First things first.
Do yourself a favour and click this link.
When the NBA unveiled its new marketing slogan this past summer … did you really envision that on March 14, 2008 there’d be a team in the league with a home page at NBA.com that opens up like that?
Hmmmmm …. didn’t really think so.
Know anyone who did?
* Brian McCormick, Has Adelman Solved Houston’s Problems (Oct. 13, 2007)
All the hype is in Boston right now, but Houston will be the breakout team this year, both in terms of wins, play-off success and entertainment. If they get consistent PG play and stay healthy, there is no reason why the Rockets cannot win the championship and give Adelman the elusive title which would establish him as one of the era’s best coaches.
Q1. Who should get the lion’s share of credit for the Rockets’ historic streak?
(e.g. Rafer Alston, T-Mac, Daryl Morey/GM)
A1. One aspect of this streak that has been underplayed, to this point, is the effectiveness of Rick Adelman’s ‘System’ … which is quite unique and what Shane Battier recently made reference to when he said, “We have tremendous confidence in how we play the game.” (or words to that effect)
Rick is using, right now, everything he developed through his upper echelon years at Portland and Sacramento … long before the recent rise of the ‘Moneyball Concept’ advocated by Daryl Morey … to assemble a team of highly complimentary parts, capable of winning a swack of regular season games.
Although it took him an inordinantly long period of time to figure it out … when Adelman finally settled on Rafer Alston as the main PG for this team which, in conjunction with the move of Luis Scola into the starting line-up, and Aaron Brooks as the back-up PG, and using serviceable players like Carl Landry & Steve Novak in his regular rotation with Chuck Hayes & Luther Head … he made the type of personnel decisions that took the Trailblazers and the Kings to an elite level in the Western Conference.
Rick Adelman … has been THE key to the Rockets’ resurgence.
PS. Kudos to Brian McCormick.
PPS. Houston’s streak will end at 21-0 … when Kobe comes a-calling on Sunday, March 16, 2008.
UPDATE: Title should now read as ’22′ instead of ‘20′.
March 14, 2008 at 9:01 pm |
[...] post by khandor Bookmark and Share:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]
March 14, 2008 at 11:35 pm |
Judged by that, Smitch is a frikkin FAILURE … COY indeed …