It’s a very sad day as news broke today that Hall of Fame coach Rick Adelman passed away today at the age of 79. He is survived by his wife Mary Kay, children Kathy, RJ, Laura, David, Caitlin and Patrick as well as twelve grandchildren.
Coach Rick Adelman will always hold a special place in the hearts of Sacramento Kings fans as the greatest coach not just in Sacramento-era history, but franchise history. In his eight seasons as head coach, he made the playoffs in every single season, coaching a style of basketball that was known as “the greatest show on court”. In his eight seasons as head coach of the Kings, Adelman’s teams posted a record of 395-229, a win-loss percentage of 63.3%. That’s both the highest number of wins and winning percentage in franchise history.
Coach Adelman had a fantastic career elsewhere as well, and while he never won an NBA Championship, few coaches saw as much consistent success as he did. Coach Adelman won 1,042 games over his 23 year Head Coaching Career, good enough for 10th all time. He was rightfully elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.
It’s a shame that there’s no current tribute to Coach Adelman at Golden 1 Center, and if it were up to me his name would have been up in the rafters years ago. Hopefully that’s something that can one day be rectified, because there might only be a handful of people who have meant more to basketball in Sacramento than Rick Adelman. I’ll always feel blessed to have had the experience of witnessing the type of basketball that Coach Adelman and his staff brought to Sacramento.
Rest in Peace, Coach.
As I was digesting the news of Rick Adelman’s passing, it donned on me that my Dad and I actually were at Rick’s first game back in Sac since he had left. He was hired by the Rockets and in a December 2007 game, they were visiting the Kings and my Dad and I got tickets from my Uncle to go. We had actually seen the Rockets earlier twice earlier that year, and this was the second time we were seeing Yao Ming in person too.
During the player introductions, when Rick’s name got announced, he got a standing ovation from the fans that honestly could’ve gone on for much longer than it did. There’s actually a clip of it on YouTube:
Here’s a couple photos I took from the game. If you squint hard you can see Rick sitting on the bench in the upper left corner.
The Kings actually won that game, and the most memorable moment was Yao Ming following out and then getting ejected for throwing a towel across the court.
RIP to the greatest Sacramento Kings coach ever. As Rob said in the last thread, you will be missed, but not forgotten. No one has ever come close to his success, and his name more than deserves to be hanging in the rafters. Best wishes to his family.
Thanks for sharing this!
The Kings should have honored his legacy long ago.
RIP Rick. Thank you for being a big part of the 98-04 golden era!
Very sad news. Rest in peace coach!
RIP Coach A true HOF Coach that had a resume that ranks with the best ever and cheated out of a NBA title by a conniving league .
I guess this crushes my secret wish that Rick would come back and lead a new generation of Kings to the promised land. A sad day – the greatest coach we’ve ever had.
Playing junior high school basketball and unexpectedly seeing the coach of your favorite team walk in to watch the game was a surreal moment and one I’ll never forget. Turns out he wasn’t scouting me, just supporting his son.
RIP to the best coach we’ve ever had, someone who deserved a COTY award, but in the end made it to the HOF.
Doug carries the mantle forward.
I think you meant “Doug fumbles the mantle forward.”
Very sad news. The Kings were so much fun when he was at the helm. RIP coach.
RIP, Coach Adelman.
The Kings never should’ve fired him. He should’ve been our Popovich. RIP Coach and thank you for all the incredible memories and the best years of my basketball fandom.
RIP Coach. With Adelman’s leadership and Pete Carill’s Princeton style offense, that team was an amazing watch.
Question for Jerry and the guys on the TKH Podcast:
Why don’t teams run that Princeton offense anymore? Movement, cutting, playmaking, etc. It seemed to put defenses at a disadvantage because it kept them moving and they never knew who was going to make the pass or cut to the hoop.
Will we ever see that style return, and if not, then why?
I believe elements of it are still used. Mike Brown did it with Sabonis and DHO, I also think the double big Horns set is a pull from the Princeton system. If I had to guess, Denver and the Dubs have elements with Green and Jokic operating out of the high post with cutters moving freely.
Isn’t the Princeton system also designed to get cutters to the rim more than it is for outside shooting? Maybe the NBA’s massive swing to 3pt shooting has limited it a bit?
It’s a good question for a BBall mind like Jerry’s.
Yeah, the 3pt shot probably favored more of the dribble-drive offense and kick out for 3s. I think the motion and cutting creates more of a variety of offense that is hard to defend. Defenses can just hang on the perimeter nowadays because teams are looking for 3s. But once a team shows they can just freely cut to the rim for open layups, then the defense has to adjust, which leads to more collapsing to the paint thus the perimeter is open for 3s.
It just seemed to be so effective. Much better than the heliocentric style that we see now. Once person dribbling the air out of the ball, playing 1v1, waiting for a switch, etc. It’s boring to watch.
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