Your take on Maloofs firing Rick Adelman?

[rocket_zoom]

Just read this article about Rick Adelman, after watching the Rocket's 22 consecutive victory:

http://www.sacbee.com/martymac/story/782164.html

IMO, the Kings had a very good coach in Adelman just as the Rockets had in Jeff Van Gundy (JVG) last year but both coaches could not take the team further into the playoffs. I was not in favor of firing JVG, as he took the Rockets to the 4th seed and earned 51 victories last year with Yao out for over 2 months. It was really a gamble to fire JVG and bring in Rick Adelman, but the gamble payed off for Les Alexander, the owner of the Rockets.

Having said that, the Maloofs gambled as well, but their gamble backfired. They had one of the best coaches in the NBA in Adelman, definitely a top 10 coach and possibly even a top 5 coach, and gambled that they could find a better coach than Adelman. Anyways, at least for this season thus far, Adelman is definitely a top 5 coach this year, and is in contention for Coach of the Year.

Was it the really right decision to fire Adelman?

[_SRV_]

Many fans wanted Adelman fired also, not because of lack gratitude, but the team had issues that kept popping, failure in defensive assignments especially in late game situations, mental breakdowns and simply being too long with the same team, that he seemed to have been phased out.
The Maloofs ate crow, not only for the Adelman letting go, but the Mussleman hiring, they lwarned the hard way to stay away from basketball decisions.
Many Kings fans wanted Adelman gone but the end of '06 season, but very few didn't think he was top 5 coach.

[a-rod]

Been there, done that, Let's move on, shall we?

[KingInExile]

Having said that, the Maloofs gambled as well, but their gamble backfired. They had one of the best coaches in the NBA in Adelman, definitely a top 10 coach and possibly even a top 5 coach, and gambled that they could find a better coach than Adelman. Anyways, at least for this season thus far, Adelman is definitely a top 5 coach this year, and is in contention for Coach of the Year.

That's what happens when you allow personality differences to dictate business decisions. For all of the excuses the Maloofs like to give, the decision for them to let go of Adelman boiled down to the fact that he wasn't a charismatic and sociable figure that they wanted their coach to be. They wanted an outgoing figurehead who they could throw in front of the media and know that they would win the media over with their personality. Regardless of Adelman's coaching skills, he is not the most out-going or "warm and fuzzy" guy...at least in front of the media. He lost his job here because of his personality, not necessarily because of his skills.

That said, I admit to being someone who thought that the Kings needed to move in a different direction from Adelamn. I still think he is a very good coach for the regular season, but I just did not think he had the ability to take a team to a championship. He didn't consistently demonstrate an ability to make necessary adjustments during the playoffs and tended to coach the same game hoping it would work. He also had the habit of playing an extremely tight rotation even in the middle of the regular season, which often led to unnecessary injuries (hurting playoff longevity). But even though I thought it was time for a coaching change, I can't stand the way the Maloofs handled the situation (including their over-involvement in hiring dim-wit Musselman).

[pillwenney]

I think most Kings fans agree that Rick was a great coach over all. However I didn't have too much of a problem with letting him go, because I think that he still has faults that will prevent him from leading a team to a championship.

Like KIE said, he has a tendency to really stick to his ways, and isn't willing enough to change his game plan. It usually works because his game plan is usually pretty much rock solid, but it usually catches up to him eventually.

Also, Rick needs to coach a team that has a strong emotional leader. Looking back, I don't think that the problem was ever really that Rick ignored defense/rebounding, or anything like that, but that he just wasn't a strong enough personality to get into a guy that wasn't giving it his all. Players had no reason to fear Rick. This really helped him with dealing with the league's questionable characters, but hurt in providing the team with really strong leadership.

[Smills91]

Losing Adelman is the reason why we haven't been in the playoffs the past two seasons.

[UKF]

^No matter who are coach is we dont have a team that can keep up with the teams that are in the West, thats this year and last.

[ICMTM]

Letting go of Adelman was a mistake!

