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The Adelman Conundrum

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by verse, Feb 2, 2011.

  1. verse

    verse Contributing Member

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    If you are Rick Adelman, going through this season with no contract for next, what is your primal instinct? To win. There will be no extensions given, I don't believe, should the team completely implode and slide into deep losing streaks. He has to win in order to keep his job, his security, his livelihood with the Houston Rockets, and his every decision with players is effected by that simple undeniable fact.

    While many here pine for less pine for Patterson and Williams, and want to develop these guys, the reality is that playing them doesn't give us a greater chance of winning this season - and that is Adelman's only concern. He has no vested interest in these guys being better in two years because, as far as he knows, he won't be collecting a paycheck from this organization at that time. Thus, he plays the guys he feels will earn him the extension any coach would want.

    So if you are Les Alexander, and by extension Daryl Morey, what do you do? Everyone knows the most likely way for us to get the superstar player is through the draft, but winning enough games to be the 10th or 9th seed only pushes us away from that goal. I think the team has to make a decision NOW on Adelman. Let him know if he's going to be extended, so he can play guys that need developing, without concern for his record this year. Or let him know that he won't be back, and insist he play those guys for the good of the team. It won't reflect poorly on him anyway, since he'd be leaving.

    As is, we are in conflict with ourselves. We know we aren't contenders, have unsuccessfully tried to get a superstar via trade, but won't commit FULLY to developing the young guns. The only way to do that is to give Pat and Williams minutes, see if they even have a possibility of becoming alpha dogs and sit/trade/IR Scola and one of our guards. Should we lose...and we would lose a lot of games...so be it. We will be on course for both a high lotto pick, and will know from realtime game experience what these guys are made of. Until then, we are watching a coach do what any of us would do - try to secure his own future.
     
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  2. Garner

    Garner Member

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    You assume adelman wants to remain with Houston.
     
  3. rockbox

    rockbox Around before clutchcity.com

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    I never understood why they haven't extended Adelman. We are not going to get a better coach. Phil and Pops aren't coming to town.
     
  4. verse

    verse Contributing Member

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    Should he not want to, the organization needs to find out NOW. If that is the case, you fire him and move on with a coach that will do what's in the interest of this team longterm.
     
  5. rockets934life

    rockets934life Contributing Member

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    Exactly, why haven't they extended him? He is a great coach but the earliest we will be contenders will be 2012 and that is the earliest possible. I just think his time is up and he really doesn't want to go through a rebuilding/reloading whatever they want to call it.

    Morey has told him to win games, simple, now if we go in the toliet by the week of the deadline, I wonder how much of that philosophy will Morey reconsider?
     
  6. heypartner

    heypartner Contributing Member

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    Patterson is getting minutes. 14mpg since his first game on Dec 31st. It's Hill who is no longer getting significant minutes.

    Maybe you are saying PPatt should start. He is starting to get 20mpg.
     
  7. solid

    solid Contributing Member

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    Do not resign, bye-bye. Time to retire, past time to retire; he had a great career, went to the Finals, ran out of gas a few seasons ago. Have we even seen his glorious and mysterious system actually executed? Maybe our players can't "read" or "react" but, whatever, let's move on.
     
  8. heypartner

    heypartner Contributing Member

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    Also, your post assumes Morey accepts tanking. And it assumes RA will accept an extension with Houston, in any event.

    Do you really think Jack Sikma signed up as an assistant to coach Patterson? or Yao?
     
  9. xiki

    xiki Contributing Member

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    IMHO RA looks and acts like Dead man Walking. I believe he needs a time-out. Time for RA to retire, and see if he likes that. If not, come back in '12.

    Rather than an exhaustive search, tag Elston Interim and let him earn his stripes for a full ride.

    This is not a hating on Adelman, just result of observation thereof.
     
  10. TheFreak

    TheFreak Contributing Member

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    The Rockets are 5th in offense with no all-stars. I'd say it's being executed pretty well.
     
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  11. verse

    verse Contributing Member

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    As a self-professed chess player, Morey thinks - I hope - in terms of the big picture. Now it may be that the onus to win NOW is on Morey as well as Adelman by way of Les. If that is the case, we have a different kind of problem. We are not accomplishing that, obviously, and nothing short of an improbable, unforeseen trade for a superstar or finding one from the 8-12 draft spot will remedy it. It that is the case, we are bringing a knife to a gunfight.
     
  12. inishi

    inishi Member

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    Finally. Someone gets it. His teams have been gutted and the roster is seriously lacking in many spots. Step back and take a good look at what he has done with the cards he has been dealt. Or we can just get rid of him and follow in Sacramento's footseps
     
  13. studogg

    studogg Contributing Member

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    i called in a posed the adelman question to LZ yesterday and he was convinced that Les is unhappy and that this will be adelmans last season in Hou.
     
