its Mr.Justice again.. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/6214385.html Color him unflappable. In a season of injury and tension and disappointment, there aren’t many nicer things you can say about Rockets coach Rick Adelman. “He’s just a really calm guy, and that’s something you come to love,” Rafer Alston said. “He was rock-solid through the 22-game winning streak, and he has been the same way through the ups and downs of a season like this.” This season was supposed to be different for the Rockets. Surely, they wouldn’t be decimated by injuries again. Surely, they would get past the first round of the playoffs this time. They had a deep, talented roster. They were no longer just Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. Daryl Morey acquired another established star in Ron Artest and filled out the roster with a nice mix of youth and experience. If only. If it’s not another chapter in the McGrady soap opera, it’s injuries to Artest and Shane Battier. And a season that was supposed to be special has become a revolving door of lineups and a fight for survival in the Western Conference. The Rockets have shown they’re good enough to beat the best teams in the league or lose to the worst. Ten teams have better records than the 24-16 Rockets. Through it all, Adelman has remained pretty much the same, never losing sight of the bigger picture or publicly expressing the frustration he surely feels. Steady as he goes In short, he has been everything Leslie Alexander hoped he’d be when he hired him 18 months ago. The Rockets have learned firsthand how he has succeeded for 17 seasons in a league that chews up and spits out coaches. “Every response isn’t an emotional one,” Rockets assistant coach Elston Turner said. “He thinks things through and can get his message across without being abrasive.” Coaching in the NBA is an interesting challenge. Coaches give explanations, not orders. They persuade instead of push. “Players appreciate how Rick deals with them,” Turner said. “I can’t tell you how many guys that have played for him would like the chance to play for him again. He’ll blow up in meetings. He’s human. Certain things get to him. But he doesn’t let the players see that side of him.” One of Adelman’s role models was Jack Ramsay. To those of us of a certain age, he’ll be the NBA coach against whom all others are measured. He was fiercely competitive and strategically brilliant. He also got the best out of his players. “He was my first boss,” Adelman, 62, said. “He was the most resilient guy I’ve ever seen after losses. He’d get so down, then you’d get to the airport the next morning and he’d be there talking to all the players. “First of all, you have to be yourself. Players can see right through you if you’re trying to be somebody you’re not. You also can’t dwell on the negatives, on the losses. You have to talk through things and emphasize we have to stick together.” Adelman seems to have a bit of Joe Torre in him. Fans see Torre sit there night after night, same body language, same facial expression. His players say he has a way of expressing his displeasure in a way that never embarrasses a player but gets the message across. “He’d stare at you,” one of his players said. “He didn’t have to say anything. You knew.” Adelman’s players say he has some of that communication gift in him. “You know when he’s mad,” Luther Head said. “He doesn’t have to say anything. We know what we’re supposed to do, and we know when we don’t do it. Sometimes you’d rather he said something. Sometimes it’s worse because he doesn’t say anything.” Adelman doesn’t use the media as a sounding board or a way to talk to his players. If he has something to say, he says it directly. Thoughtful approach So how has he dealt with this season of challenges? “I’ve always felt there were certain things you can’t control,” Adelman said. “Injuries are one of those things. You have to focus on the things you can: giving a good effort, doing the right things. “The thing about this team is that we have a lot of character guys. Players can tune you in or out. My message has always been that it’s not my team. It’s our team. I respect their opinion. It’s my job to listen to them.” The Rockets reach the halfway point of this season Saturday. Adelman and Morey believe in their original blueprint. If McGrady can return and play at a high level, if Artest and Battier can get back to normal, the Rockets could make something of this season. One thing that seems more certain by the day is that they’ve got the right coach leading them. “We’ve had some tough losses,” Battier said. “Another coach might have become so frustrated that it could have lost his team. All coach Adelman asks is that we work hard and stick together. We’re lucky to have him.”
