[nba.com]Adelman lacks vote of confidence from Rockets

There has been a lot of speculation that Adelman would not want to coach a rebuilding Rockets team. From this article, you can see that he really like these group of players and wants to coach them again next year. Alexander would be a fool if he didn't sign him.

 

Honestly, if we do not retain Adelman, the Rockets will have some major explaining to do. Like him or not, RA adds stability to an otherwise topsy tervy roster. I think the biggest mistake we can make is to look at these results and think the problem is coaching.

Look at the Phoenix Suns as a reference. The team has a plethora of talent. They have arguably two stars in Nash and Carter, budding dynamic players like Fry and Pietrus, and a solid big man in Gortat. Yet, by some strand of fate, this group of no-stars all-stars is ahead of those Suns. We have taken down big teams like LA and Boston (and arguably Miami if not for some shoddy officiating). The problem is, and always has been inability to be injury proof. That is not Rick's fault.

 

If I would venture a guess these would be the moves he was talking about:

1. Rafer Alston traded to make way for Brooks
2. Trevor Ariza traded for Courtney Lee (Probably the $$$ move, saved us some $$$)
3. Bringing back Francis (another $$$ move that he didn't agree with)
4. Trading Battier for Thabeet
5. Trading brooks for the dragon

^Almost all those can be seen as money moves, and Adelman is someone who clearly hates roster changes. Which is why he'd rather play Miller over Hill, Brooks over Lee and PP over Demarr Carrol and the Squid.

 

What blind love did he show AB? He didn't even give AB back his starting spot when he came back from injury.

Blind love to Martin? You mean the same Martin who he sat out the whole 2nd qt of a game causing him to go cold? He hasn't shown any blind love to Martin.

Battier? When Battier was here none of the Small Forwards behind him played good enough to take the job away from him.


Last but not least Brad Miller? He's the only player that has played Center before in the NBA on this team even though he too is undersized. We just got Thabeet who is the only true Center on the roster and he isn't ready yet.

 

How is playing Brooks 20 minutes a night when he was clearly bringing the team down not Adelman's fault?

We had two players enter slumps during this season, C-bud in the beginning and Brooks after his injury. Both these guys got 20+ minutes of PT during their slumps. Don't you think some of our close games would have been won if these guys had been replace by other players during the times they were stinking it up?

 

I get the feeling that mostly Adelman is offended to not get an extension offer. I'm not so sure he would accept one if it was tendered. If I was Adelman, I'd want to keep my door open for other, more contender-ready rosters (NY? Miami? LA?).

But, he might accept and it'd be great if he would because there's no way we get a better coach. At the same time, I can understand the Rockets going another way since the team is at a crossroads. I think Fran's intimation that Alexander is simply bored of Adelman is ridiculous. I'm betting the decision is mostly Morey's. And, given that we likely won't be contending next season and need to build up the team over a couple of seasons, Adelman's time-horizon probably doesn't align with the team's. If you're going to change horses, sooner is better than later.

I think the criticisms of Adelman's coaching are ridiculous. Your disagreement with Adelman's rotation strategy, player minute distribution, or play-calling doesn't make Adelman wrong. Posters here are operating with significantly less information and expertise than Adelman has. When Morey tells me that Adelman was playing the wrong guys minutes, I'll start to consider it a possibility.

 

Don't see how people can bash Adelman when the Rockets keep overachieving. I find it funny that some folks think Jerry Sloan would somehow improve the Rockets.


One thing that Adelman has always dealt with since being in Houston is his top players being hurt. Every single year his top dogs are hurt and every year the Rockets are fighting for a playoff spot with him as the coach or they were in the playoffs fighting for position. What more do you expect from him when the guys making the most money on his rosters have been sitting in a suit for most of his tenure.

 

1., 2., and 5. all improved the team in varying degrees. Any move that actually IMPROVES the team is a "basketball move" in my book. The fact that they might have saved money as well only makes it a "brilliant basketball move".

3. does not hurt the team whatsoever.

4. did. But allowed younger players to step up to mitigate the loss. In the end this is the ONLY move that remotely counts in Adelman's entire tenure here. Like I said.

So again, what exactly is he talking about when he says there has been "TIMES"(plural) in the "past"?

