Rick Adelman, one of the greatest coaches in NBA history, has died at age 79. He was set to turn 80 on June 16.
Adelman finished his career with 1,042 wins, the 10th most in NBA history. He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021. He played seven seasons in the NBA before transitioning to coaching, where he found his real calling.
Most fans remember Adelman from his time with the Portland Trail Blazers in the early 1990s. He took Portland to the NBA Finals twice. Both times they fell to a Detroit Pistons or Chicago Bulls juggernaut, but those Blazers teams with Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter and Buck Williams were as close to a title as Portland has ever come.
His coaching tree is everywhere. The Adelman system, often called the corner offense, was a beautiful mix of off-ball movement, post-ups and read-and-react basketball that influenced an entire generation of coaches. Watch any current NBA team’s secondary action and you can see Adelman’s fingerprints.
He also engineered one of the most absurd runs in NBA history. In 2008, his Houston Rockets, led by Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, won 22 straight games. That is the fourth longest winning streak ever. Most people forget Adelman was even the coach on that team. He preferred it that way.
Adelman never coached a championship team, which is the easy reason cynics use to undersell him. They miss the point. Coaches like Adelman are how franchises get good before they get great. He took the Kings during the Chris Webber and Mike Bibby era and made them appointment television. Those Kings teams played some of the most aesthetically beautiful basketball the league has ever seen.
His later stops in Minnesota and Golden State were quieter. He took the Wolves to the playoffs in a transitional period. He briefly coached the Warriors, though that was before Steph Curry turned the franchise into a dynasty.
The respect for Adelman across the league was real. Players who played for him talk about how prepared he made them feel. Coaches who worked under him talk about how he taught the game. Front offices who hired him talk about how he stabilized rosters that were one decision away from collapsing.
The cause of death has not been disclosed. Adelman had stepped back from coaching years ago to spend time with family, including his son David, who is now an NBA assistant coach himself.
The NBA lost a giant. Not the loud, dominant kind. The quiet, brilliant, respected kind. The kind every locker room needs.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
