What would our record be with Rick Adelman coaching this team?

Rick Adelman is a great coach but he would have a very hard time coaching the Rockets and the Twolves at the same time.

 

The only advantage McHale has is that he was the better player way back when. He was an awesome PF. He wasn't incredibly athletic, but he knew how to use his wit to score on anyone. That same wit just didn't follow him into coaching.

Nobody is going to claim Rick is the best coach of all time, but in terms of results with both talented and depleted rosters, McHale isn't in the discussion. The stats you have to interpret beyond the box score show that Rick, and JVG, are in a completely different realm of coaching and confidence than our current coach. Every other NBA coach knows this and so does DM. McHale's position, in my opinion, is largely based on the reach Morey wants to have on the court, which is fine, but either way, you can't hide talent deficits season after season.

I think many of you tend to underestimate the increased amount of wins we would have with Rick, even this season. Rick would have adjusted and changed the line-up/offensive scheme before some of our STUPID losses to inferior teams actually occurred. As other posters mentioned, Rick was able to produce winning streaks and seasons during times with rosters without all-stars, incredible talent, etc. The Rafer example is spot on. Rick knew how to take an average guard and play to his strengths, and in turn, gave him the confidence to go to war against superior players.

McHale does not know HOW to do this until the game is over. He needs time to analyze the game as a whole before he can adjust for the better.

In some ways, I think McHale is so stubborn that he wants to prove to everyone that his way is the right way. He will use some sort of defensive match-up or play the same 5 guys that are struggling even if we are being blown out. I truly think that he hopes that his decisions are somehow going to magically start working at some point in the game and that his naysayers will see his master plan.

I'm starting to feel sympathy for McHale. He just does not possess so many of the qualities needed to be a great, legendary coach.

True, maybe he says some proactive words during time outs, and maybe he contributed in our signing of Dwight (as did Dream, Yao, Chandler, DM, James, Bun-B, etc) but he is just out of his element when it comes to "guts" of coaching, and more importantly, being able to out-coach the other guy in a suit and tie.

 

Rudy-T > Adelman > JVG > McHale

 

Although Adelman has shown himself to be fairly flexible, this team really doesn't seem suited for his style of play. He likes wings whose strength is playing off the ball, and big men with an outside shot and a deft passing touch. Neither Harden nor Howard fit those descriptions.

The only guy in the current lineup I'd confidently say would thrive under Adelman is Parsons.

As others have said, I'm sure he'd adjust to the talents given. But I just don't see this lineup to be a great fit to Adelman's known strengths.

 

My guess is we'd have 4 to 6 less losses. We'd win 2 to 3 games we lost where we blew a really big lead or was super close. And 2 to 3 games against really bad teams where we shouldn't have lost.

 

I don't think McHale putting players in situations where they are given choices is bad. I think it will mature them faster and make them eventually a more difficult defense to defend. But it's not like they are completely ad libbing out there. They are running sets, it's just that when the defenses tighten up the execution falters. It doesn't matter how much structure you have, if you can't execute well you will look bad. And that is what happened the last two games.

I don't think there is a significant difference between most quality NBA coaches during the regular season. I don't think our record would be much different with Adelman. Ultimately a coach's job is to maximize his players talents on both ends of the court in a team structure. McHale has decided to do that by going for efficient shots and an uptempo style. Would we have more wins with Rick? I don't think so. Minnesota isn't exactly tearing it up.

I think McHale is doing a good job. I think the issue s that people expect more from the players than they are capable of providing at this time.

Yes and James Harden = Michael Jordan and Parsons = Pippen? Seriously? My point is as great as that team was talent wise, it still only won 55 games and didn't make it to the finals - and lost for the 3rd time against the Pistons.

So when McHale took over last year, everyone thought we'd be a lotto team. Remember that? I mean McHale and RA had essentially the same record with the same team - so I just don't understand where people can make these claims. And Minnesota isn't exactly tearing it up.

I don't know why people dog on McHale so much as a head coach. I think he's getting the most out of this young team as possible. Seems to me all they need to do is learn how to play with poise against tough defenses and they can make some noise. They aren't that far away from being a very strong team.

 

Who exactly??

 

Everytime I hear McHale say "in our offense we really don't run many plays" I gringe and wish we still had Adelman.

