my nba teams for next season

i've made up my mind: houston rockets. the clincher: rick adelman.

it was recently announced that rick adelman is bringing the high octane, big-man-passing, motion offense to yao ming, tracy mcgrady, and the houston rockets, a complete turnaround for the team that relied on set plays and a stingy defense.

admittedly, i lost interest in the nba after adelman and his staff was fired unceremoniously by sacramento. i enjoyed watching adelman's portland team (led by clyde drexler) when i was younger, only because everyone was pro-michael jordan. after the team was dismantled, i didn't watch an nba game for years. until i watched the sacramento kings and their fluid, passing, motion offense. it was basketball in its purest form: teamwork is norm, one-one-one is a last resort. so un-nba. so un-superstar player-centric. kahit may superstars sila. only then did i realize that the team i liked watching was coached and managed by the same guys who ran the drexler-led blazers.

since then, i was a fan of both geoff petrie, who knows how to find quality talent (recent find: kevin martin and cisco garcia), and rick adelman, who knows how to make players mesh and play as one (though vlade divac played a huge role in sacramento's famed chemistry).

so it broke my basketball heart when rick was removed. i only, fleetingly, followed the kings season because i still believed in geoff petrie's management skills. and good thing the owners now backed off in the coaching search, after the musselman experiment failed (miserably i might add). i'll still follow sacramento and see where they go with a coach that petrie himself selects.

but this news that rick adelman is coaching again is the kicker for me. i like the rockets because of yao ming and shane battier. now, i'll be sticking to this team because my favorite nba coach is back in the sidelines. i hope he brings in pete carril back too.

trust me, houston will be fun to watch next year. watch the point guard pass to yao at the high post. watch the point guard and probably t-mac cut to the basket. watch the weak side and backdoor cutters. watch yao pass to any of those cutters. then watch the cutters pass to the wing shooters. watch until they find the open man inside or outside.

just watch the ball move. a lot.

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coincidentally, i recently traded mike bibby and brad miller to houston for yao ming in my xbox game (84% winning percentage, and 3 straight titles, with the 4th coming up! i'm playing 8-minute quarters on superstar level... and i'm switching to hall-of-fame difficulty soon).

hmm... i must have espn or something...