This team still can't play defense, so when will we stop blaming Adelman for that? The Kings missed 17 free throws and airballed two wide open threes to win a game 7. When will we stop blaming Adelman for that, too? The Kings had their opportunities to win a ring, and we took it to arguably one of the best coaches ever. Adelman wasn't out coached. He went up against MJ w/ Portland and watched as the Kings role players CHOKED vs. the Lakers.

At what point do the fans get that?

[dozencousins]

CORRECTION : he was never fired he was just not offered another contract that is not the same as getting fired !

[SacKingZZZ]

I think it was time to move on. And is time to move on.

[Wolfay]

I was one of the few that wished Adelmen wasn't let go. He's easily one of the better coaches out there, and he's proving that with the Rockets. He would've had some rings but he happened to run into a guy named Michael Jordan, some terrible officiating, and not to mention choke jobs by key players.

No use crying over spilled milk.

[BMiller52]

I never wanted him gone. I was pissed when we re-signed him(also was optomistic about the hiring of Muss though and that turned out bad, but originally I never wanted Rick gone). He can do a lot with a little. Once we gave him 1 freaking good defender, he made us a good defensive team in 06. Houston has 1 guy who can score a lot in TMac, and Rick has driven 1 star and a bunch of roleplayers to a 22 game winstreak(well only 10 of them w/o Yao but that's still a lot).

He made Peja look like a star for a couple seasons which is a huge accomplishment in itself IMO. I'd love to see what he'd do with Kevin, and he is doing the same thing with TMac(who is a much better player than Peja). He really is showing he only needs 1 perimeter star and a bunch of roleplayers to be succesful, but when he has a franchise big(like Chris) he had a team that should've won a championship(and would've if it weren't for crappy officiating and an airball by Peja). He would probably have Kevin at around 27-28 PPG this year instead of hovering around 23. We'd probably be in the playoffs. We'll never find out though I guess which is too bad.

On the bright side Reggie has been decent here in his rookie year as a coach.

[Smills91]

Letting go of Adelman was a mistake!

This team still can't play defense, so when will we stop blaming Adelman for that? The Kings missed 17 free throws and airballed two wide open threes to win a game 7. When will we stop blaming Adelman for that, too? The Kings had their opportunities to win a ring, and we took it to arguably one of the best coaches ever. Adelman wasn't out coached. He went up against MJ w/ Portland and watched as the Kings role players CHOKED vs. the Lakers.

At what point do the fans get that?

This post gets my stamp of approval. I agree 100% and have ever since we let Adelman go. I knew the Rockets would be one of the 'surprise' teams, but this is bordering on RIDICULOUS on how well they've played.

[KingInExile]

Just to clarify my remarks, even though I thought it was time to separate (from both sides...I thought Rick needed a break and the Kings needed a change), I would not have cried or complained if we kept him. I also think it was complete idiocy to let him go then hire Master Power-Point (actually it was complete idiocy for the Maloofs to be sticking there nose into decisions that they should have left to Petrie). I like Rick as a coach, always have going back to his days in Portland. I just did not have the confidence that he would be able to make it work with the Kings because of some of his shortcomings AND because of the Maloofs' unwillingness to make necessary personnel commitments.

[sactownsport]

Adelman? He's up to his M.O. again. Playing players until they get injured. Rick has a good record mainly due to players he has so tell me what attribute he has as a coach. The ability to substitute players and keep them fresh? Putting together defensive players with offensive players on the floor? Nope he didnt use Mutumbo until Yao got hurt, FROM A STRESS FRACTURE, Oh, and the players (and owners) tuned him out when he was in his last year.

[Sac Fan in Clipper town]

The owners, as multi millionaires, thought they knew everything. They may do, but Adelman for Musselman (even sober), was a bad trade.

What's done is done, let's look forward.

[sacking101]

like someone said, firing adelman was a bad decision but hiring muss was an even worse decision. I like reggie and he deserves a chance to coach for a while. But adelman took us to the playoffs 8 straight years so I still don't know what they were thinking.