Adelman Presser (1 PM Central)

[Klomp]

I hope Rubio can be a scorer.

Oops I forgot a very important word.

One of things I took away from the presser. He talked about how all 5 guys on the court DON'T need to be scorers if they are filling other roles. He then said that the scorers have to do more than just score. I hope Beasley was listening, because it sounded as if it was directed towards him.

Sounds like he was talking to Love as well, well it sounded like he was talking to the whole team, but he singled out guys who were the scorers on the team who didn't play defense.

Last time I checked, rebounding is an important role on a team. I don't think he was talking about just defense

[SO_MONEY]

Last time I checked, rebounding is an important role on a team. I don't think he was talking about just defense

Well he specifically mentioned it...and even Beasley rebounds fine as a SF, defense is his issue as is Love's so I think he was identifying and explaining that this is a team game and they need to work on things beyond their comfort zone. While this isn't limited to defense, he brought it up, as well as rebounding (offensive), and other things, but that was in more of an abstract sense, clearly he is looking for his most talented players to expand their games and play winning team basketball.

I don't think he had anyone in mind when he was talking, just general common sense and what he expects from ALL his players if they happen to be listening.

[Foye]

Jonah Ballow: Is there anything that has changed in your career since the first time you stepped on the floor with Portland? Are there any philosophical changes through your coaching career?

Rick Adelman: I think you learn all the time as you go. When I first started, I was fortunate to have a team in Portland that was totally different from other teams. They were so physically strong and they were so athletic, sometimes we didn't care if we missed a shot or not because we knew we were going to get the ball back. Sacramento was totally different, it was a team that was more finesse - they passed, they shot, so you learn each group as you go and in Houston it was the same thing with the big fella, you know, you had to adjust to him. That's what you're going to have to do here, but by doing that you kind of learn what you can do and you have an idea of how to adjust the system to the players.

I love Adelman already.
This is what I thought the entire last season. We had a system under Rambis - but that system didn't fit the players strength. Rambis was so stuck in his vision of basketball that our players strength's fell under the table a lot. He didn't adjust the system to the players strength's enough. I had that feeling the entire last season.

It sucks that we won't have a training camp this season - during season it's hard to develop a system because you need a lot of time to recover instead of competitive practices. This will probably be another development season - but we'll show improvement as the season goes on and next season we'll make a big jump, IMO.

[horaceworthy]

Nice to hear Adelman talk about how he's adapted to different personnel throughout his coaching career. Funny that he has more total wins as a coach than the Timberwolves do as a franchise.

I'd be so pumped about this offseason if it weren't for the lockout.

A legit coach, Rubio and a solid draft. It's already the most satisfying offseason since Cassell/Spree. If a legit wing or C can be brought in that would be the cherry on the sundae. Really wish the lockout would come to an end.

Adelman took over the Kings during the last lockout shortened season. They went from 27-55 under Eddie Jordan to 27-23 and made the playoffs under Adelman. Full disclosure, they also traded Mitch Richmond and Otis Thorpe for Webber, signed Vlade as a free agent, Peja came over from Europe, and Jason Williams was drafted, so to say Adelman was working with more talent than Jordan would be putting it lightly.

While I don't expect that sharp of a turnaround for the Wolves, If next season is another 50 gamer, I could live with 20 wins and giving the Clippers a pick in the 7+ range.

[thinktank]

I don't think Rambis was talented or creative enough to build a system around his players. I.e., it wasn't so much that he was stubborn as much as he was outmoded. He did come off as stubborn, but that was his only option--to stay the same.

[Klomp]

NBA.com: With all the uncertainty from the lockout, will it limit what can do to get ready for the season, whenever it starts?

RA: Being hired so late, it's probably not bad for me. I have to get my staff together and we have to meet and prepare. We're going to be preparing so that, whenever the situation changes, we'll be ready to go.

NBA.com: It's been reported that you will hire Portland assistant Bill Bayno for your staff. Other names that have been mentioned include Jack Sikma, T.R. Dunn and your sons R.J. and David. Any announcement yet on your assistants?

RA: Not yet. I know people I have in mind but I'm just starting to do it.

NBA.com: What about Terry Porter? He played for you in Portland, coached with you in Sacramento and he was popular during his time with the Timberwolves.

RA: He's definitely somebody who would be in the mix.

NBA.com: Did Taylor talk with you about any front-office aspirations you might have in the future?

RA: Nah, I really don't. I'm just here to coach the team and then go from there.

http://www.nba.com/2011/news/features/s ... delman-qa/

[shangrila]

I'd like Porter as an assistant. Has a background with defence, knows the point guard spot well and, obviously, is a popular guy here. Same with Mitchell.

