By Rick Adelman and Dwight Jaynes
Ranking: 
This book was written during the 1991 season, in which the Blazers finished with a NBA-best 63-19 record and lost in the Western Conference Championship. Because he is still coach, he uses the "kid gloves" and spends a lot of time rationalizing the shortcomings of the players. For this reason, the book is pretty stale. I can't say I blame him, because who wants to irk off the players he is coaching? Still, it makes him come off as something of a whiner. Especially when he spends so much time rationalizing losses, and then his lengthy discourse on he and Bill Walton's bickering. Heck, Walton is a moron. He doesn't need responding to.
On the good side, Adleman does tell what it was like to be a role player in the NBA on an expansion club. He is more honest about the team he played for than the team he coached. He also tells of what it was like to coach juco as well as to be an assistant coach under Jack Ramsey, who he, unlike myself, has great respect for, and also Mike Schuller. He tells of Schuller's coaching philosophy and why it didn't mesh with the Blazers--not in a backstabbing way, but in a honest way.
Some people think lowly of Adelman's coaching ability. I am not biased in this regard. I thought he did a wonderful job of turning the team from a .500 team to a powerhouse in one year (and I, and he, both give credit to Buck Williams, also). His job in Golden State (not mentioned, since this book was written in 1991) only proves to me that a coach has to have talent to win. I don't think he can maximize talent like a Pat Riley, but that is why Riley is Riley. However, I don't think he's a lousy coach, just not a great writer.
Since the book is a diary, it is easy to read, but it's not nearly as deep as other books I have read, or also the books about other coaches I have read, like Ralph Miller and John Cheney.
Introspection: 3
Insight: 5
History: Mostly 1990-91 but some parts before
Readability: 4
The Long Hot Winter. Rick Adelman with Dwight Jaynes. Simon and Schuster. 1992.
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