Adelman works better with a squad of quasi-superstars rather then the real kind - players who want to play more as a team rather then try to break down the defense single-handedly.
With Yao and McGrady, he has two players used to being "THE GUY". With the Kings, he really only had to deal with Chris Webber wanting to be "THE GUY", but one of Webber's great gifts just happened to be his great hands that could catch anything and pass brilliantly.
But most importantly, his center in Sacramento was Vlade Divac, who seems to grow in stature the longer he is away from the game. In fact, I would just come out and say that the main difference between what Adelman is working with now compared to his Kings' days is Vlade. He made that offense what it was, no question about it.