Adelman to Houston

[Skandery]

Everybody knows I think Rick Adelman is a great coach and one of the more underappreciated basketball minds we have.  I think in many respects he'll do wonders for the program but I am a little leary of the way the roster is built right now.  You have essentially a low-post presence in Yao Ming (something Rick's never had--Chris Webber is close, but...), and a half-court one-on-one type in T-Mac (something he had in Clyde Drexler).  Glide was better than T-Mac in the open court and was more fit and less injury prone.  Now its not that I think this is a bad hire but I question the motives and circumstances behind it.

It's no secret that the owner of the Rockets (forget his name) was jealous of Phoenix' run-n-gun style and all the league-wide fanfare and excitement that has gone with it.  He never liked the defensive, plodding style of Jeff Van Gundy and blamed him for sagging profits and empty seats.  He was the driving force behind his firing--which I feel was fairly undeserved.  He thought Van Gundy had a choice, well, guess what genius--when you hve a 7'5 giant and a big two guard you don't have much choice but to play a half-court game methodically picking apart the other team and eventually making them succumb to size and strength.  Defensively you have to slow the tempo down so they don't run past your team--which means transition defense and rebounding.  If you're going to have Yao play 35 minutes, you can't be Run-n-Gun. 

I think that this owner thinks Rick Adelman has some magical wand that he'll wave and Poof!, instantly make the Rockets players play the offensively fluid and beautiful game Sacramento had during their heyday.  Yao making backdoor, baseline passes to a cutting Tracy McGrady; Rafer Alston running a motion offense; Chuck Hayes flying down court making spectacular dunks and behind the back passes.  I think the owner will at the very least expect Rick to turn the Rockets into Suns Lite and micromanage Rick's priorities to that end.  Rick molds the gameplan around the roster--not the other way around.  His Portland Trailblazers played a very, very different game from his Sacramento Kings and both were wildly successful.  If I'm right about the Rockets owner and his motives for hiring Adelman, this will end badly for the both of them.  The best thing he can do for Rick is let him coach the way he sees fit without any preconceived notions of what kind of style he'll bring to the Rockets. 

[Joe Vancil]

I'm also concerned about the fact that now, Bonzi Wells wants to stay.  That hurts this team, because the only thing that Wells brings is a bad attitude when things aren't going his way.  Given that the spots he wants are occupied by Battier and McGrady, things aren't going to go his way with Adelman any more than they did with Van Gundy.

Houston needs to jettison Wells quickly.

I'm with Skander on the idea that Adelman isn't a good fit for Houston.

[Lurker]

I agree Skander.  Adelman has his work cut out for him.  Houston's best TEAM player (Adelman is good at making his players play as a team) is Battier...not exactly the franchise player.  This team is not built for running or passing for that matter.  Yao is an average passer out of the post at best and to put him in the high post ala Webber/Miller takes away his strength...size and shooting touch from the low post.  Alston is living his fantasy of being a starting NBA point guard...problem is it should have stayed a fantasy.   My guess is Adelman last 2 years.


BTW owner's name is Alexander.

[westkoast]

Excellent break down Skander.  Major props for this.  This is a better piece then I've seen some sportswriters pen lately    After reading this you have me convinced that what the motive was.  At first I was thinking they wanted a change and Adleman was the best coach on the market but you bring up very interesting points.

Without someone in the post like Vlade Divac or Chris Webber I don't see how the owner would expect to get a Suns lite or even a second coming of the Kings (who btw are better then this current Suns squad).  The reason the offense was so fluid was the passing ability of alot of the players on this squad.  T-Mac and Yao are not great in that category.  They never have been.   They also don't have a PG who can be a Mike Bibby let alone a Steve Nash.   Raef is a street basketball player who slightly adjusted his game.  He is not a true PG and has the mentality of a Stephon Marbury.

While Van Gundy's style didn't produce what the owner wanted it seems like it wasn't a stretch to make it a defensive team as much as it sounds like a stretch to turn them into 'Suns lite'.  The squad could be a good defensive team if the anchor (Ming) played a little bit more tough.  Shane Battier is a good defender IMO.  If you have a good guy on the perimeter and a strong presence in the middle you can play more consistant and better basketball for the long run.

[Reality]

Adleman Rockets will be much better the Van Gundy Rockets.
While he only has one championship may not win another title with the Rockets, immediate improvement.
Certainly out of the 1st Round, unless its some phenominal Greg Oden Portland team that bounces them.

[rickortreat]

Adelman is an improvement over Van Gundy, so it won't get any worse.  As long as the owner gives him time, Rick will turn the team into a successful one.

There are lots of worse teams with less potential than one with T-Mac and Yao. over time, Adelman will figure out how to get the most out of what he has, and the kinds of players he needs to compliment what he has.

