Posted at 5:56 p.m., Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Rockets hire Adelman to replace Van Gundy
By Chris Duncan
Associated Press
"I always knew I was going to look for something eventually," Adelman said last night as he arrived at an airport in Houston, where he was met by team officials. "This is obviously just a great situation with the city, the organization. I'm really excited. This is a team that played so solid last year. You can build on that."
The Rockets were set to introduce Adelman at a news conference on tomorrow afternoon.
Adelman, 60, brings an up-tempo, high-scoring system to Houston, replacing Jeff Van Gundy's more defense-minded and methodical approach. Van Gundy was fired Friday after the Rockets were bounced from the opening round of the playoffs for the third time in his four seasons.
Adelman has been out of coaching since the Sacramento Kings chose not to renew his contract after the 2005-06 season. The Kings had a winning record and made the playoffs in each of Adelman's eight seasons.
The Rockets fired Van Gundy after finishing 52-30, their best regular-season record in 10 years, then lost to Utah in the first round. Houston went 182-146 under Van Gundy, but 7-12 in three postseason appearances.
Adelman previously coached Golden State and Portland. The Trail Blazers made two NBA finals appearances under Adelman in 1990 and '92, losing both times.
Adelman has a 752-481 record in 16 seasons and his teams have made the playoffs 14 times. His teams made it out of the first round seven of those 14 times, and he is 70-68 in the playoffs. He reportedly met with Rockets owner Les Alexander and general manager Daryl Morey on May 11, when Van Gundy was still deciding whether he wanted to come back to coach the team.