 

Rick Adelman has the best winning% of any coach in Rockets history. All this, with a YOUNG inexperienced team with WAY LESS talent than we have now. It kills me how overtly stupid & misinformed some of you are. Then again, some of you are probably spewing nonsense just for a reaction. This team would be FAR better and more efficient under Adelman than we are currently.

 

I agree McMillan would be a great choice. But there's really nothing that would indicate he's a better coach than Adelman. Remember who has the Rockets highest winning percentage with Chuck Hayes starting as center

 

DMo would probably fit.

I have been saying this for some time. Harden has shown that he could thrive in back door cuts and stuff like that at the very beginning of last season. Then they began to give him the ball at the top to create offense and he never left that spot ever since.

 

The team would be cohesive and have 5 more wins.

Every season that Adelman was here, he produced results. Yao was out, Mac was out and insert Artest instead, he always got solid production. That last year where it was Yao/Artest and Mac and his 20mil contract were rotting on the bench, we were essentially the 2nd seed but lost the last game of the season and thus the tiebreaker.

The team as structured is like a bunch of pre-school kids when the teacher goes out of the room. They don't have any sense of direction or cohesiveness.

 

Rudy-T >Bill Fitch >Del Harris > Adelman > JVG > McHale > Cheney

There. Fixed.

 

I dont know I feel like we would be a .500 team IMO. I dont think Rick could get Dwight to by into his system and he would most likely be really critical of Dwight and Harden.

 

I think this is a really great discussion. I think the Rockets FO is always creating bad blood with folks. I understand that Morey looks like a genius now, but there are a number of other very likely scenarios where he would no longer be a part of the organization.

Our concepts of efficiency have moved from 1) practical field-based approach that Adelman had, teaching players how to move without the ball and set off the ball picks to get open, continuously move the ball to open players, and work hard to get open shots; to 2) theoretical approach by Morey to only take layups/dunks or 3-point shots. Morey is right on target with his approach (and gets McHale to uphold it 100%), and we are scoring at an astonishing rate, but I think this model breaks down in crunch time when the players need to rely on mental toughness (and frankly the ability to hit grade-school 15 foot jump shots). Maybe, the model can actually work, if there was a balanced approach and Morey let the coach instill some offensive schemes. Unfortunately, McHale is not dependable in devising even a meager inbound play and is not the coach to help our players learn in a structured setting. He is best allowing young players to run loose which inevitably exposes their offensive upside, but does not test their tough character to make the right decisions when it matters (end of games). Our guys have lost the basic sense of accomplishing at the free throw line (not just Dwight Howard), and that is of major concern to me.

To address original question posed in thread, Rockets are 29-17, I think with Adelman they could be as good as 34-12 (and likely worse) to be a few games out from the best teams in the league (I think we would be better with Adelman, but not better than Miami). Adelman was a offensive system coach, he got the players to become efficient scoring machines. There is a reason Adelman always wants to play with Kevin Martin, because he was the most undervalued highly efficient player in the league (as of a couple years ago). Adelman is the 8th winningest coach (with 500+ games) of all time, no small feet. Still, I think it is important to question why Adelman is not able to get more out of the Wolves with their talented starting 5.

 

You are aware tha our record in those 2 good adelman years were pretty similar to our record today right? And it is not like we haven't had any injuries this year.
2007-2008 55-27=.671
2008-2009 53-29=.646 (Yao played 77 games)
2013-2014 29-17=.630

And to add to that:
in 2006-2007 (the last JVG year), we had a record of 52-30=.634 even though Yao played only 48 games. So Adelman was not a big upgrade over JVG (IMHO I prefer JVG as a coach).

Again i'm not saying Mchale is a great coach, he has made some mistakes this year, but every coach makes mistakes. And I'm just not that impressed with Adelman, not when he was our coach and not now with the Timberwolves. He is a good coach, but he is not as briliant as some posters make him out to be. And I do not think he is the right coach for this team.

Also people are complaining Mchale is overusing Harden with 38 mpg, but in 2007-2008 Adelman played Yao 37 mpg, even though he had 2 years of bad injuries previous to that year.

 

Pretty much spot on. Those are my thoughts exactly. However, I don't think adelman would force his system on his team. He always plays to his players strengths, no matter if they fit his system or not.