Portland Trail Blazers: Rick Adelman voted into Basketball Hall of Fame

It was reported here last month that former Portland Trail Blazers Head Coach Rick Adelman was a finalist for the 2021 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee class. On Sunday, it was announced Adelman would be inducted.

Adelman joined Dr. Jack Ramsay’s coaching staff as an assistant coach in 1983. Before being on Portland’s bench, he was the Men’s Basketball coach of the Storm, Chemeketa Community College in Salem. In 1988, he was named interim coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, after the team fired then Head Coach Mike Schuler.

“We were not going in the right direction,” said Bucky Buckwalter, the Blazers’ Vice President of Basketball Operations at the time via Desert News.

Before the following season, Adelman would become the 7th Head Coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. While with the Trail Blazers, Adelman would lead the team to the NBA Finals twice (1990 and 1992).

After being let go from the Blazers in 1994, Adelman would go on to coach the Golden State Warriors (1995-1997), Sacramento Kings (1999-2006), Houston Rockets (2007-2011), and the Minnesota Timberwolves (2011-2014). He coached the NBA All-star Game three times (1991, 2001, 2003)and is the NBA’s 9th winningest coach with 1042 wins in 1791 games coached, including 291 wins with Portland. He is the third-winningest coach, behind Ramsay and Terry Stotts in franchise history.

Portland Trail Blazers: Rick Adelman voted into Basketball Hall of Fame

In addition to Adelman, two-time NCAA champion head coach Jay Wright, Bill Russell (as a coach), seven-time WNBA All-Star Yolanda Griffith, Seattle Storm seven-time All-Star and three-time WNBA MVP Lauren Jackson, Bob Dandridge, Toni Kukoc (international committee), Pearl Moore, Clarence Jenkins, Val Ackerman, Cotton Fitzsimmons, Howard Garfinkel, Paul Pierce, Chris Bosh, Chris Webber, and Ben Wallace will also be enshrined.

The 2021 Hall of Fame class will be inducted on September 11.

Adelman is the 10th inductee who was at one point a Portland Trail Blazer (this includes Bill Schonley and Maurice Cheeks).

It is worth noting…Blazers founder Harry Glickman, former Portland Assistant Coach Tim Grgurich were also nominations for contribution.

Congratulations to Adelman!