Monday, May 21, 2007

Rick Adleman lands in Houston; China excited to see Yao play offense

Holy crap.

I have to say this before I read it anywhere else. Rick Adleman is the perfect coach for Yao Ming. There was a reason why I used to say that Yao would be perfect for the Kings (other than him being great and all). It was because he was perfect for Adelman's offense.

It may take a season or two, but Yao is going to average 5 assists a game in the same high post offense that was run to perfection by Vlade Divac and C-Webb in Sacramento. Yao can pass, and if not for Jeff Van Gundy's steadfast refusal to let his team play anything remotely close to offense, the rest of the NBA world would be aware of this.

In moving from Van Gundy to Adelman, the Rockets are taking a 180 degree turn in style and the rest of the Western Conference would be wise to take notice. Adelman never could get the Kings over the hump, but the man can coach offense and Houston has all the weapons necessary to become a juggernaut in the mold of the Kings of the early-2000 years.

Congratulations, Houston. You just threw the first strike of the off-season.

4 comments:

OZ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
OZ said...

It will be very interesting to see where Rick can take them. We all know he is as inept at coaching defense as Mark Cuban is at being cool, but maybe the defense they learned under Van Gundy, Particularly in transition, will help them in the area that was the glaring weakness of those offensive Kings teams.

How much would it suck to have to move to Houston though?

Runs With Two Horses said...

Not only is Yao perfectly suited for a high post offense, but Hayes, Battier, and McGrady are the type of players who constantly move without the ball on offense, which will make the transition to Adelman even smoother. Should be a fun team to watch next season.

Lunatic Fringe said...

Rusn, couldn't agree more. Battier in particular can be deadly. We all know about McGrady, but in this offense he may average 8 assists a game.

OZ is right about the defense. Adelman preaches the "Fence Post" defense, where you just stand there, let the other team score, and get the ball back.

Nevertheless, I'm excited for Houston. I was ready to see Adelman go from Sac as he had lost his players after seven years, but he landed in a perfect spot.