time..

You should probably give a coach with 752 wins enough credit to assume that he won't play a style that will take his best player out of the game.

I'd expect to see more of a princeton style that will take advantage of Yao's passing ability the way the Van Gundy never did.

Kirobaito · 05-22-2007, 01:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProdigyDub

What about Avery? Pretty sure his Win % is a lot higher than .610....

Avery has the highest win % of any coach, ever, but doesn't have enough games to qualify yet.

mcsluggo · 05-22-2007, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dirno2000

You should probably give a coach with 752 wins enough credit to assume that he won't play a style that will take his best player out of the game.

I'd expect to see more of a princeton style that will take advantage of Yao's passing ability the way the Van Gundy never did.

ding ding ding ding ding ding DING

Bingo.

I expect Adelman and Yao to be a match made in heaven.

MavsX · 05-22-2007, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

rearranging deck chairs on the proverbial 'playoff' titanic.

haha, nice

dalmations202 · 05-22-2007, 11:22 AM

How soon till Bibby is a Rocket?

Bibby with McGrady, Battier, and Yao in Adelman's offense gets scary quickly. They have the high post in Yao and cutters in Battier and a shooter in Bibby/TMac.

They really would only need a Bowen type defender, and a Diop type to be very very good.

Pick n roll with Bibby/TMac when Yao is on the bench, and Yao or/to cutters and spot-ups with Battier cutting, and TMac/Bibby spotted up.

***Hope that Sacramento won't take junk and the Rockets first pick for Bibby. Something like Howard/Alston/Snyder/1st rounder. Houston could be very good quickly.

mkat · 05-22-2007, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dalmations202

How soon till Bibby is a Rocket?

Bibby with McGrady, Battier, and Yao in Adelman's offense gets scary quickly. They have the high post in Yao and cutters in Battier and a shooter in Bibby/TMac.

They really would only need a Bowen type defender, and a Diop type to be very very good.

Pick n roll with Bibby/TMac when Yao is on the bench, and Yao or/to cutters and spot-ups with Battier cutting, and TMac/Bibby spotted up.

***Hope that Sacramento won't take junk and the Rockets first pick for Bibby. Something like Howard/Alston/Snyder/1st rounder. Houston could be very good quickly.

if Bibby is the answer for Houston, I'm not very worried. He wasn't particularly great this year.

come_on_now · 05-22-2007, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spreedom

Plus, Adelman is just going to push the ball, and that's going to hurt Yao big time.

I'm really surprised that Indiana didn't make a ridiculous pitch to Adelman. I think that would have been a great hire by them.

Adelman seemed to get good enough production out of Divac and Webber.

dalmations202 · 05-22-2007, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mkat

if Bibby is the answer for Houston, I'm not very worried. He wasn't particularly great this year.

This year he didn't have Webber/Divac/Peja/Miller in their primes either.

If he was with Yao and TMac -- who you gonna guard -- those two or Bibby.
With the current team he is on, I wouldn't double Miller, or Rahim. Artest maybe sometimes. Martin, no. That leaves him to be the #1 option quite often, and to have to create.

Bibby, with TMac and Yao, becomes at best the #3 option -- like he was with Webber and Peja, and his game turns around dramatically. Wide open 3's and pick n rolls within an offense he ran quite well for several years, I would think would do wonders.

MavsX · 05-22-2007, 03:24 PM

i wish them the worst!

fluid.forty.one · 05-22-2007, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kirobaito

Avery has the highest win % of any coach, ever, but doesn't have enough games to qualify yet.

That's pretty cool.

kingmalaki · 05-22-2007, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dalmations202

This year he didn't have Webber/Divac/Peja/Miller in their primes either.

If he was with Yao and TMac -- who you gonna guard -- those two or Bibby.
With the current team he is on, I wouldn't double Miller, or Rahim. Artest maybe sometimes. Martin, no. That leaves him to be the #1 option quite often, and to have to create.

Bibby, with TMac and Yao, becomes at best the #3 option -- like he was with Webber and Peja, and his game turns around dramatically. Wide open 3's and pick n rolls within an offense he ran quite well for several years, I would think would do wonders.

I agree fully. However, I don't see Sac taking our crap for him, and I definately don't see him leaving $24M on the table to sign for our MLE.

rakesh.s · 05-23-2007, 12:10 AM

wow..houston games might actually be watchable.

*waits for first mcgrady outburst trashing van gundy*

dirt_dobber · 05-23-2007, 07:50 AM

Adelman thinks he's landed in good spot
Rockets players reciprocate the positive vibes

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/4828214.html
Rick Adelman, who will become the next Rockets coach today, arrived in town late Tuesday night after a long, hard travel day. But as always in coaching, the point is not the journey but the destination.

When finally nothing else was uncertain, Adelman was very much up in the air, arriving in Houston about four hours behind schedule because of travel delays. But he is scheduled to be introduced at a 3 p.m. news conference today at Toyota Center.

Even with the delays, Adelman, after sitting out of coaching for a year, considered the position worth the wait.

"I always knew I was going to look for something eventually," he said. "This is obviously just a great situation with the city, the organization and two pretty good players. I'm just really excited.

"This is a team that played so solid together last year. You can build on that. In this league, I learned a long time ago it's a lot easier coaching when you have good players, good people. I think this team has that from my observations. I watched them at the end of last year when they came to Portland and was really impressed with the way they played. I'm just really excited to have the opportunity to coach these guys."

