Mike D’Antoni’s recent Hall of Fame honor has reopened an old Rockets debate: who deserves the nod as the second-best coach in franchise history?
Rudy Tomjanovich still sits alone at the top for anyone who watched Houston win its two titles, but the next spot is a real argument between D’Antoni and Rick Adelman.
On the surface, D’Antoni’s résumé with the Rockets looks stronger. He finished 217-101, a .682 winning percentage, and led Houston to a 28-23 postseason mark. Adelman went 195-135, good for .588, and was 9-10 in the playoffs.
But the raw numbers don’t tell the whole story. Adelman’s early run was excellent - he went 108-56 in his first two seasons, a .659 clip - before Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady broke down.
The Rockets then spent the next several seasons stuck in mediocrity. Even so, Adelman helped lift the team from the annual first-round exit days under Jeff Van Gundy into a genuine title threat.
His best chance came in 2009, when Houston reached the Western Conference semifinals and had a real shot at the NBA title before injuries derailed the series against the Los Angeles Lakers. Yao, in particular, was playing out of his mind before everything fell apart.
D’Antoni’s best moment came in 2018, when the Rockets reached the Western Conference Finals before injuries again turned the series against the Golden State Warriors. That same season, he won Coach of the Year and guided Houston to the best regular-season record in franchise history at 65-17. Adelman’s high-water mark was 55-27.
D’Antoni also reshaped James Harden into an offensive force and picked up multiple Coach of the Month awards, though he never won Coach of the Year in Houston. Adelman, for his part, never got that trophy either, but he did have that signature 22-game win streak and a stretch in 2008 and 2009 that stood out as a coaching tour de force.
So the question remains: if you’re ranking Rockets coaches, does D’Antoni’s regular-season dominance and Harden transformation put him ahead, or does Adelman’s ability to maximize that 2009 group carry the day?
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