Minnesota Sports Forum

I have very mixed feelings about Adelman as a coach and the Williams trade has brought this up a bit for me. His record is 65-99 as our coach. Plenty of explanations/excuses for this, but it should be in play in this discussion. So has he been a good coach for us? Clearly his presence has attracted his ex-players (Kmart and Bud). I feel Adelman has a proven track record and has shown promise in creating a fluid offense for our team. You can't argue with his wins and achievements in Portland, Sacramento and even a bit in Houston. He also has a great relationship with Love which is a bonus for our current roster.

On the flip side he seems completely disinterested in player development (hiring his son initially in this position should have been a red flag for his feeling about this), and is a bit obsessed with certain players and willing to put them in illogical positions, at the cost of defense, based on his trust for their understanding of his system (Luke last year at the 2, JJ guarding Klay Thompson this year).

Just for fun I found this post from a long time ago. It is a criticism from a kings fan from a message board after Adelman was fired from Sac town. Interesting read considering where our team is at right now:

Rick's flaws...

1. Did not make adjustments in the playoffs
-This is a huge reason the Kings lost so many close playoff contests. The Kings won lots of regular season games in part because they only play one game and move on. But in the playoff's a coach is force to adjust over the course of seven games and Rick just refused. Other coaches would adjust and that hurt the Kings badly.

2. To much trust in system
-This is why he didn't make adjustments IMO. Rick always tried to impose his offensive and defensive schemes onto the reality of the game instead of adjusting to the facts on the court. After other coaches adjusted Rick would just keep trucking along with the same plan trusting it would work regardless of the new barriers.

3. He'd play guys based on history and not current production
-Rick stuck with his starters in the crunch even when it was obvious that other guys were playing better during various periods of time.

4. Rick did not play youngsters.
-He either wasn't good at it or did not care to develop young talent. Rookie meant bench under Rick's administration.

5. Poor media skills
-A major reason he was not ask to return.

6. Did fire up his team.
-Rick is not a coach that pumps his team up. Rick sulked but rarely showed any other emotion. IMO this is why the Kings often came out of half time flat.

7. Defense.
-Rick just isn't a good defensive coach. He'd say things like, 'we work on it all the time in practice I don't know why they aren't defending that way during the game.' That type of crap is irratating to me. Because it proved that his team didn't listen or he wasn't really hammering it home. Either options sucks. And some how they managed to get the offensive scheme down good.

There is only one Popovich in the league.
Jackson was always spoiled to have top talent.
Riley was good when his talent was good.

Outside of Pop there isn't a complete coach in the league, a coach without flaws anyways.

The rookie thing grates on me as the Wolves haven't had a viable rookie outside of Rubio and he played big minutes. Every other rookie has a hard time knowing what end of the floor he should be on at any given time. I don't care how high you can jump, if you cannot be trusted to know your role you cannot be trusted on the floor in meaningful games. Hummel gets minutes because he knows his role, after two years Williams still was clueless as to how he fit in, or what he should be doing. When the ball hit Williams hands it stopped so his micro-brain could calculate what he was supposed to do.

The other gripes may well be valid, but the rookie thing needs to go, at least in his Minnesota tenure, he hasn't had quality rookies.

Your assumption about our rookies is that they don't have the talent to be developed therefore Adelman is absolved of all responsibility for their development?

Great coaches make the most out of their players. I agree that there is only one Pop and he (and the spurs management) may be totally unique in their ability to develop players. But I think Adelman really doesn't have an interest in developing rookies. He has said from day 1 that he wants more vets on this team.

Here was a good article about Drazen Petrovic's rookie experience with Adelman:

http://punchdrunkwolves.com/2013/01/01/drazen-petrovic-the-one-time-rick-adelman-got-it-wrong/

3. That doesn't sound like Adelman to me. As coach of the Wolves, he's gone with the hot hands. Barea over Rubio multiple times in fourth quarters, etc.

4. Since his time with the Kings, he's groomed plenty of youngsters and gave time to rookies IF they deserved it. I don't understand why people haven't accepted this instead of arguing it.

5. That's a lot of head coaches in all sports. They don't want to give away a lot so it makes them look like assholes. See Pop, Belichick, Parcells, Thibs, etc.

6. I don't agree. He seems to get fired up a good number of times during games, in my opinion.

7. It happens... I know that's not a great excuse, but most teams are either great at defense, great at offense or they're mediocre at both or terrible at both. Pacers, Grizzlies and Bulls. All great on defense, but struggle on offense. Warriors, Wolves and Clippers. Great on offense, but have trouble on defense. *Yes, I realize Golden State has improved here. They have the personnel now with Bogut healthy, adding AI and Thompson's growth on defense. Only team to be consistently great at both ends are the Spurs. Pop's brilliant.

Camden wrote:
4. Since his time with the Kings, he's groomed plenty of youngsters and gave time to rookies IF they deserved it. I don't understand why people haven't accepted this instead of arguing it.

Who are the players who Adelman has groomed way beyond what was reasonably expected of them? I can't see many. I am not sure what you are trying to get people to accept. Peja and Kmart both got their chance with Adelman because of injuries. The NBA is changing from his time of having 4 year college players turn into savy vets on the Blazers. More energy has to go into teaching in the NBA today. Just reality. I don't think Adelman takes this reality seriously.

Doper, interesting critique on one of the best coaches that the NBA has seen in the past 20 years.

I couldn't help but notice that the analysis focused on areas of improvement. I would find the analysis far more creditable if it would have included a equally in depth look at his strengths.

It seems relevant to mention that the last winning season that Sac had was the last season that he coached there.

While the fan seems to have insights, he seems to have missed that the importance of finishing games with a W.

So Adelman and Adelman's guy cost us the game tonight. Clearly Adelman thought that extra 8% FT was going to seal the deal for us and made sure we got that ball to Marin. We can all be pretty confident Adelman isn't going to be here next year. So should be just go back to Flip ball for the rest of the year?

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/87263/courtvision-whats-the-matter-with-ricky-rubio

Is Adelman the offensive genius we all assume he is? This guy is implying he is not. If we weren't drawing fouls we would really be hurting right now.

thedoper wrote:http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/87263/courtvision-whats-the-matter-with-ricky-rubio

Is Adelman the offensive genius we all assume he is? This guy is implying he is not. If we weren't drawing fouls we would really be hurting right now.

How much credit should Adelman get for the Wolves being 2nd in PPG? All I hear is how poorly this team shoots, yet they score 106.7 PPG. Wolves are 3rd in FTA per game. Is it purely talent that gets this team to the line so much (Everyone complains about not having a go-to scorer) or is Adelman's offense promoting the FTAs?

Doper, I have to admit I am losing some patience with Adelman, and would not be unhappy with a change before next season. I'm not sure that Adelman wouldn't like that too.

I do see him as a very good offensive coach. When we are executing his offense like we should, it is really fun to watch this team score. But he has never been an effective defensive coach, and in the long run that could doom us to a lower playoff status.

But my biggest problem is that he just looks tired to me out there. I recognize that he has never been a rah rah type guy, but he looks more this year like his ship has sailed. I don't think the medical problems with his wife can be ignored, and that is clearly a priority for him the last year...as it should be.

I look to the Phoenix Suns as an example of what this team could be with a younger, more aggressive coach. I hope we let Rick finish the year and a one and out playoff run, and then bring in a guy who can inspire this team to get to the next level.