[Foye]

I don't think Rambis was talented or creative enough to build a system around his players. I.e., it wasn't so much that he was stubborn as much as he was outmoded. He did come off as stubborn, but that was his only option--to stay the same.

Yeah you might be right. I think he definitely had a vision of how his team should play basketball.
However, he didn't have the personal to get it done which is why we picked up 132 losses in 2 seasons under him.
I still feel like a great coach would've adapted his vision of basketball to the team. Rambis system didn't work for large parts of our team - and it seemed like we didn't have a defensive system at all at times. Everyone more or less (probably closer to less ) tried to guard his opponent a little but the overall team defense was just horrible
mostly.
I don't think that team has ever trained defense because on that end we often looked more clueless than recent D'Antoni teams.

On offense it became often also very obvious that Rambis is a really bad coach, too, IMO.
Jonny Flynn in his first year wasn't allowed to run pick&rolls at all. By forbidding him that you take away one of his biggest strengths. He could've limited these p&r to make sure Jonny learns some more offensive elements of the game but taking a players strength completely away limits the confidence a lot. Which Flynn has undoubtably shown a lot of times during his brief stint here - even in the first season.
We signed Nikola Pekovic - a guy who was known to be a bull and a low post scoring machine for one of Europe's best teams.
I understand that Pekovic needs to prove himself in the NBA before getting consistent minutes. I don't blame Rambis for giving him some DNP's either but when you have a low post scorer on the court you have to run plays for him, because if you don't do that he's basically useless.
However we didn't do that. Pekovic was under-utilized.
I still think given the right system Pekovic would dominate most backup C's in the NBA. He is physically too strong for most backup C's in the league. Give him the ball under the basket and he'll score. He's too weak defensively to be a starter in the NBA but if you use him right he could definitely be a great roleplayer - and most backup C's are scrubs on offense so his defensive weaknesses aren't that big of a concern, too.

Wes Johnson. His athleticism - completely unused in our games. I've rarely ever seen him ever use his athleticism. He should've had 100+ dunks given his athletic ability. He had 27 all season long.
Very poor for a guy with these abilities:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGXyaQbuoDs&feature=related[/youtube]

I could go on but I don't wanna make my exam in "Kurt Rambis head coaching failures"

[shangrila]

The problem with Rambis was he was both stubborn and ignorant. Despite the offence working significantly better when Darko was out and Ridnour ran PnRs, Rambis still went back to Darko (instead of, oh, say, Love?). He then managed to watch the team get consistently murdered on defence without trying to change it ONCE. I mean, seriously? Someone should have showed him the definition of insanity.

And if you're going to mention a few mis-used players, you might as well mention them all. Ridnour wasn't allowed to run PnRs unless Darko was out (although I will say he's better than Flynn at playing off ball). Darko should never have seen a usage rate as high as his was. Ellington shouldn't have been asked to do anything more than stand in a corner and shoot 3s. Wes shouldn't have been asked to run weird hand off/PnR things with Darko. Randolph, despite producing in a system he didn't (apparently) know, got no minutes until Love and others went out with injuries/whatever.

Strangely, the only player he did seem to use right was Hayward, at least towards the end of the season. The guy couldn't dribble and spent most of his senior season as a PF, so Rambis put him in the post/paint and the guy produced, at least a few times. I guess he was a "Rambis guy", but it boggles the mind that the 30th pick in a weak draft apparently got more attention than the 4th pick.

Ugh, f*ck Rambis. I'm glad he's gone. Bring on the Adelman era.

[Krapinsky]

More Adelman at SI.com

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/w ... t=hp_wr_a2

[eyeteeth]

Really nice. Adelman sounds optimistic, and it sounds like he likes the roster as it stands, too ("maybe all you need is to add a piece or two").

I hope they get a vet or two and add a center. I wonder what he'll be able to do with Darko.

[DerekJames]

Oh yeah, I was just on blognbasketball, these guys think we're headed to the playoffs....what ya'll think about it?
http://blognbasketball.com/?p=1527
-DJ

[southern wolf]

I like what I hear from what I've seen of it so far. I was hoping Kahn might go off with a tirade of abuse when asked about the Woj article. He must be short on cash.

[Tha Juice]

I like what I hear from what I've seen of it so far. I was hoping Kahn might go off with a tirade of abuse when asked about the Woj article. He must be short on cash.

It was Rick's day

[Klomp]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmWSLpD3Ajw[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6toJuQHDrI0[/youtube]