Rick Adelman (center) and son, David, on the Timberwolves bench during the 2013-2014 season (Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images)

It’s tough to invent something new in basketball today. Yes, the game has become more scientific. Yes, we now have advanced analytics tools, such as Synergy, player tracking systems, and extensive data. Offensive and defensive trends shift. Spacing has been transformed by the modern understanding of the three-point shot’s value - and by the fact that almost every player in the league can now make threes at least at a respectable rate. But tactically? There’s virtually nothing we haven’t seen before.

Take, for instance, the Miami Heat’s new offense, which I wrote about on my X page. It generated plenty of buzz after Bam Adebayo and Norm Powell broke it down during Prime Video NBA studio show. It was quickly labeled as innovative and revolutionary - even I got caught up in the hype. However, in reality, it simply revives the core principles of Vance Walberg’s Dribble-Drive Motion, the system John Calipari used at Memphis in 2007-08 when he led the team to the NCAA Final with Derrick Rose as his floor general.

Miami’s real twist lies in tempo and flow - they run it in transition, without calling set plays. Even that, though, is hardly new: Erik Spoelstra is essentially re-adapting something Doug Moe was already doing in Denver in the 1980s, when his run-and-gun teams flowed seamlessly into a free-form passing game. The spacing has evolved, and the collective basketball IQ is higher, but this is refinement, not invention.

And when basketball tactics are essentially a cycle of re-imagining old ideas, it’s only fitting that a son would recycle the playbook of his father. David Adelman, now in his first full season as head coach of the Denver Nuggets, is the son of Rick Adelman, the former head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, Houston Rockets, and Minnesota Timberwolves. In that final Minnesota stop before Rick’s retirement, David served as one of his assistants.

Although Rick reached the 1992 NBA Finals with Portland against Michael Jordan’s Bulls, his true masterpiece was the Sacramento Kings, whom he coached from 1999 to 2006. The 2002 Western Conference Finals, in which Sacramento fell 4:3 to the Lakers of Kobe, Shaq, and Phil Jackson, is still remembered as a series that might have ended differently were it not for the officials’ heavy influence. Those Kings played beautiful, flowing offense driven by their passing big men - Chris Webber and Vlade Divac - operating from the elbow or mid-post and orchestrating action for guards and forwards moving off the ball.

For years, dating back to the Mike Malone era, Denver’s offense has served as a tribute to the Sacramento system, with Nikola Jokić assuming the role once played by Vlade Divac and Webber. This season, Jokić leads the league with 11.9 assists per game, along with 12.9 rebounds and 24.4 points. Naturally, in a system that emphasizes movement and off-ball cutting around its hub, the Nuggets also lead the NBA in points off cuts, averaging 17.4 per game according to Synergy. The second-best team scores only 14.5. Last season, Denver also topped the league in that category with 15.1.

The most striking - and perhaps even emotional - parallel between David Adelman’s basketball and his father’s lies in one specific play: the Corner Offense. Rick built an entire offensive philosophy around it. Structurally, it resembled the Triangle offense, which was popular in that era, featuring three players on the ball side: a big man at the elbow and two guards/ forwards spaced at the wing and corner. The action began with a pass from the wing to the elbow. The wing then screened for the corner player, who lifted toward the elbow through what was essentially a stagger screen culminating in a handoff. In Sacramento’s version, Peja Stojaković often used the sequence to pop for a jumper.

In Adelman’s stint with the Timberwolves, however, Ricky Rubio, a poor shooter but an exceptional passer, would use the screens differently. He would take the screen from Corey Brewer (#15) and the handoff from Kevin Love to gain angle and hit Nikola Peković (yes, another Balkan big) flashing to the paint.

Another option from the corner offense: if the defense top-locks the corner shooter to deny the cut, he can counter by going backdoor. In a 2004 Kings-Lakers game, Mike Bibby (#10) passed to Divac and screened for Stojaković. Rick Fox, guarding Peja, anticipated the screen on top, so Stojaković slipped backdoor, and Divac found him for an easy layup.

Fast-forward 21 years to November 2025. Against the Miami Heat, that same Corner Offense appears in the Nuggets’ playbook under David Adelman. Bruce Brown (#11) brings the ball up, passes to Jokić, and Aaron Gordon is stationed in the corner. Gordon takes Brown’s screen and lifts toward Jokić for the handoff. When Gordon can’t create an advantage, he swings the ball back to Brown on the wing, and the sequence ultimately finds Jokić posting up and scoring.

In that same game, Adelman also showcased an evolution of his father’s design. Out of an ATO, Jamal Murray passed to Jokić and then screened for Gordon. The defense expected Gordon to receive a familiar handoff - but instead, Gordon screened for Jokić: an inverted ball screen, forward-for-center. Gordon rolled straight to the basket, and Jokić, the best passer in the world, hit him for an easy layup. Jokic’s versatility allows the younger Adelman to expand the family playbook.

Of course, Denver isn’t the only team still running this concept. What was once called the Corner Offense now often appears, with slightly tweaked spacing, as “Zoom” or “Chicago” action. The terminology doesn’t really matter. Basketball continues to evolve, but almost everything in it has its roots in the past. And Rick Adelman remains one of the architects of modern offense.