Basketball Hall of Famer Rick Adelman, the longtime NBA coach, didn’t encourage his son, David, to get into coaching. But he didn’t steer him away from it, either.
‘A few guys have gotten fired who have been pretty good. You just never know,” Rick Adelman said during the 2023 Finals when his son was an assistant for the Denver Nuggets, who won the title that season. “You’ve got to get lucky. … But I just thought he had all the knack and the wherewithal to do the job.’
Adelman spilled truths in a few short sentences.
The Nuggets fired Michael Malone (a pretty good coach with an NBA championship) with three games left in the regular season and named David the interim coach.
The younger Adelman has the knack and wherewithal to do the job.
He proved that in the final three games of the season – games the Nuggets won to secure home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs – and he led the fourth-seeded Nuggets to a Game 7 series-clinching 120-101 victory against the fifth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night.
Is that enough to earn Adelman the full-time job with Denver? That’s up to Nuggets president Josh Kroenke, who is also the vice chairman of Kroenke Sports and Entertainment.
But Adelman has been a head coaching candidate and is headed for a top job at some point. It should be with the Nuggets.
He took over during a chaotic situation. The Nuggets dismissed GM Calvin Booth at the same time they fired Malone.
Adelman has managed a difficult situation extremely well with success. Beating the Clippers wasn’t easy. In the final 21 games of the season, the Clippers were one of the best teams in the league along with Oklahoma City and Boston, and they have one of the best coaches in the NBA in Ty Lue.
Adelman led the Nuggets, who trailed 2-1 in the series, to a two-point overtime victory, a two-point road victory, and to close out the series, he guided Denver to a 19-point blowout win.
Getting Oklahoma City in the second round is a major challenge, and Denver is the underdog. The Nuggets still need to resolve their front-office situation, and Kroenke is waiting to see how Denver’s season ends before making moves.
Malone’s style wore on the team, and a change was needed. The Nuggets are not looking for a coach with a similar style. Adelman’s demeanor is the opposite.
The Celtics removed the interim tag from Joe Mazzulla in 2023, and he won a title with the Celtics last season. The San Antonio Spurs (Mitch Johnson), Sacramento Kings (Doug Christie) and Memphis Grizzlies (Tuomas Iisalo) just made those interim coaches the full-time head coaches.
Adelman is on his way to a head coaching job in the NBA. It should be with the Nuggets, who would benefit from a certain amount of continuity but also a fresh voice who players have responded to in short time.
Follow NBA columnist Jeff Zillgitt on social media @JeffZillgitt