Rick Adelman (b. Jun 16, 1946) was present at the beginning and, again, at one of the greatest heights of Portland Trail Blazers basketball.

Adelman, the player, was selected by the Blazers in the 1970 expansion draft and played three seasons for the young franchise. His Portland averages of 28 minutes, 10 points and four and a half assists were the best of all his playing career.

It didn’t take long after retirement for the Trail Blazers to bring him back after a stint at Chemeketa Community College. Jack Ramsay hired him as an assistant in 1983. Six years later he was promoted to head coach mid-season and helped push that Blazer squad into the playoffs despite a losing record.

Then came the three magical seasons, 1990, the breakthrough trip to the finals facing Detroit. The Trail Blazers fought through grueling series with San Antonio and Phoenix to make their way out of the West.

Lessons learned from the finals loss to the Pistons, 1991 looked like the year. A 63-19 regular season and a trip to the West finals, which ended in a heartbreaking 6-game series defeat at the hands of the Lakers.

1992 brought a second Pacific Division title and another trip to the finals. The Chicago Bulls would cut that championship dream short in six games.

Rick left Portland after the 1994 season with the highest regular season winning percentage of any coach in franchise history as well as most playoff games coached and most playoff wins.

He was not done with the NBA. The coaching carousel took Adelman to two seasons with the Warriors; eight with the Kings; four in Houston and three in Minnesota. Those teams made a total of ten playoff appearances. When retirement came along, Rick had 1,042 career wins, that currently ranks him 10th all-time among NBA coaches.

The basketball world has kept score. Coach Adelman was welcomed to the Basketball Hall of Fame and just this summer became only the 10^th NBA coach to be honored with the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award.

And he is leaving his own coaching legacy… Daughter Kathy in the Oregon high school ranked and sons R.J and David, who just won his first ring in June with the World Champion Denver Nuggets.

RICK ADELMAN-NBA HEAD COACHING RECORDS