Rick Adelman

Rick Adelman is a retired NBA coach whose career includes leading the Portland Trail Blazers, the Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, Houston Rockets, and Minnesota Timberwolves.

Adelman, who first came to the league as a 6-2 guard in 1968, spent 14 years in the Trail Blazers organization, including three as a player (1970-73), five as an assistant coach (1983-89) and six as the team's head coach (1989-94). He compiled a 291-154 record as a head coach and took the Blazers to the NBA Finals in 1990 and 1992. He coached Golden State for two seasons, 1995-96 and 1996-97.

As a player, he averaged 10.1 points, 4.6 assists and 27.7 minutes in three seasons with Portland before being traded to the Chicago Bulls. He served stints with the Bulls, the New Orleans Jazz and the Kansas City-Omaha Kings before retiring in 1975.

Adelman began his coaching career at Chemeketa Community College in Oregon. He rejoined the Trail Blazers in 1983 as an assistant to Jack Ramsay and served as an assistant coach until 1989, when he replaced Mike Schuler as head coach.

In 1989-90, his first full season at the helm, Adelman guided the Blazers to a 59-23 record and a trip to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Detroit Pistons in five games. The following year, Portland went 63-19 and won the Pacific Division title before bowing to the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, and Adelman finished second in balloting for NBA Coach of the Year award.

In 1991-92, Portland went 57-25, won its second straight Pacific Division title and advanced to the NBA Finals for the second time in three years, this time losing in six games to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.

On Nov. 22, 1992, Adelman recorded his 200th victory in the 288th game of his career. At the time, no coach in league history had reached the 200-win plateau in fewer games. Adelman left Portland after the 1993-94 season to coach the Golden State Warriors.

The Warriors posted a 36-46 record under Adelman in 1995-96, but did reduce their points allowed from 111.1 ppg to 103.1 ppg, the fewest for the franchise in 20 years. After losing season (30-52) in 1996-97, however, Adelman was replaced by P.J. Carlesimo.

At Sacramento, Adelman and turned the Kings into the highest-scoring team in the league, going from 93.1 points per game in 1997-98. The Kings posted a 27-23 record in the shortened season, their first winning mark since 1982-83. Adelman led the Kings to the playoffs in 2006, his last year with the team before joining the Houston Rockets as their head coach.

In his first year with the Rockets, Adelman guided them to a 22 game winning streak, the third longest in NBA history. The next season, the Rockets advanced to the Western Conference Semifinals.

Adelman joined the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2011 and coached the team until 2014, reaching his 1000th career game in 2013. He retired from coaching in 2014.