While much remains to be determined, Rockets players said they were encouraged about having another proven, veteran coach. Adelman's .610 winning percentage is the best for an active NBA coach without a league title.

"You always want to play for a coach that has experience and has won," Rockets forward Shane Battier said. "I think coach Adelman has shown that over the years in different situations. That's the exciting part of this announcement.

"I enjoyed the year. I thought we had a great year. I really enjoyed working with (former coach) Jeff (Van Gundy). I thought I did the best I could for him. And I think he would say I did well for him."

Rockets center Yao Ming praised Van Gundy, under whom he went from a promising project to an All-NBA player, while expressing optimism about playing for his third coach in six seasons.

"I've been working good with Jeff," Yao said. "He gave me the best four years, so far, in my career. I appreciate what he did for me. He put in a lot of effort, a lot of work. We had a good time. I'm so sad to hear he's leaving. We knew a little bit before that it was going to happen. I'm still sad. Hopefully, he got some rest and will have a good time with his family.

"Right now, we're looking forward. Changing coaches has happened to me before. Rick Adelman, I know he coached the Sacramento team before. He also coached great centers. I believe we'll have a good future."

The new coach likely will change much of the Rockets' offensive style. Adelman traditionally has used a more free-flowing, often open-post offense.

"Every team that talks to you, you look at it and say what can you do with that team," Adelman said. "There's some real pluses there when you have Yao at center and you have Tracy (McGrady) — one of the best perimeter people and one of the best big guys. I've been thinking about it. I think things we've done in the past work for anybody. You just have to put people in good positions, and they'll respond."

For Rockets players, there surely will be adjustments to make, though there is a sense that what worked for Adelman before can work again.

"I'm for playing for a good coach," Battier said. "He'll be looking at our personnel and tailor a system to give us the best chance to win. That's what good coaches do."

While Adelman took his first steps toward his new job, Van Gundy lined up his next position, agreeing to work as an analyst on ABC's broadcast of the NBA Finals.

Van Gundy, speaking Tuesday on ESPN, praised Adelman while saying he had wanted to remain the Rockets' coach.

"Rick Adelman is a terrific basketball coach and an even better man," Van Gundy said. "The owner (Leslie Alexander) wanted to make a change. That's his prerogative. That's his right. I don't think they made the right decision, but it is a decision they have every right to make."

It was also a decision they made quickly, and by day's end Tuesday, Adelman and the Rockets were where they wanted to be.

"There was a change being made, and I'd had a pretty good track record over the years with two very good positions in Portland and Sacramento," Adelman said. "I think obviously they thought I could do something good here."

dalmations202 · 05-23-2007, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingmalaki

I agree fully. However, I don't see Sac taking our crap for him, and I definately don't see him leaving $24M on the table to sign for our MLE.

All would depend on Bibby and how much fuss he could put up - he isn't opting out and taking only the MLE.

Howard, Snyder/Head and Alston would work -- not sure what else you would have to throw in to get them to complete the deal though (picks, cash, etc).

V2M · 05-23-2007, 06:44 PM

Wells wants to return to Rockets with new coach

Associated Press

Updated: May 22, 2007, 11:39 PM ET

HOUSTON -- Guard Bonzi Wells, who mysteriously left the Houston Rockets team with five games left in the regular season, said Tuesday he would like to return to the team.

Wells told Houston television station KRIV that while he thought he was the missing link for the team that then-coach Jeff Van Gundy didn't think he fit in.

"He told me that I could ask to be waived and I told him I didn't want to be anywhere else. I hated the way it ended because I really started to appreciate him," Wells said.

Van Gundy, who was fired as the Rockets coach on Friday, said, "Perception and reality are often very different. I never thought it was personal between Bonzi and I."

Wells thinks the anticipated hiring of Rick Adelman as the Rockets coach is a good sign for Wells. Van Gundy agreed it could be a plus for Wells, who played for Adelman in Sacramento.

"I thought it was like God sent him here for me. Rick Adelman is a great coach," Wells said. "He's the best coach I have ever had. He really knows how to relate to his players. He does a great job of letting guys be themselves."

Wells signed a two-year contract before last season with an opt-out clause after the first year. The contract is valued at about $4.4 million.

"I have a decision to make and so do they. I wanted to be here even if Jeff Van Gundy was going to be here," Wells said.

alby · 05-23-2007, 10:45 PM

that article just made me laugh

antoinewalker · 05-24-2007, 05:22 PM

if bibby somehow made it to houston with bonzi wells and luther head providing sparks off the bench, the rockets could be deadly.

TomThaMavsFan · 05-24-2007, 08:31 PM

great hiring by the rockets, Adelman's gonna take Yao to the next level. If the Rockets land bibby too? UGH another team in the west who gets that much tougher to beat.

And1 · 05-25-2007, 12:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spreedom

Plus, Adelman is just going to push the ball, and that's going to hurt Yao big time.

I'm really surprised that Indiana didn't make a ridiculous pitch to Adelman. I think that would have been a great hire by them.

Yeah, Vlade Divac was a speedster

, no..he was a great shooter and passer and had great success under adelman. Yao has that PLUS a post game. On top of this Yao is still evolving, and improving his all around game.