Sports / Basketball |
Adelman agrees on deal with RocketsBy JONATHAN FEIGEN (Houston Chronicle)Updated: 2007-05-22 14:13 Rick Adelman, the only candidate the Rockets pursued, agreed to terms Monday on a contract to become the team's next coach, a person with knowledge of the Rockets' decision-making said. Adelman will fly to Houston today and be introduced Wednesday. "The Rockets organization will get an outstanding coach," said Hall of Fame guard Clyde Drexler, whom Adelman coached in six of Drexler's 11-plus seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers. "I think he's the guy to get them over the top." After a series of meetings with Rockets owner Leslie Alexander and general manager Daryl Morey on May 11 and May 12 — less than a week after the team's first-round playoff loss to the Utah Jazz — Adelman became the Rockets' choice to succeed Jeff Van Gundy, who on Friday was fired after four seasons as coach. "Rick is a really good coach and a better guy," Van Gundy said. "I think he'll really do well." Morey, Alexander and Adelman were not available for comment. Adelman, 60, is 752-481 in 16 seasons as an NBA coach. He has a 70-68 postseason record. He led Portland to the NBA Finals in 1990 and 1992 and advanced to the Western Conference finals in 1991 with the Trail Blazers and 2002 with the Sacramento Kings. Adelman's .610 winning percentage is the highest among coaches without an NBA championship. Jerry Sloan (.600) and George Karl (.588) are next on the list. Selected by the Rockets in the seventh round of the 1968 draft, Adelman went to the Trail Blazers in the 1970 expansion draft before the Rockets moved from San Diego to Houston. Adelman will join Rudy Tomjanovich as the only former Rockets players to become the franchise's coach. Of the five teams for which Adelman played, the Rockets will be the third to hire him as coach, joining the Trail Blazers and Kings. He also played for the Chicago Bulls and New Orleans Jazz during a seven-year career. With Portland and his first Sacramento teams, Adelman had faced-paced, high scoring clubs. His later squads, while still among the NBA's top scoring teams, were more half-court oriented and used a lot of cuts and screens in a variation of the Princeton offense. Adelman's first seven Sacramento teams were among the top three scoring teams in the NBA, and his first three Kings clubs led the league in scoring. His 2001-02 team, which advanced to Game 7 of the Western Conference finals before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers, won 61 games by an average of 7.6 points. Adelman was fired after the 2005-06 season in which the Kings went 44-38 before losing to the San Antonio Spurs in six games in the first round of the playoffs. His best season as a coach might have been with the 1990-91 Blazers. Portland went 63-19 before losing to the Lakers in the Western Conference finals. |
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