Rick Adelman, a Basketball Hall of Fame inductee who played for seven NBA seasons before becoming one of the game’s all-time winningest coaches, has died, the National Basketball Coaches Association announced Monday.
Adelman, the father of Denver Nuggets coach David Adelman, was 79. The cause of his death was not immediately announced.
“The Denver Nuggets were extremely saddened to learn of the passing of Hall of Fame Head Coach Rick Adelman,” the Nuggets said Monday night. “Our thoughts are with head coach David Adelman, the entire Adelman family and the many friends and loved ones that were lucky enough to know Rick.”
Rick Adelman won 1,042 games as an NBA coach, 10th-most in league history. Only four other coaches — Pat Riley, Gregg Popovich, Jerry Sloan and George Karl — coached more games and had a better winning percentage than Adelman, who took the Portland Trail Blazers to the NBA Finals twice and also was head coach in Sacramento, Houston, Minnesota and Golden State.
“Adelman will be remembered not only as a coach and a player, but also as a mentor to so many in the basketball community,” read a statement from the coaches’ association, which honored Adelman with its Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023.
“Rick Adelman’s NBA coaching career has been highlighted by innovation, integrity and excellence,” Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said when the NBCA presented that award three years ago. “His teams always played to their strengths, and Rick always found subtle ways to reinvent NBA basketball to help his players thrive. His quiet, unassuming nature belies his impact as one of the great NBA coaches of all time.”
Adelman also played in the NBA from 1969 through 1975 as a point guard for five different teams — but found his calling as a coach.
The Kings, in paying tribute, said Adelman “will be remembered for the way he inspired those around him — with humility, integrity, kindness, and an unwavering belief in the power of teamwork.”
Adelman’s path to the NBA, as a coach, was unintentional.
He thought he would become a high school coach, though his lack of experience was a deterrent. He then started his coaching career at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon.
“We had great success there,” Adelman said in his Hall of Fame enshrinement speech. “The one thing I did not realize is Jack Ramsey was following my team.”
Ramsey was coaching the Portland Trail Blazers, and invited Adelman to interview when a position opened on his staff. Adelman worked under Ramsey for three seasons and Mike Schuler for 2 1/2 more, then took over as interim coach with 35 games left in the 1988-89 season.
“We had a team that was ready to win,” Adelman said in 2021.
Blazers owner Paul Allen told Adelman he could coach the 1989-90 season. The rest is history. Portland won 59 games that season with Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter, Jerome Kersey and Buck Williams leading the way, getting to the NBA Finals and falling to Detroit.
Adelman was off and running. He took the Blazers back to the NBA Finals two years later, falling then to Chicago. After his Portland era, Adelman coached two years at Golden State and then went to Sacramento — where he had eight winning seasons in an eight-year stint, with players like Vlade Divac, Peja Stojaković, Mike Bibby, Chris Webber, Jason Williams, Bobby Jackson and current Kings coach Doug Christie. And in those Sacramento years, Adelman was widely credited for running some types of offenses that the league had never seen.
“He was a brilliant strategist and teacher of the game, and an even better person,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said.
Adelman had 210 players appear in at least one NBA game for him.
“He actually challenged me and poured into trusting me,” 20-year guard Kyle Lowry said Monday night. “That was important for me. He didn’t have to. He could have done everything else, he could have played other players, but he believed in me. … He just trusted his players. He just wanted to win. And if it wasn’t for him, I don’t know what career I would have. It’s a sad day.”
Among Adelman’s accomplishments: He engineered a 22-game winning streak with Houston in 2008, a run that is the fourth-longest in NBA history.
“Coach Adelman guided the Rockets with professionalism, integrity, and a deep commitment to the game,” the Rockets said in a release. “His role in leading the team during the 22-game winning streak in 2008 remains one of the most remarkable achievements in franchise history and will always be remembered by Rockets fans.”
The Blazers noted that not only did Adelman lead the team to the finals twice, but he was a player on the inaugural Portland team in 1970.
“Rick was one of the most influential figures in franchise history,” the Blazers said.
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