I really would have loved to see what he could do as a head coach before we moved Bickerstaff up. Thanks Finch for the years good luck wherever you end up.
Haven't we been down this road before? I used to think this, too. But, changed my mind when Batman Jones disputed this rumor on multiple occasions, after having asked Morey directly in person...with a detailed response that apparently is considered too sensitive to repeat to us in detail.
Here's an article on Adelman and successors, but it's based on unnamed sources. http://www.chron.com/sports/rockets...disagreed-over-coaching-successor-1686558.php Adelman, Rockets disagreed over coaching successor Adelman declined to mentor successor Rockets tried to make their pick for next coach a new assistant JONATHAN FEIGEN , Copyright 2011 Houston Chronicle Published 5:30 am, Monday, May 2, 2011 The Rockets had decided they would choose Rick Adelman's successor even before the team and the coach had agreed to part ways. Adelman could have remained the Rockets' head coach, but was told that the Rockets had decided to hire his successor and put him on Adelman’s coaching staff if he remained, according to two individuals with knowledge of the talks. Though Adelman and Rockets general manager Daryl Morey came together on several issues, Morey wanted Adelman to mentor a successor that Morey and Rockets owner Leslie Alexander would have chosen and put on Adelman’s staff. Adelman was unwilling to make the changes necessary to his staff, arguing in favor of assistants. Adelman, 64, has long touted lead assistant Elston Turner as ready to lead a team, but the Rockets were not willing to designate Turner as Adelman’s successor, leading to Turner’s decision to turn down an offer to interview for the head coaching position. There were discussions about adding Rio Grande Valley Vipers coach Chris Finch to the Rockets staff, according to both persons familiar with the talks, but it is unclear if Finch would have been designated as the head coach in waiting. Finch led the Vipers to the 2009-10 NBA Development League championship and to this season’s D-League Finals. Related Stories Rockets' Turner to interview for Suns’ head coaching job Morey has been unwilling to discuss the disagreements that led to Adelman’s departure. “We agreed to keep those conversations to ourselves,” Morey said last month. “We feel like we need change. I think the differences in terms of the mutual fit revolve around that.” Though there have been instances in which assistant coaches have been designated to succeed veteran coaches, in those cases the assistant was part of a staff, rather than placed on the staff by the front office. It is even more unusual given Adelman’s track record. He moved to eighth in career coaching wins and had the best winning percentage as Rockets coach in franchise history. His assistants – Turner, Jack Sikma, T.R. Dunn and R.J. Adelman – had been on Adelman’s staff in all four seasons in Houston. Turner was a Sacramento assistant under Adelman for six seasons, Dunn for four seasons. Sikma, who interviewed for the Rockets head coaching position last week, was an assistant coach in Seattle for four seasons. R.J. Adelman had been an advance scout for the Kings and SuperSonics before joining his father in Houston. The insistence on putting a successor on Adelman’s staff would not be a part of the current coaching search because the Rockets are not expected to choose a coach late in his career. They could, however, seek to place Finch or another coach with a player development background on a new coach’s staff. Finch is not expected to be a candidate for the head coaching position with the Rockets apparently seeking a coach with experience as an NBA head or assistant coach. The Rockets interviewed Mike Woodson, Mario Elie, Kelvin Sampson and Sikma last week and are expected to meet with Sam Cassell and Kevin McHale this week. They have also shown interest in Dallas’ Dwane Casey, New Orleans’ Michael Malone, Boston’s Lawrence Frank, Los Angeles’ Brian Shaw and San Antonio’s Mike Budenholzer, though Budenholzer said he was not looking to leave San Antonio.
And I think he was mistaken or the reports are mistaken, because Finch never came close to being our HC...JBB did. The whole premise is Finch was on a tenure track. Well, the next coach replaced him with his own man, JBB. And Elston Turner was already interviewing for other jobs (A YEAR BEFORE -- the Clippers in 2010). Turner wasn't going to live forever as Adelman's side kick until he dies. So, you put that all on the table next to what Batman Jones tells us Morey said, and the old story just doesn't make sense anymore. sorry, I no longer buy the story, as much as I espoused it to question Morey and Les's ability to manage coaches.
BMJ didn't say anything other than there was more to the story. I believe he believes that. I believe what Adelman said. DD
And I believe facts Turner wanted to leave Adelman in 2010 the yr before Finch was replaced by JBB Turner immediately left Adelman after the Rockets Thus Turner didn't care and Morsey let the next coach replace with JBB Finch wasn't an issue st all BJ merely confirmed my suspicions and what are these Adelman quotes anyhow. Not a Feigen editorial comment
Depends how much stock you put in Woj in this article about the hiring of McHale... This is no longer a live link on yahoo sports, but it was also reported on numerous basketball sites.
That's not what we are really talking about. The question is did Morey try to force Finch upon Adelman as his head assistant vs Turner, because the story is Morey and Les wanted Adelman to stay, but on the condition Turner is replaced with Finch, so Adelman left in solidarity to his head assistant. Clearly the Woj article (which is a recycling of a Feigen article) does not address that McHale chose his own head assistant JBB and two others. That's a fact If Adelman left because of Finch, it wasn't to protect Turner. Also a fact
As a MOF, I will take BatmanJones or Hypernator or any other MOF says over Woj on any day :grin: Finch was another Morey Puppet and MOFs are b-hurt that Maury can not excercise his "basket-ball mind" over the Rockets Org any more at least the way he used to.
I thought the debate was whether Adelman left because Morey forced Finch on him. Of course no one involved (Morey, Finch, Adelman) would ever state directly in the press, but there are enough reports that it happened that i would believe it happened. The fact that Finch ended up on McHale's staff also supports this.
Read the Feigen article that Mr. Clutch posted above. That's the story. And I believed it. I believed Les meddled with conditionals and Adelman refused and bolted. But I no longer believe that Finch becoming the "head coach in waiting" was the conditional. That's because compounding facts over time clearly dispute that story now. That's because Sampson was McHale's first head assistant...(Coached when McHale's daughter died in 2012). When Sampson left, JBB became head assistant. When D'Antoni got hired, they jettisoned Finch. Finch never sniffed the job...not as head asst and not as a HC hire. Now, we could say Les and Adelman discussed a plan for if/when Elston Turner left...since he had started taking interviews a year before. And maybe Les demanded that he replace Turner with Finch in the event Turner left. But facts show that Turner left Adelman anyhow, so what Coach would turn down an extension for someone who was looking for a new job anyhow. And, Finch never got Turner's job with McHale ... both Sampson and JBB were ahead of him. That said: Coaches not only get salaries, but they also get a budget/approval for hiring their assistants. If Les wanted to renegotiate the contract to remove the right for Adelman to pick his own replacement for Turner (should he get a new job during Adelman's remaining years with the Rockets), then that would be trouble for me as a coach. That's pure speculation on my part. But the only thing that I see as a remaining possibility in the Les' meddling theory. Yet, that theory also disputes Feigen's story about Finch...McHale hired who he wanted. And on top of that is BJ's claim (directly sourced from a convo with Morey) that the Finch story was actually not the issue. Bottomline: What was reported by Feigen in 2011 regarding Finch never came close to materializing. We know that now. So, I have stopped believing that story. BJ didn't convince me, just another source story that jives with the new facts.
