Adelman has been here almost two years now, so I think we know what we are going to get from him. He gets a lot of criticism on this board. 1. He doesn't call time out when things are getting a little uncomfortable. 2. He doesn't pull players that are playing poorly. 3. Weird subsitution patterns. 4. Doesn't make enough adjustments during games. Some have even stated that JVG would have done more with this group of guys. So, how many of you would rather have kept JVG. Personally, I never like JVG. I'm not saying he was a bad coach. I just thought he was a little overrated and I hated watching his brand of boring ass basketball. I also thought he was inflexible in his coaching so he couldn't make adjustments during playoff series which is why I think we lost to Dallas and Utah after being up in both series. Add that to the fact he was from NY and we fired Rudy to get him, made me not like him even more. I am very happy with Adelman. I know he is not perfect but I think his plus far outweigh his minuses He lets his guys play and doesn't depend only on his superstars to get it done. He designs plays for everyone. I also think he makes great adjustments from game to game. If something isn't working he tries something else. Who would have thought we would have two 50+ win seasons with either Yao or Tmac out for most of the season. I also enjoy watching his brand of basketball.
It seems that we don't have much progress these two years, good defense but poor offense. However, I like Adelman more than JVG because he will give young guys time to play. I don't think we could have today's Scola, Brooks, Landry and Wafer if JVG is still our coach. Old Juwan Howard might still be our starting PF now.
I voted for Adelman. My main reason is talent development. We have more trading chips now then we have had in many, many years. Brooks Scola Lowery Landry Cook (expiring Contract) NOt counting Von and Ron because they are unrestricted Free agents. Rick has been able to show case young talent, yet still remain competitive in a ultra compacted western conference where every games counts. Morey is the one who gathered the talent but Rick had to be able to make them fit.
I did not even factor that in. Jeff had Multiple years that both Yao and Tracy where both able to play in the playoffs and did nothing with it. Rick has yet to have one and he still continues to put together 2 back to back 50 win seasons. Its very hard to argue with that.
go and check the record within and without McGrady. He didn't help us much this season, on the contrary, he caused much trouble.
I agree with you 100% on young players opportunities with Adelman. However, if JVG were Adelman, we would not have Scola because the Greece TMac would not leave the Rockets in the first place. I also like Adelman's willingness to make adjustment in his offense style depending on what he is dealt. His "Princeton Offense" is more like "Houston Offense" to me now. For example, after figuring out that pulling out Yao to the top of the key would not work with the Rockets, he now has Yao sinking back to the low post so much that Yao's two assists to Scola for the win at San Antonio were deemed by Adelman as pretty much the only two processions in this season where Yao was used like Divac or Brad Miller back in Sacramento. For these, I will go with JVG.
I like Rick as a person because his doesn't have personalities of arrogancy which is pretty typical on JVG, but Rick's way of using yao is really not as proper as JVG's.
What is the reason for that? More talent? (Which like the OP said, can be credited to Rick for talent development) Better coach?
22 wins are nothing if you are out of the first round playoff. it made is even worse. IMO, it's definately JEFF! Guess if exchange Flying Bowen, 35-yr-old David Wesly, Bob Sura, Juwan Howard for the last year of his career, Wetherspoon, Mike James and Loser Head for Artest, Scola, Battier, Lowry/Alston, Landry, Wafer, Brooks and Brent Barry, etc. will Rick Aldeman bring the Houston Rockets more than 51-31 winning record? I dont really think so. Yeah, it's true the Rox's offense has been improved from the top 20 to the top 15, but at the same time, the deffense get worse, too. From the top 3 best defense team to the top 9 or ten doesnt sounds great. BTW, the most important thing is Rick isnt the right coach for a Center like Yao. He wasted at least 20% of Yao's strengths and the timeouts he called generally was useless. I dont konw this problem is because of his ability or the players who he planed to execute it. The Princeton or what he was good at DID almost destroy this team in the first half of last season. If we dont play well this playoffs, I hope we can change our coach. Maybe AJ is a good choice, or just bring back Jeff.
crap coach deserves crap players. Rockets team >>>> Yao. Who cares about Rick's the best coach for Yao or not.
Of course, Rockets team >>>> Yao for Rockets fans. But you tell me you don't care about who's the best coach for Yao now that Yao is the anchor of this team?
Let's wait until the playoffs, but just to vote, I am going Adelman....but if he fails in 4 years like JVG did, then neither. The bigger irony will be what does Tmac think as this team advances deep into the playoffs...... DD
Or what will fans think as T-Mac tries to make appearances at crucial times? Will we blanket him with the T-Mac curse and hate him forever if we lose games he shows up to?
The PERFECT SOLUTION, especially since they are both good friends, would be for JVG to bite the bullet and become RA's number 1 assistant coach and work with the defense to keep it top notch, although it has a snowball's chance in hell of happening. This would not be needed though if RA would have been SMART enough to have kept Tom T.
