By JEROME SOLOMON Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle After sitting out the 2006-07 season, Rick Adelman might not have been overconfident, but he must have had a feeling an opportunity would present itself. A veteran coach with a strong résumé, Adelman wouldn't take just any position. Enter the Rockets, a 52-win team with an intriguing roster including two perennial All-Stars — one of the NBA's best big men in Yao Ming and one of the top perimeter players in Tracy McGrady. Adelman was thinking championship. Two years later, Adelman sat at Toyota Center on Monday having added to his résumé the best winning percentage of any coach in Rockets history, with his latest squad delivering the franchise's first playoff series victory in a dozen years. That, despite playing significant time without one or both of those stars. The Rockets begin training camp today, and Adelman will roll the ball out to start this season without either star — Yao is out for the year with a broken foot; McGrady is coming off microfracture knee surgery — or any realistic championship dreams. Attainable goal Adelman's best players might be third-year point guard Aaron Brooks and Luis Scola, a third-year player who began his pro career in Europe. “What I'd like to see us do is reach our potential. If we can do that, then we can be successful,” Adelman said. “This is a unique group; they will bust their tails. We have some really good people in the locker room. They're going to give it every opportunity.” That's coachspeak. But one thing about the best coaches: Their coachspeak sounds like gospel. And Adelman is one of the better coaches the NBA has seen. No, he hasn't won a championship, but neither has Jerry Sloan, who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame this month. Adelman says it was about time the longtime coach of the Utah Jazz was honored. “I never really could figure out who gets into the Hall of Fame as coaches,” Adelman said. “In other sports, you might have college hall of fames and pro hall of fames; in basketball, it seems like that hall of fame is a college hall of fame, except for players. How does Pat Riley just get in recently? And Phil Jackson just get in recently? And Jerry Sloan just get in recently? “They have all been coaching 20-plus years. And you've got college coaches who get in. I think it's the college system. There should be more professional coaches (voted in) who have been in this league and worked hard for 20-25 years. And done just as much as any college coach who was lucky enough to stay at the same school for 20 years. “You go to the NBA and coach four or five different teams, and you've got challenges on your hands, and you're trying to exist in a world where failure's a big thing.” Sloan was feted recently, but not only does Adelman have a better regular-season winning percentage, he has a better postseason record. “He hasn't won a championship like Pat and Phil, but everybody respects him,” Adelman said of Sloan. “The fact that he has been in the same spot in this league for that long, he should have been in five years ago. I mean, no one does that.” Adelman is with his fourth team in 19 seasons; Sloan enters his 25th season having been with only two teams (including Utah for the last 22). Adelman came to Houston to take over a team with Yao and McGrady dominating. This year's team could damage the résumé. Coach's responsibility “You still have a job to do,” Adelman said. “Sometimes you have certain teams that maybe they're not as talented as other teams, but you can certainly get just as much out of it as a coach. “If you can get them to reach their potential and you can get them to play hard every night and give an effort every night, that's satisfaction. You're not always going to have the best team.” Doesn't hurt to have one of the best coaches. jerome.solomon@chron.com http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/solomon/6642156.html
This is the kind of column I want read about the Rockets. Adelman is a great proven coach, he's dealt with injury's from his stars every year he's been here, and still finds a way to put an exciting and relevant team on the hardwood. This year will be his biggest challenge yet, and I look forward to seeing his TRUE offense being ran for the first time in Houston. “You still have a job to do,” Adelman said. “Sometimes you have certain teams that maybe they're not as talented as other teams, but you can certainly get just as much out of it as a coach.“If you can get them to reach their potential and you can get them to play hard every night and give an effort every night, that's satisfaction. You're not always going to have the best team.”- Rick Adelman Well said Coach.
I do like how optimistic Adelman is about this year's squad. He seems genuinely optimistic, too. And I think he's done wonders considering he's yet to build a team around a system that has proven to be very successful.
If he makes the playoffs with this team, as currently constructed, then he deserves a statue in his honor. That said, I expect us to be right in the mix of things. Playoffs? Maybe, but I highly doubt a squad under his watch is going to be anybody's doormat.
I completely agree; I will only be surprised if we get any lower than 10th with an Adelman coached team.
My only complaint on Adelman last year was that he didn't have a short enough leash on Artest when he started shooting us out of games, other than that, I think he's been a great coach for us. He should have won coach of year last year IMO, if it didn't just automatically go to the team with the best record at the end of the regular season...
Rick's done a great job considering what he has to work with. Every season, we have at least 25% of our cap sitting out injured a good chunk of every season and we still make the playoffs. On a side note, it's hilarious seeing threads about picking up superstars or trading Battier. A lot of people on GARM act like picking someone like LBJ or DWade is like picking fruit in a garden. Hello people, we have like no one to trade for stars and no money to buy stars. As for Batman, I rather have him on our team to pass down his defensive wisdom to Ariza before we let the guy go.
Rick = the Ruler Anyone who questions Rick's Rule is just la-di-da-di or is part of a Children's Story
We hold the title of this article to be self-evident, that Rick Adelman is the man for the job, and that the other coach prominently mentioned in this article, whose name we shall not utter, really really sucks. Just figured that if we're going to be a red nation, we might as well have some sort of declaratory phrase, in order to form a more perfect nation. Nerd time over, sorry.