I like RA's manner, but I think it is nessesary for coaches and players to be straight to each other. Things are not always good to be left unsaid. Luther said "You can tell when he is mad, he doesn't have to say anything". RA expect his players to be mature enough to see his emotions and do the right thing. But not every player can always do that. And this is not good in the long term. Tmac is a typical example. He didn't even feel how little energy he was spending on the court until one day he decided to sit in front of the TV and watch himself in the tape. If RA had been straight to him about this matter, this team probably wouldn't have to go through all these trouble. Tmac's behavior would never have survived under a coach like Mike D'Antoni who is always always yelling.
coaches who yell a lot can achieve short-term success but in the long run they often tune out players fairly quickly and the team can collapse in key situations (prime examples we have avery the dictator )
You can not win in any sport or in life without personal responsibility and accountability. Rick Adelman is a bit like Tony Dungy too, the guys respect him, and understand what is expected of him....he does not have to yell. The problem comes if you are a player that has never been held accountable, and now, suddenly you are, not by the coach etc, but by your own teamates. That is when you have to look in the mirror and change the "They"s to "I"s DD
Yes, I agree. That's why I said not everyone can always understand what he thinks. Tmac definitely had this problem. I think SF also had the same problem. He said he did really good in practice but had no idea why he never got a chance to play. I assume RA never told him what he did wrong either. Maybe Dorsey too.
Personally, I'd like to see a little more emotion from him court side. He doesn't need to be a raving lunatic, but I want to know that he has an emotional investment in the team and too often he looks like- "whatever". I never got that feeling from JVG.
While I think RA is a good coach... I think he is a bad coach with this team. Two superstars and one with an attitude and work ethic problem just don't mix with his style... which is why the Rockets are still competitive with anyone even without Mac and Artest. The Kings worked(except for choking come playoffs) because no one needed to be the 'man' every night and they had every aspect covered (3 point shooting, big man who could hit the high post jumpers, good passing big men, solid point guard).
If we don't do something big this season, you have to start wondering why two highly regarded coaches that have both reached the finals at least once haven't been able to have any real success with this Yao/McGrady-based team. They even brought two different styles of coaching: one defensive-based and the other offensive-based. They also had contrasting personalities: one wore his heart on his sleeve and the other has a stoic demeanor. I think the reason is rooted in the poor drafting and contracts that plagued the Rockets for about a decade shortly after the championship era. We just recently got out from under the budget constraints and all those wasted draft picks had to have a long-term effect. In other words, no matter who coached this team, there was little chance of success because of the lack of talent, whether you're talking about key players or role players or both. If they stick with Adelman for several years and continue to draft better and make sound contract decisions, we will eventually have greater success. I think the same could have been said if we stuck with JVG. Coaches often get blamed for things beyond their control despite the fact that the players on the court determine about 90% of a team's success. A coach can only do so much.
The quote from Luther in that article didn't sound all that positive to me. I'm not sold on Adelman as the Rockets' coach and Justice's article didn't really help because he probably fabricated most of it. I have a very difficult time believing he tells his players to their face when he has something to say to them. The players seem too confused with their roles for this to be true. JVG absolutely told players what he thought and that was very obvious any time you heard the players talk about him. I really wonder if Adelman still has it in him to coach new age type players. Unfortunately, many NBA players, even some NBA stars need external motivation to get the most out of their talent. I'm not sure Adelman knows how to do that or even cares to try. This "he's players coach" talk scares me when most of the time I hear that I see guys who run teams who underachieve and do not win. Simply put, If you don't have a strong leader on the court you need one on the sidelines and I don't think Rick Adelman is that guy. Either make a trade for a leader on the court or get a coach who can rule with discipline without being a jerk about it.
true, but they help you succeed quicker (see larry brown as an example. everywhere he goes, he usually succeeds ala deep in the playoffs but his players tune him out after 3-4 years). i don't think any player tuned out JVG, but i'm sure management did.
Im not sold on Adelman. Theres times when you can see how great his system is with the second unit, the speedy guys. But our starters just aren't built for the motion offense, and often we come out slow and stagnant, looking like we arent prepared. Other times I really come away questioning his coaching decisions when it comes to minutes distribution. I think he is better suited with a different type of players than we have, like say the Hawks.
Another silly fluff piece from one of the worst publications in America. So he doesn't yell at the players - great, I get it. It remains to be seen whether he was the right coach for this team. For the record, I like Rick a lot, but his supposed motion offense does not fit our core personnel AT ALL. So what was even the point of canning Van Gundy, a guy who could actually get through to McGrady, and under whom Yao was playing the best ball of his career?
There was another article earlier in the year about how Adelman handles Artest. It basically said the same thing, that he talks to him one-on-one when he has something to say to him, and that was the only way to communicate with him. What evidence is there of any of this? The Rockets didn't get the most out of their talent last year? What's one example of a team with a "players coach" that underachieves?
