Rick Adelman coached four seasons with the Houston Rockets with his worst year still being a very respectable 42-40 season last season, but reports are flowing in that he won’t be back next season.
After missing the NBA playoffs the past two seasons — despite posting winning records — Adelman and Rockets general manager Daryl Morey failed to reach agreements on how they would continue to work together according to Houston Chronicle reporter Jonathan Feigen.
The Adelman led Rockets became the first team since the Suns in 1970-71 and 1971-72 to have consecutive seasons with winning records fail to reach the post-season, something that one would think should be enough to save his job considering the absence of Yao Ming this season among other things.
Adelman’s replacements could vary quite a bit, but Feigen mentioned a large amount of possibilities in his story that the Rockets could turn to for next season including former Cleveland coach Mike Brown, former Hawks coach Mike Woodson, Jeff Van Gundy, Rockets assistant Elston Turner, Dallas assistant Dwane Casey, San Antonio’s Mike Budenholzer and Boston assistant Lawrence Frank.
Seeing how the Rockets have been so involved with the D-League, it might not be a stretch to include Rio Grande Valley Vipers coach Chris Finch among the candidates as well.