  14. raj87

    raj87 Member

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    If Rick Adelman is not going to be here next year, Lord knows what offense will be run in the 11-12 season. Lame duck coach will need to play Terrence Williams.
     
  15. xiki

    xiki Contributing Member

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    Mr Insightful. I hold onto his pearls of wiz.

    But, I believe RA is unhappy enough for all three of them, and that neither is on the same page as RA.
     
  16. morpheus133

    morpheus133 Member

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    The assumption seems to be that letting him go would lead to a better coach replacing him. It's certainly possible, but I wouldn't say likely. It isn't like the team is underachieving and Phil Jackson and Pops are hoping Adelman leaves so they can jump ship and come coach in Houston to ride all this talent to another ring. If we got lucky maybe the Rockets find a bright young assistant coach who becomes a great head coach, but it would still take alot of luck and a drastic roster improvement for him to reach Adelman's peak levels of success. It's much the same as when JVG was let go. I argued then that changing coaches was much less important than changing the roster, and I still believe that to be the case now. And the roster did improve drastically during Adelman's tenure over the supporting cast JVG had to work with. Unfortunately our stars could not stay healthy and are not easy to replace regardless of who our GM is.

    If we are lucky we will get another side-grade, but there is a good chance we get stuck with a down-grade if we change coaches. Regardless of how good a coach was brought in, coaching alone isn't going to make us contenders.
     
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  17. Rockets_4_life

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    If Adelman is leaving, we need to trade Kevin Martin at this trade deadline..

    The guy's stat's will take an impact by playing in a different system, hence his trade value might also take an impact..

    We need to sell high with Martin before his value decreases....
     
  18. HeyDude

    HeyDude Contributing Member

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    ?? We're like 2nd in assists and 5th in overall offense. I dont even think JVG's defense was as good as our offense is, and this is with just a bunch of role players with not only no superstar, but not even an all star....yea, I would say his 'glorious' system is being executed just fine ;)

    As far as him not wanting to play young players, exactly what players are there that need major minutes? Pat is already in the rotation. Hill also got in, but just hasn't performed. DWil is the only one I can think of, but who's minutes is he going to take? Buds? That's not fair to him, he outworked J. Taylor last year, and has kept up his shooting of late. Battier's? Lets face it, that's just not reasonable, Battier is still very good help defender, and decent 1 on 1 defender. Kmarts? Kmart only gets about 30 mins as it is, he's not getting any fewer.

    Also, we're kind of in no man's land. When you're only 4 games back, you can't just give up on the season and play TWil, Hill, and Patterson 30 + minutes. Thats just absurd. Also, its not like RA is not playing young guys. Brooks, Lowry, Lee, patterson, Bud, Hill, all guys in the rotation are not even 25 yet.

    I don't think RA is looking just short term or sabotaging anyone's young career here. There just isn't that diamond in the rough there on our bench. Sure, Twill could be one, but I'm sure he'll get his chance eventually. I give RA props for the job he's done without Yao, and would love to give him an extension. But honestly, I see no 'conundrum' here with RA. He's not the problem here...
     
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  19. heypartner

    heypartner Contributing Member

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    verse--

    If you trade Scola and start playing ppl who aren't proficient at running the offense, what exactly are you running? playground pick-up?

    Leaving aside the highly questionable connection that tanking = a superstar pick in the draft, bringing Patterson up through NBDL time and his first NBA game on Dec 31st, has worked perfectly for RA.

    Ridding PPatt of veterans around him and artificially increasing his role gives him no real NBA experience, just a bunch of nothing...like 36 mpg of garbage time. I contend if you increase PPatt's time from 20mpg (which he's starting to get) to 34 mpg and give TWill 30mpg, all rookie learning will cease, because the offense will be in such disarray....matching rookies on the court together with no cohesion.

    <b>bottomline</b>: They'll just be winging it. And then they'll get tired of being embarrassed by team bball, and then they will question the direction of it all. Leading them to say, "oh, Morey doesn't care about me, he wants us to lose...so he can draft someone to take my job." spirals downhill from there. This has happened before with tanking teams.
     
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  20. mikol13

    mikol13 Protector of the Realm
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    I'm really not sure RA wants to stay with the Rockets beyond this year. Why would he want to stay? Love of coaching? Doubtful.

    RA came here to win a title, this team as constructed can't and won't win.

    Unless Morey is able to work a seemingly impossible deal for a superstar/s, I don't see RA wanting to continue coaching with the Rockets and maybe at all.
     

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