Minnesota Sports Forum

I've been a huge Adelman supporter from the minute he arrived here. His track record as a head coach speaks for itself. But at this point, he's lost me. Reasons:

--Derrick Williams: Couldn't develop him into a role player on a team with a weak bench. Traded him when his value was at an all-time low and got very little in return.

--Shved: Started off his rookie season great. Ended bad and carried that play over into this season. I was ready to give up on him when all of a sudden he started playing aggressively and contributing. His reward: DNPCDs. Also, anybody with eyes can see his strongest position is point guard. Yet he's primarily used as a two guard.

--Dieng: Adelman seems well aware that Pek and K-Love have one major weakness: they can't protect the rim. You would think developing Dieng would be a high priority. Well, Dieng has played roughly 150 minutes in 50 games. Probably more than half of those minutes were in meaningless garbage time. Yet despite barely playing, he hasn't been sent to the D-league. Player development at it's finest.

--Shabazz: I didn't like him when we drafted him and I don't like him now. But then again, he hasn't played at all so it's hard to tell if he truly sucks. Normally I'd be OK with him not playing, but considering the production we have(n't) gotten from other bench players, maybe he should have been given a longer look. On the bright side, at least he got some run in the D-league. He played well there and earned a right to come back up to the big club and sit on the bench.

--Bud: Everybody was hoping he would give us a boost when he came back. Instead he has been a train-wreck. Still, Bud is Adelman's player so we've seen a lot of him in big moments recently--the result usually being a wide open shot missed. Meanwhile Shved must be sitting on the bench scratching his head through his mask.

--K-Love: Has carried more weight than a cartel drug mule. By the end of the season he may have the body of a 35 year-old player. Adelman's motto: win now--win this game tonight. Up 10 with 90 seconds to go and a guy can barely walk? Let him play it out.

--Rubio: Still a servicable player but hasn't developed much at all this season. At times has lost confidence (he even admitted it). Often watches the 4th quarter from the bench. Everybody expected/hoped he would develop this year. He hasn't.

and finally...drum roll please....

--Barea: Here is a tweet from Britt Robson after the Pelicans game:

"@brittrobson To me bigger issue is Barea/Rubio in 4th. Barea has 100+ 4q mins than Rubio. At the point. Barea."

So Barea has played over 100 minutes more this season than Rubio in the 4th quarter. Amazing.

Two things to note here: First, playing Barea is not helping us win close games. That has been proven. Second, how can Rubio develop if his backup (who is not helping us win) is playing significantly more minutes than he is during crunch time? If Adelman has the answer to that question I'd love to hear it.

More worrying, is the fact that Adelman is actively NOT COACHING on timeouts (or really any other time during the game). I think his horrible rotations, and rotational timing is only the tip of this disfunctional iceberg.

I think we need a coaching change, but the JJ minutes in the 4th have more to do with rotations than Ricky not getting needed minutes. Our starters generally play the whole 3rd, with the bench spelling them to start the 4th so it seems reasonable that JJ would play more minutes in the 4th.

I am more concerned with the DC and Bud minutes than anything else. Adelman uses the lack of defense excuse to justify "his guys"' playing over others, but yet Bud has been atrocious on both ends of the floor and is still getting minutes.

Unfortunately this goes deeper than Adelman. Flip stated on the Funkadelic that he didn't expect to see Bud at 100% until a year from now. Does Flip not understand that recovery from a meniscus tear is considerably different than that of an ACL. I think he is trying to cover his ass on the signing.

It also sounds like Adelman has lost Flip too. Being bad is 1 thing.....being bad without the upper levels on the same sheet of music is a different level of problems. If Adelman is running this show, then Flip needs to fall in line.........If Flip is, then Adelman needs to do so. That should be resolved sooner rather than later.

Adelman's gone after this year. The players aren't satisfied. Flip isn't satisfied. The fans aren't satisfied. This team needs a shakeup. We also need to do SOMETHING about talent development. Usually that means big changes at coaching positions. Need young blood leading the team.

Need somebody that doesn't have a win at all costs right now mentality. That's always been the problem with Rick here. I can't blame him, but as I've said many times, it put an artificial ceiling on this rebuild. The fact that we never even made the playoffs makes it a complete disaster.

If I remember correctly player development was a big reason Houston got rid of him, now we are seeing the same thing here. Like you said we have literally no scoring coming from our bench how, does Shabazz not get in? We have no rim protection but Dieng never plays. I can't imagine a more perfect situation for these guys to get playing time and yet they don't see the court.

I agree markkbu we have no chance is the coach and GM aren't on the same page. I have absolutely no inside info but here's what I think happened in the off season. Glen Taylor thought Adelman was a good coach and wanted to keep him. Adelman tells Taylor he just needs the right play. Flip is hired to be the GM but told to work with Adelman to get his players. This is why he often refers to Adelman when answering questions about players.

It also sounds like Adelman has lost Flip too.

Agree -- on the funkadelic, Flip says "you'll have to ask the coach" about rotations, etc. That's code for "I would do it differently"

Yay, another rebuild/shake up/new coach/lottery pick season. (says in soft, sarcastic voice). Yay...

Another thing that infuriated me with Adelman was trading away our first round pick in a deep draft for Budinger. Houston gets Terrence Jones (the guy I would have picked) on a rookie contract and we end up with Budinger the free agent who we overpay to keep.