How many coaches have won titles in the NBA? How many coaches have won a 1,000 games in the NBA? Adelman has been to the championships twice. If not for some shady officiating he probably would've been to another. He happened to run into a buzzsaw named the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan the two times he went.
Adelman would adapt. During the lockout shortened season he didn't have time to teach the entire corner offense and instead ran a simpler offense than leaned on Rubio and they did quite well when healthy.
We did fine with Yao in the low post and no real high post other than Scola Harden and Parsons can both slash pretty well and spot up Adelman could adjust although we would probably still have Budinger, Patterson on this team
rick adelman is so overrated. he has done nothing but lead the timberwolves to consistent lottery appearances.
The real question is how many elite coaches that have coached in the NBA for 30 years have not won a title. Adelman is a good coach, he knows his X's and O's as well as anyone in the NBA other Pop. My issue with him is his attempts to get involved with roster decisions (I don't blame him for wanting a say, he is just not good at it) and his rotation decisions. There is a reason he is not with the Rockets anymore, and had he stayed on, it would have required more say in the direction the team would take, which would probably mean less changes. Most likely Adelman would play Harden 35-40 minutes a game, however I don't think that he would have supported the trades and moves made a long the way to make it possible to get him. I don't think that McHale is some special offensive mind like Adelman is, however I do think that McHale fits the model the Rockets follow (Celtics model of group mentality) and as such fits their perceived needs better. McHale's job is to delegate and lead, which is what his strengths are. Let me say, if we had another front office and Adelman were younger, I would have no issues with him being our coach. He is good, just not great.
Not sure about Rick But Mcfail has got to adjust and incorporate some plays into this team. Right now it's ISO all day, every day. And it sucks.
I think Adelman wouldn't be able to run his offense with this team. I don't see them being smart enough to do so. I really think a guy like JVG might be better for us. Defense is exactly what we need. Thibs might get fired next year, wanna give him a go?
What would he do? I don't know. But I do know that he would NOT start or use a Howard/Asik front court. I do remember in his first season in Houston, 2007 I believe, he played Yao and Mutombo together early in the season against the Spurs. But that wasn't in the starting lineup, and he never tried that ish again if I recall correctly. I wanna say that the Rockets won that game also.
I figure about Adelman would do about the same thing that the current coaching staff would do with this team. When Adelman took over the team in 2007-08, people were talking about how he was going to bring the Sacramento offense to Houston and change everything. Didn't happen. The team performed basically the same way that the 06-07 team did. He didn't even bench Rafer Alston after the team brought in 4 other point guards to potentially replace Rafer. After Adelman left the team after 2010-11, people complained about how the team that "Hall of Fame Coach Adelman" led to over .500 records would fall apart under "McFail." The 2011-12 Rockets had basically the same win% as Adelman's 2009-11 squads. Adelman is a really good coach and does a good job of using the talent that he has. But lets not pretend that he is a miracle worker (he couldn't make Yao Ming into Vlade Divac any more than he can with Dwight Howard) or that he never made mistakes (his overuse of Jordan Hill and post-injury Aaron Brooks doomed the Rockets playoff chances in 2010-11, for example).
Rox will still have bad in-bound plays. Dwight is still a Laker. Without the irony of leaving Houston to join a contending team that have a worst record than Rox in the past 2 years. Kevin Martin still looking for a job. Budd over Terrence Jones.
With the way this team is assembled right now, I think JVG would be a more ideal coach than Adelman would. Our defense can't possibly get any worse than it is now.
Do you consider George Karl or Jerry Sloan elite coaches? They've both coached as long as Adelman and not won championships. Do you consider Erik Spoelstra an elite coach because he has? This is the type of thinking that considers players and coaches great only because they win championships. These are teams sports and more importantly the coach doesn't actually play on the field. Just because he hasn't won a championship doesn't mean he isn't elite. His record of two finals appearances, multiple conference championship appearances and over a 1,000 wins put him in a pretty small class of NBA coaches. All of that is possible and I agree if Adelman had stayed the team would likely be different. That said this thread is a thought experiment about what Adelman would do with this team not what Adelman might do if he had free reign on Rockets' personnel decisions.
For starters he'd probably convince Brad Miller to come out of retirement so he could operate the high post.
This. Adelman is no longer with this team, because Les Alexander gives control of personnel to Morey. Adelman didn't want to deal with any long term asset chess games. He wanted "his" players, and didn't like seeing them traded for other players just because they carried more value around the league. He wanted to start the players who fit his system best, and only wanted other players who fit his system best. JVG's defense/half court offense is better suited for the roster as it stands.
