Canzano: My favorite Rick Adelman story includes very few words
Former Trail Blazers coach dead at 79.
I last saw Rick Adelman several summers ago. He was wearing shorts and flip flops, and rummaging around the beer cooler on the back wall at the CVS Pharmacy in downtown Lake Oswego.
He emerged from the cooler with a six-pack of domestic beer, took one look at me, and smiled. We exchanged pleasantries. He went on his way. And I ended up behind the former NBA coach in the check-out line.
The coach paid for his beer and headed out the door. When I stepped up for my turn, the clerk leaned in and said, “Hey, you know who that is? That’s Rick Adelman — best coach the Blazers ever had.”
Adelman died on Monday.
He was 79.
Adelman had a gifted basketball mind. He coached the Trail Blazers to two NBA Finals. He got beaten by the bad-boy Detroit Pistons in five games, and two years later, had the misfortune of being matched up against Michael Jordan and the Bulls. That series went six games.
Adelman never won the NBA title. He sits just off Dr. Jack Ramsay’s shoulder if titles are what you count. I’m not arguing with the pharmacy clerk. What Adelman accomplished was outstanding. But I’m not here today to debate coaching legacies, I’m here for the stories.
I’ve got some rich ones.