Sports / Basketball |
Adelman emerges as Rockets top candidateBy JONATHAN FEIGEN (Houston Chronicle)Updated: 2007-05-16 13:57 The Rockets might not be certain they will need a new coach, but they have homed in on who they would like him to be. Former Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers coach Rick Adelman met with Rockets owner Leslie Alexander last week and remains the only candidate to have emerged as a potential successor to Jeff Van Gundy, three individuals with knowledge of the team's decision-making said Tuesday. As general manager Daryl Morey has compiled information about coaches who could be options, many names have been considered. But no interviews with other potential candidates are scheduled, a person close to the process said. Van Gundy said after the Rockets' first-round playoff loss to the Utah Jazz that he was considering whether to return. Morey would not comment about potential successors, citing "scenarios" in which Van Gundy could be back. Adelman, most recently coach of the Kings, has emerged as the Plan B favorite, and Rockets assistant head coach Tom Thibodeau is on a short list for the Sacramento position. Thibodeau could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Though Morey would not discuss details of his talks with Van Gundy, he said Van Gundy has "been open all along to coming back." "He has been a part of the process," Morey said. "Both sides want to feel a fit. He is open to coaching again in certain scenarios. We're trying to find on all levels if there can be a fit. He's got to feel that there is a fit for him. "There's some goals we have for things to be different and some goals he has for things to be different." Van Gundy is under contract for one more season, the non-guaranteed year Alexander added after the 2005 playoffs. Van Gundy can terminate the contract up to three days after the end of the NBA season. Van Gundy is 430-318 in 11 seasons as an NBA coach, including 182-146 in four seasons with the Rockets. He has a 44-44 postseason record, having reached the NBA Finals in 1999 with the New York Knicks. With the Rockets, he lost in the first round to the Lakers in 2004, the Mavericks in 2005 and the Jazz this season. The Rockets' 2004 trip to the playoffs, in Van Gundy's first season, was their first since 1999. The Rockets' 52-win season in 2006-07 was their best since 1996-97. In 16 seasons as an NBA head coach, Adelman, 60, is 752-481 with 14 playoff appearances and four division titles. He has a 70-68 postseason record and reached the NBA Finals in 1990 and 1992 with the Trail Blazers. A seventh-round pick out of Loyola Marymount in 1968, Adelman played two seasons for the San Diego Rockets before the team moved to Houston and spent the bulk of his seven-year playing career in Portland. Morey would not discuss the Rockets' options. Though Toronto general manager Bryan Colangelo said a team has asked for permission to speak with Raptors coach Sam Mitchell, a person with knowledge of that negotiation said the Rockets aren't that club. Morey said he was not concerned about Van Gundy's ambivalence toward returning. "I know Jeff," Morey said. "If Jeff decides to move forward as coach, he puts his whole self into it going forward." |
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