Elston Turner, Rick Adelman now on opposite sides

For six seasons, Elston Turner was Rick Adelman’s right
hand man, sitting in the lead assistant’s chair on the
bench.

While he’s still a lead assistant, Turner is now a part of
Alvin Gentry’s staff.

The two friends went their separate ways when the Houston
Rockets decided to make a coaching change at the end of
last season. Over the summer, Turner was hired in Phoenix
while Adelman landed in Minnesota a month later.

They have not seen one another since the off-season but
Turner said they do talk regularly on the phone. That
changes tonight when the Suns host the Timberwolves at US
Airways Center.

“He’s doing a great job with the players
he has,”
explained Turner. “It’s not a surprise because he really
can coach.” The Timberwolves are 18-18 heading into
Thursday’s game after winning just 17 games all of last
season.

Turner first joined Adelman in Sacramento and was a part
of two Western Conference All-Star coaching staffs (2001,
2003). After six years with the Kings, Turner followed
Adelman to Houston where they were together for all four
of Adelman’s seasons as head coach.

“I know everything he’s doing so we’re going to see if we
can try and stop it,” said Turner. “It’s like football—
we’re coming over right tackle. You know we’re coming
over right tackle you still have to stop it.

“He’s very good at getting his teams to execute so it
really doesn’t matter if you know what he’s running or
not. The execution is still good. It’s hard to stop
teams that execute well.”

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