I think he'll last longer than 2 seasons.  He should be given at least that long to show improvement. 

[westkoast]

Adleman Rockets will be much better the Van Gundy Rockets.
While he only has one championship may not win another title with the Rockets, immediate improvement.
Certainly out of the 1st Round, unless its some phenominal Greg Oden Portland team that bounces them.

There is one thing Adleman cannot change...

The talent in the west...SA, Utah, PHX, DAL are all better teams then Houston even with a new coach.

[Lurker]

Adelmaan thinks Yao can play in the high post...and play an uptempo game.

Rockets introduce Adelman as new coach

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

There were ideas and plans, offensive philosophies Rick Adelman described as he no doubt had in that meeting with Rockets owner Leslie Alexander that so quickly and completely sold Alexander on making Adelman his coach.

Adelman talked about moving Yao Ming to a high post more often. He spoke of making things easier for Tracy McGrady. He alluded to offensive tempo and freedom and using players to fit strengths no matter what strengths the roster might bring.

Adelman spoke Wednesday after he had been introduced as the Rockets' 11th head coach, having signed a four-year contract (with the fourth at the team's option). And no matter the subject, there was a conviction that came through after 752 career wins over 16 seasons.

Again and again, Adelman said the words "I really believe that." And it became clear how Alexander had become similarly convinced.

"We're lucky to get him," Alexander said. "Hopefully, we will be able to add more talent during the offseason. Hopefully, our players will be better in the playoffs, and that will take us farther down the line. And hopefully, we can get much deeper in the playoffs. That's my expectation."

Adelman was not specific about expectations, but he demonstrated a certainty he would win in Houston.

"I knew jobs were going to come up," Adelman, 60, said. "This has everything I was looking for: the ownership, the city, the team with talent. Everything was there. All the positives were there. It was pretty positive for me. If I was going to coach, this was the situation.

"I have to take this group I have here and give them an identity. I really feel confident that over the years we have developed things we can use with whoever we have."

Adelman already had some definite ideas about how to be successful, from general style to specific strategies.

"We will be able to be up-tempo," he said. "Up-tempo can be somewhat exaggerated. I call it more of a flow of the game. You get more of a chance to react to what the defense is doing. I had Vlade Divac at center in Sacramento, and he's not a speedster. But we ran, and we got into up-tempo. I had Kevin Duckworth in Portland, who was the same way. There's no reason you can't (run).

"Watching Yao, it's not how fast you are; it's your intent to get up and down the court. If you get into good quick action, that's what we try to do: get into something quicker, not just walk it down. Call a play. I don't see why you can't do that."

Yao as playmaker
Though he praised Yao's establishment in the low post as the right strategy for that stage of Yao's career, Adelman plans to use Yao in a greater variety of ways.

"I think (previous coach) Jeff (Van Gundy) did a really good job to get him confident in a low-post area where 'this is mine; this is what I can do,' " Adelman said. "I'm going to try to see if we can't do some other things with (Yao). He's a great shooter. I think he can be a very good passer. I think he's ready for that now.

"If he can shoot 87 percent from the free-throw line, I have a feeling he can make a free-throw-line jumper. You're not going to just see him at the low post. It's my hope you're not going to see him just as a scorer; you're going to see him as a playmaker, too."

Adelman similarly said he would try to use McGrady differently by letting more of the offense come to him, rather than have McGrady trigger so much of the offense.

"I look at Tracy, and my intent would be to make the game easier for him," Adelman said. "I really believe that. I would try to do some things that make it easier when the defense is locked onto him all the time. I think he can elevate his game. We can find ways to get him the ball maybe he hasn't had before. That's going to be my job."

Alexander said that approach — along with a lunch with Clyde Drexler in which Drexler spent 20 minutes gushing about his former Portland coach — was a key to his decision.

"One of the first things he said to me was 'I think I can make life easier for your two big stars, especially Yao. I can put them in position to have an easier time,' " Alexander said. "I think one of the keys to this team being a big winner is having our two best players in position where they can be much more efficient.

"They do have miles on them. Hopefully, this coach can take them to a place they want to be."


Coach wants Wells back
Adelman would like to see Bonzi Wells, who played one season for Adelman in Sacramento but has been expected to opt out of his Rockets contract, return. He would like to add more versatile attacking players. And he said he will spend the next few days building a coaching staff, specifically citing Elston Turner, an assistant under Adelman in Sacramento who is now a candidate to become the Kings' coach.

But mostly, as Adelman described his vision for the Rockets, his confidence came through.

"I've always felt that if you can put a player in a position to be better and they know that's happening, that's going to make the team better, and they're going to buy into what you're trying to do," Adelman said. "I know that's successful, because I've done it."

jonathan.feigen@chron.com