Top 5 NBA coaches who have never won an NBA title

#4 Rick Adelman

Rick Adelman

Record: Regular Season: 1042-748 (.582), Playoffs: 79-78 (.503)

Rick Adelman is one of the greatest tacticians in NBA history. Adelman coached for 23 years and began his career with the Blazers in 1988. From 1989-1992 he led the Blazers to two NBA Finals and one Conference Finals. They lost in 1990 to the Pistons and in 1992 to the Bulls and to be fair they were 2nd best talent-wise to both teams. After some disappointing seasons in the coming years, he joined the Kings in 1998, a franchise which had 1 playoff appearance in 12 seasons.

Adelman led the Kings to the playoffs every year and they peaked in 2001-02. Winning 61 games, the Kings were the No.1 Seed in the West. They lost a very controversial Conference Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers in 7 games. It's rumored that game 6 of the series was rigged for the Lakers to win. He would never reach those heights again and after leaving the Kings, he had moderate success in Houston. Adelman would then coach the Timberwolves and despite improving the team record every season, he decided to retire in 2014.

Adelman was known for his player-friendly approach and generally made decisions his players would buy into. While he used the Corner Offense most of the time, Adelman would adjust based on personnel as he did with Yao Ming in Houston. He also wasn't hesitant to place responsibility on young players.