 

Adelman is one of the best coaches of all time. He falls into that tier just behind PJ, who probably should have gotten a ring but never did. Don't kid yourself into thinking that he's done all that (playing against jordan in the finals, and being cheated out of the finals with the kings.) Sorry, when it comes to basketball I don't care how stupid it sounds, I'm going to go with experience and someone that has proven themselves no matter how they might sound.
Adelman has done a terrific job, yea he is too loyal to his players to some extent, but also take a look at the production of the "players" when under adelman as opposed to a diff coach. They love playing for him and he truly gets the best out of them.

Who would have known that life went on without tracy and yao?

thanks for everything Rick, I hope you get that extention.

 

I wouldn't mind it if we brought Adelman back next year. At all. But if we don't, this will be exactly why. Adelman will be 68, and odds are we are further than 2 years away from seriously contending. Like you said, if we HAVE to change, sooner the better. It won't be because of anything against Adelman's coaching ability, IMO.

 

My guess is the fate of Adelman is sealed with Alexander's recent comments.
It is not up to anyone but Rick now so there is no use debating. Leslie is a fool for how he has handled this situation. It seems to be in line with all the mismanagement surrounding the Rockets the last couple of years.

 

Battier and Martin's PT aren't the issue. C-bud during his slump, Miller over Hill and most especially Brooks' are.

Here let me dig up some stuff for you:

Date Mins FG
2011-01-22 16 2-11
2011-01-24 25 5-14
2011-01-26 26 5-14
2011-01-27 25 2-10
2011-01-29 23 3-12
2011-02-01 31 7-19
2011-02-02 23 6-12
2011-02-05 14 2-6
2011-02-08 20 1-8
ETC ETC ETC

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/brookaa01/gamelog/2011/

Just like you don't need to be an NBA player to see whether GMs make right or wrong decisions, you also don't need to be an NBA coach to see that giving 20 minutes a night to a guy who shoots 1-7 and plays no D is going to cost you games. A lot of games. Why is this not a valid point to make? Its pretty much basic, you're not supposed to give significant PT to struggling players when you're trying to win games.

 

if he wanted brooks to help any, even from the bench it would be due to how he dealt with him. It had to happen at that point but for that i blame the organization a bit more.

Lowry clearly outplayed brooks this season, theres no way he could have given him starting, even though brooks would have done better. At the same time he has to play him off the bench, and provide him with the same sort of respect he feels starting , but from a diff approach , as a 6th man. I think his contract had to do with it, because even if he was "Ok" with it, he felt coming off the bench meant less $ than when starting. If there was anyone that could have straightened him out it would have been Rick.

Its not secret to why Rick's players are always at their best and give it their all every night.


We aren't getting a PJ, so we have to accept RA for what he is and accomodate him, coaches deserve a certain level of respect as well.

 

when $ moves are your top priority it deff. hurts the team. But also look at it from Les's perspective, even though I agree with your statement 100% of him being a fool if he lets him go. The economy is not doing good right now. From an owners standpoint he has certain goals he has to meet as well. And sometimes that doesn't always coincide with improving the team.

 

Folks, the resurgence since the ASG isn't from some kind of addition by subtraction. We're in an easy part of the schedule. And the guys are playing harder than they had earlier.

I'd disagree with you on #1. Trading Rafer for Lowry was a good long-term move, but Lowry wasn't contributing very much in the First Round that season. When Brooks was on his game, we won, and when he was off we lost. If we could have had Rafer there as a stabilizing force, I think we could have won that series.

 

I'm not saying they were horrible moves, just that they were financial moves as well. Even if it doesn't hurt the team or actually improved the team, unless its for someone who's more experienced its a strike in Adelman's book, as is the case when Alston was traded to make way for Brooks.

 

Going into this season it seems like the Rockets were wanting to trade Brooks by adding him in a package to get one of those guys they were targeting. The only way to try and keep his trade value up was to play Brooks. Too bad for the Rockets management that Brooks only lowered his trade value with his play.

 

Which series? Rafer was traded two years ago. We beat Portland in the first round that year. Are you saying Rafer's stabilizing force would have allowed us to beat LA?

 

Adelman has done a decent job. I think he has been stubborn at times. Battier was going to start forever. I agree that it is time for a change. I think a young up and coming coach would be a good choice. When you are mid-sixties and you been working for over forty years, time to kick back. If he won't do that, the Lakers might be a good fit.

 

We just trounced the Celtics by a ton of points, and all the game we lost so far have been extremely close, like 1 or 2 buckets close. The schedule has been easier, but that's not enough to explain the huge disparity pre- and post the break. Unless you're saying the schedule is the only reason we go from getting whooped by the grizzlies to trouncing the Hornets and Celtics.