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Guard · 1974–75

Rick Adelman

Before the Hall of Fame coaching career there was a guard from Loyola of Los Angeles — a seventh-round pick in 1968 who became an original Portland Trail Blazer and closed out his playing days in 1975 after stops with Chicago, the New Orleans Jazz, and Kansas City-Omaha.

The bench is where he made history: 1,042 wins across 23 NBA seasons, tenth-most at the time of his death, with two Finals trips in Portland, the great Sacramento teams of the early 2000s, and a 22-game winning streak in Houston in 2008. Inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2021, Adelman died on June 1, 2026, fifteen days short of his 80th birthday.

HOW HE CAME & WENTChicago traded him to New Orleans for John Block on November 11, 1974, and three months later he went to Kansas City with Ollie Johnson for Nate Williams.

Full name
Richard Leonard Adelman
New Orleans Jazz tenure
1974–75
Position
Guard
Born
1946, Lynwood, California
Died
2026
Height
6′1″ (185 cm)
Weight
176 lb (80 kg)
College
Loyola Marymount
Drafted
1968, 7th round, San Diego
Signature in the archive 1995-96 Hoops Warriors authentic card

No photograph of this signature is online yet.

With the Jazz

RICK ADELMAN · 1974–75 · PER GAME
SEASONTEAMGMPGPPGRPGAPGSPGBPGFG%3P%FT%
1974–75NOJ2821.96.32.02.51.70.2.421.695
JAZZ TOTAL1 SEASON2821.96.22.02.51.70.2.421.695

Season by season, regular season, with this franchise only. More info: Basketball-Reference ↗  ·  Wikipedia ↗

Did you know

RICK ADELMAN · 7 NOTES
  • Was on the franchise's very first roster in 1974–75.
  • His son David followed him into the profession and now runs an NBA bench of his own — coaching is the family business.
  • Before his NBA coaching fame he spent six seasons at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon.
  • In 1992 he published The Long, Hot Winter, a 223-page insider account of a season with Clyde Drexler's Trail Blazers.
  • He was married to Mary Kay for 56 years and they raised six children together.
  • A seventh-round pick at 79th overall, the 6-foot-1 guard was claimed by Portland in the 1970 expansion draft.
  • During the 2011 lockout Erik Spoelstra filled three-quarters of a notebook over a four-hour lunch learning the Adelman corner offense from his son R.J.