Hall of Fame Coach Rick Adelman Dies at 79

Rick Adelman, a Hall of Fame basketball coach who led teams to the NBA Finals twice and amassed over 1,000 career victories, has died at the age of 79. The NBA Coaches Association announced his death on Monday.

Adelman coached in the NBA for 29 years, including 23 seasons as a head coach. His career included stints with the Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, Houston Rockets, and Minnesota Timberwolves. He compiled a regular-season record of 1,042 wins and 749 losses, ranking him among the ten winningest coaches in league history. He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021 and received the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award from the coaches association in 2023.

Before his coaching career, Adelman played seven seasons in the NBA as a guard for five teams, including the San Diego Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers. He began his coaching career at Chemeketa Community College in Oregon before joining the Trail Blazers as an assistant coach in 1983. He became Portland's head coach during the 1988-89 season and led the team, featuring star Clyde Drexler, to the NBA Finals in 1990 and 1992.

His most celebrated tenure came with the...