I got there plenty early, headed to the conference room and was surprised to see just about every major sports media personality in Houston already there. About 10 video cameras were set up in the back with three chairs and microphones in the front for the soon-to-be-arriving triumvirate of Rockets management.

I grabbed a seat and tried to absorb as much conversation as I could before tipoff. From the sound of things, it looked like many were lining up to ask Rockets owner Les Alexander some tough questions about former coach Jeff Van Gundy.

Things do not appear to have slowed down too much at the TC. Scouts were there in other rooms to privately talk about the upcoming draft and about 5 minutes before the press conference was to start, I happened to spot Yao Ming walk right by the doors. Atleast I think it was Yao -- I openly admit that it might have been a completely different 7-foot-5 Chinese guy wearing Houston Rockets workout gear.

I also noticed former GM Carroll Dawson sitting a few seats over and one row behind me.

Adelman, Alexander and Rockets general manager Daryl Morey stepped in at 3pm sharp and the conference was underway.

"I was having lunch with Clyde Drexler and Clyde said, 'Oh he's wonderful! He's unbelievable. If you can get him you'd be so fortunate. He's the perfect guy for this team. He'll know how to put the players in the right spot.'", said Alexander. "He went on and on for 20 minutes. And I respect Clyde's opinion greatly. With that I said we can't lose this guy, we have to get him. Clyde loves him."

Yikes.

Drexler the player endorsing his former coach would have meant much more to me if I didn't just witness an entire season of Drexler the broadcaster endorsing every human being associated with the league, deserved or not. Clyde calling Rafer Alston a "top 5 point guard in the NBA" and "darkhorse for the All-Star game" immediately sprung to mind.

I like Adelman too, but I would have respected that more had Allen Leavell been the one to push Les over the edge. Little scary.

"Jeff and I had a conversation," said Adelman. "We talked about what was going on, he wasn't sure he was going to coach but he gave them the opportunity to go out and talk to people and my name was mentioned and he said 'I told them you'd be a great candidate'. We talked about it for awhile and that's why I went back and agreed to have the interview. So that's how it all happened. Boy I would never have interviewed if I didn't know that Jeff was on board with it."

JVG was likely wise not to take the "non-coaching position", but the hiring/firing fiasco still played out like halftime entertainment

It's very hard to argue with that. Van Gundy never denied publically that he spoke to Adelman beforehand and I would highly doubt that Adelman isn't telling the truth here.

But Les would not talk about Van Gundy.

"When we trade a player, we never talk about the ex-player. We just talk about the new player. When we have a new coach we're going to talk about the new coach. Same exact way."

Given the hard work that Van Gundy put in here, I think he deserved one hell of a lot more than that. He won over 50 games twice and took a bunch of undisciplined slackers and turned it more in to a roster of hard-working defenders.

He had his flaws, no doubt, and most of us could see (and understand) this coming beforehand, but four years ago it took some convincing for me to swallow this hiring, yet somehow when he left, without winning a playoff series, it felt like we were letting go of the one player, coach or management piece that actually brought the fire back to the Rockets.

While I didn't expect Les to say much about Van Gundy at a press conference dedicated to Adelman, I did think more appreciation than that was warranted.

Adelman was fairly open and straight forward with the media (photo by Jeff Balke)

"This is a great opportunity," said Adelman. "They have one of the best big men in the league, one of the best perimeter [players]. I think when you get an opportunity in this league with a good team, a good organization, a great city, fans -- you can't pass it up."

The new coach also talked extensively about what he hopes to achieve here with the offense.

"I don't see why not," said Adelman of the Rockets playing more up-tempo. "'Up-tempo' can be somewhat exaggerated. I call it more 'flow of the game' where the players get more of a chance to react to what the defense is doing, but yeah you can."

Even with Yao Ming?

"I had Vlade Divac in Sacramento and he's not a speedster," said Adelman. "I had Kevin Duckworth in Portland who was the same way. There's no reason you can't. Watching Yao, it's not how fast you are but their intent to get up down the court. What we try to do is get in to something quicker -- not just walk it down, call a play. We want to get in to it and give the players a chance to make the defense react and I don't see why you can't do that."

Adelman said you will see Yao in the high post as well and his hope is you will view him not just as a "scorer" but as a "playmaker" too. He also said he wanted to make life "easier" for Tracy McGrady.

"He's such a talent," said Adelman of T-Mac. "You'd like to see him attack the other team a little bit where it's not so easy to help on him. You can have people in the right spots, but with some movement. You can do some things to make it easier on him and help the other players become better players."

While Les has received criticism for wanting to make the Rockets more like Phoenix (something he's never said on record), Adelman thought San Antonio was a much better example of what he hoped for.

"You have to have the ability, if you're scoring 100+ points, to defend," said Adelman. "Point differential is what is important. The reason San Antonio is beating Phoenix recently is not only can they defend -- they're one of the better defensive teams -- but they can attack the heck out of you at he other end. They have Ginobili and Parker. They're attacking you all the time, and they'll pick up the tempo. I think you have to have both things and that's what we'd like to do."

I loved what he had to say across the board here.

Adelman, Bonzi's former coach with the Kings, called the guard a "unique talent" and talked about how the playoffs are all about matchups and Bonzi can be a matchup nightmare.

"I had him in Sacramento, and he's a real force going against people his size or smaller," said Adelman. "When I had him, was ready to play. He's going to make his impression on the game. I would love to see him come back. He found a way to be successful when we had him in Sacramento. He'll find a way to be successful here."

"I would love to have Bonzi back," said Alexander. "I think he's a great talent."

You have to really think about this one: Here's a player who showed up way out of shape, played poorly in limited time and quit just a few games before the playoffs. Yet here are the Rockets expressing deep hope that he comes back.

You'd have to be Dick Bavetta to not see that slap at Van Gundy.

"Personnel obviously is key," said Adelman. "We'd like to add a few more pieces where we can attack a little bit with more variety than what we have right now."

"Hopefully we will be able to add more talent sometime during the offseason," said Les.

As a fan it's been obvious for some time that the Rockets need an upgrade at point guard, as well as power forward. Fortunately that was the buzz behind the scenes there -- the Rockets are well aware they need help at both spots and will be targetting their trade offers accordingly.

Though Adelman kept what he was looking for close to vest, I did catch him on the radio on my drive home talking about wanting more "3-4 types", which was the most I heard him reveal publically. The draft next month, where the Rockets pick #26, will be a fun start to the offseason.

However, if you take that element out for a minute, the Rockets probably could not do any better than hiring Adelman.

He's been the coach of two powerful Western Conference teams and has an outstanding track record with a 752-481 career coaching record (.610) and 14 postseason visits in 16 seasons.

I think he'll do a fine job here. I do worry the Rockets may lose a step defensively, but the hope is they will be a threat on both ends and be much more exciting to watch (please). The players should be a bit more at ease on the offensive end and not as concerned about a turnover putting them in the bench doghouse.