Good to hear that Clyde Drexler endorses the new coach. Drexler played for Adelman while he was with the Portland Trailblazers. Adelman agrees on deal with Rockets Team plans to introduce new coach Wednesday By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Rick Adelman, the only candidate the Rockets pursued, agreed to terms Monday on a contract to become the team's next coach, a person with knowledge of the Rockets' decision-making said. Adelman will fly to Houston today and be introduced Wednesday. "The Rockets organization will get an outstanding coach," said Hall of Fame guard Clyde Drexler, whom Adelman coached in six of Drexler's 11-plus seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers. "I think he's the guy to get them over the top." After a series of meetings with Rockets owner Leslie Alexander and general manager Daryl Morey on May 11 and May 12 — less than a week after the team's first-round playoff loss to the Utah Jazz — Adelman became the Rockets' choice to succeed Jeff Van Gundy, who on Friday was fired after four seasons as coach. "Rick is a really good coach and a better guy," Van Gundy said. "I think he'll really do well." Morey, Alexander and Adelman were not available for comment. Adelman, 60, is 752-481 in 16 seasons as an NBA coach. He has a 70-68 postseason record. He led Portland to the NBA Finals in 1990 and 1992 and advanced to the Western Conference finals in 1991 with the Trail Blazers and 2002 with the Sacramento Kings. Adelman's .610 winning percentage is the highest among coaches without an NBA championship. Jerry Sloan (.600) and George Karl (.588) are next on the list. Selected by the Rockets in the seventh round of the 1968 draft, Adelman went to the Trail Blazers in the 1970 expansion draft before the Rockets moved from San Diego to Houston. Adelman will join Rudy Tomjanovich as the only former Rockets players to become the franchise's coach. Of the five teams for which Adelman played, the Rockets will be the third to hire him as coach, joining the Trail Blazers and Kings. He also played for the Chicago Bulls and New Orleans Jazz during a seven-year career. With Portland and his first Sacramento teams, Adelman had faced-paced, high scoring clubs. His later squads, while still among the NBA's top scoring teams, were more half-court oriented and used a lot of cuts and screens in a variation of the Princeton offense. Adelman's first seven Sacramento teams were among the top three scoring teams in the NBA, and his first three Kings clubs led the league in scoring. His 2001-02 team, which advanced to Game 7 of the Western Conference finals before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers, won 61 games by an average of 7.6 points. Adelman was fired after the 2005-06 season in which the Kings went 44-38 before losing to the San Antonio Spurs in six games in the first round of the playoffs. His best season as a coach might have been with the 1990-91 Blazers. Portland went 63-19 before losing to the Lakers in the Western Conference finals. (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/4824437.html)
Of course he would. Adelman is a seasoned veteran. In fact, you could go as far and say that he is a consummate professional. One of the top 5 coaches in the league.
Who could lose with Yao, Tmac, Battier, a consummate professional at the 4, and a darkhorse all-star candidate starting at point guard?
This from the same guy who said repeatedly during the season that Rafer is "one of the best point guards in the NBA, a perennial All-Star guard".
Hannah Storm: Clyde, how does it feel to be playing in another All Star game? Clyde Drexler: Well Hannah, it was really refreshing to bring another championship to Houston! The man is a genius.
Clyde the Glyde "Rafer Alston is an allstar" or the Spanoulis comments, which Span can back up I love Clyde
True. But if Bill Walton saw the same dead cat, it would be "quite possibly, the *deadest* cat in the history of the Interstate Highway System".
honestly, even if he had never played for adelman before and had no idea who he was, i think he'd be saying publicly that it was a great move.
And who said that Vassilis Spanclueless was a future All-Star. Say... has anyone ever seen Clyde and DaDakota in the same room together?
Rick runs like a Gazelle and... Bill, I am absolutely sure Rick will win Coach of the Year Award in preseason.
To me that sounds like a coach is is willing to adjust to his talent. I would assume that the half court is still going to be a big part of the Rockets, considering the talented Yao Ming, but hopefully, they'll do some more run and gun stuff in transition.
Exactly - Clyde loves everyone and everything. Thought Ishtar was a great movie. Thinks George Bush is a great president. Thinks he can dance.
