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Houston Rockets part ways with coach Adelman

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-04-20 10:19

Houston Rockets head coach Rick Adelman reacts to a call by the officials in the second half of their NBA basketball game against the Boston Celtics in Boston, Massachusetts Jan 10, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

HOUSTON - The Houston Rockets want to name a new coach as soon as possible but any announcement may be delayed as some of their preferred candidates are involved in the NBA playoffs, the team said on Tuesday.

The Rockets, who missed the playoffs for a second straight season, are seeking a replacement for Rick Adelman after saying on Monday the two sides "have mutually agreed to part ways" after he went 193-135 over four NBA seasons.

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"If we feel like there's a coach who is the right fit for the future ... we would make that decision tomorrow," Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey told a news conference on Tuesday.

"The only league environment that's affecting our choice of a coach is all options for who we might want to consider aren't available to be interviewed right now because some of those options would be in the playoffs."

Morey also said he will work to upgrade Houston's roster in a bid to become a championship caliber team.

"Our roster is not perfect," Morey said. "I think coach Adelman did as good, if not the best job anyone could have done with this roster.

"But the bottom line was we couldn't come to a common agreement on how it could work going forward."

The Rockets, NBA champions in 1994 and 1995, have played without eight-times All-Star Yao Ming for all but five games of the past two seasons given injuries to the Chinese center.