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Tag Archive - don nelson

Don Nelson is Finally a Hall of Famer

March 29, 2012 in by with 0 Comments

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WasYK2kDLU w=600 h=400]

At long last, Don Nelson has been inducted as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, it’s been a ridiculously long time coming for a man that first stepped into the NBA as a player in 1963 for the Chicago Zephyrs. His finest playing days came with the Celtics and his time spent playing alongside centers Bill Russell (6’9″) and Dave Cowens (6’9″) probably influenced his later decisions to employ small ball, to varying but mostly great success.

Following his playing days for the Boston Celtics, Nelson immediately joined the Milwaukee Bucks as an assistant in 1977 and took over as head coach following Larry Costello’s departure after a mere 18 games. Nelson’s run in Milwaukee was his most successful. In 11 seasons he totaled 480 wins, the most in Bucks history. Those teams of Sidney Moncrief, Marques Johnson, Bob Lanier, Ricky Pierce, Terry Cummings and Paul Pressey ultimately produced 6-straight 50 win seasons.

(Read a fuller account of Nelson’s 1980s Bucks)

Moving on to Golden State in the 1988-89 season, Nelson quickly revamped the squad and Run-TMC was all the rage in the Bay Area. The trio culminated in 1991 when they toppled the 55-win Spurs in a huge upset, 3 games to 1.  The triumvirate was prematurely broken up as Richmond was traded for Billy Owens , but by 1994 Nelson had the Warriors humming again with rookie Chris Webber and the Latrell Sprewell flanking Chris Mullin. They hit 50 wins but were ousted by Phoenix in the 1st round. Thereafter, Webber and Nelson fell out and both were gone from Golden State the next season.

Never out of work too long, Nelson was manning the sidelines for the New York Knicks for the 1995-96 season. Don on Broadway lasted 59 games before skedaddling. Highly forgettable sequence for everyone involved…

In perhaps his most inspired move, Nelson headed to Dallas in 1998 and on draft night traded for Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash. After a lost decade of losing and humiliation in the 1990s, Nelson created a perennial playoff powerhouse behind Dirk, Nash and Michael Finley that ultimately set the stage for their 2006 Finals appearance under Avery Johnson.

Leaving Dallas in 2005, Nelson, as usual, was quick in his return to coaching. Other teams of his were certainly better, but the 2007 Golden State Warriors might be his most memorable accomplishment. The 42-win 8th seed toppled his erstwhile Mavericks in a thrilling 6-game upset in the 1st round. The next season the Warriors rose to 48 wins but missed the playoffs in the highly competitive West and Nelson took a siesta for his final two seasons, seemingly playing out the string to catch Lenny Wilkens for the all-time lead in coaching wins.

The string was well played and Nelson did surpass Wilkens.

Despite those final, embarrassing two seasons, Nelson’s resume is one of the most impressive ever seen for a coach. Not only is he the all-time wins leader, but he has a sterling .557 win percentage. Despite never making an NBA Finals, Nelson did get to 4 Conference Finals (3x Bucks, once Mavericks) and put together 13 50-win seasons.

Three times he was named Coach of the Year:  1983 and 1985 with the Bucks and 1992 with the Warriors.

And in perhaps the highest honor, in 1997 he was named one of the NBA’s 10 greatest coaches. And yet here we are in 2012, finally seeing him getting the call to the Hall of Fame:

“It’s a great honor to cap my career,” Nelson told ESPN. “I’ve had a great time and a great life coaching basketball. I don’t actually need to be rewarded for anything, but I am very proud and my family is very proud of this award.”

This award was needed not for just for Nelson but for all of the great, talented teams and players he coached whose due has been denied too long just like him. From the Bucks of Moncrief and Marques being overshadowed by the Sixers and Celtics all the way through Dirk Nowitzki being slyly ridiculed until his Finals MVP last season. The 1,335 wins Nelson racked up are a testament to him, his uptempo brand of basketball that was a beacon of light particularly in the dark days of the late 90s and early 2000s, and the players who made it happen.

Congrats, Nellie.

You’re Scaring The Kids, Nellie

July 14, 2011 in by with 0 Comments

But a potential Wolves candidate with even more experience unexpectedly surfaced Tuesday when NBA coaching sources said that Don Nelson — the winningest coach in league history — is open to a return to the bench and intrigued by the talent on Minnesota’s roster.

Marc Stein – Sources: Wolves interest Don Nelson

Do you hear that?

That’s the sound of Anthony Randolph’s screams as he runs to anywhere. Anywhere that doesn’t occupy his former tormentor. After years of public praise and equally public neglect from Nelson, it’s fairly obvious that Randolph will have some reservations to a potential Nelson signing. After all, he’s the one who pressured Randolph into what he is now: a positionless freak (pejorative) with a diverse set of skills that add up to very little at the moment.

Nelson’s treatment of Randolph in his formative years in Oakland should already raise red flags for Nelson’s viability in Minnesota. One day you’re lauded in front of the media, the next you’re benched for the entire game. One moment you’re snagging double-doubles easily, then before you know it you’ve been replaced by a decrepit Mikki Moore. I don’t think that sends a good message to the kids.

The bizarre volatility, impatience, and stubbornness Nelson showcased in his last stint with the Warriors bordered on psychological torture. Now, I’ve used Randolph as the primary example in this case, and he definitely isn’t a vital part of Minnesota’s core. But rookies Ricky Rubio and Derrick Williams are. Luckily, both are players who can thrive in Nellie’s frenetic system. Except that’s what we said about Randolph, a player who in theory should’ve been the Nelson archetype. But he was benched and shunned and shipped off to obscurity. At some point, it’s not good enough to be a player who fits a system — especially when the system is unstable.

So what happens when either the kids aren’t alright or when the onset of Nellie’s senility manifests itself into something far more troubling than what we witnessed in 09-10? Do Mikki Moore and Acie Law make their triumphant return? We might not be dealing with a mad scientist anymore; only the madness. There’s enough of that in the franchise without Nelson.

And seriously, just think of the children.  Poor Anthony Randolph is probably cradling himself in a forest somewhere.

The Western Wing: Time For The Warriors To Break Up With The Big Guy

July 22, 2010 in by with 1 Comment

Nelson is the Warriors’ college girlfriend. It was a great run – lots of beer pong, Family Guy and tons of scoring. But they grew apart and wanted different things … they needed different things. So the two sides went their own way. Nelson had a fling with New York before jumping into a long-term relationship with Dallas. Meanwhile, Golden State flirted with lots of different coaches but never settled down; never found true happiness.

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The Western Wing: Warriors Offer Too Much Steak, No Sizzle

July 7, 2010 in by with 3 Comments

Last season’s dish was the mystifying pairing of nearly identical undersized guards, Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry – two great cuts that simply don’t go together.

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NBA Rules: The System Gets Nellie Ball’d

April 15, 2010 in by with 13 Comments

“I was watching Court TV and I found a loophole in your case. I’m gonna talk to the judge about a writ of Habeas Corpus. I’ll put the SYSTEM on trial.” – Jim Carrey, Cable Guy.

Something really weird happened during the final game of the Warriors and Blazers regular season on Wednesday night. A basketball game was happening while a competition committee hearing broke out.

The situation was fairly simple: Don Nelson was being forced to play injured members of his team. When Devean George fouled out with just under four minutes to go in the game, Don Nelson wanted to keep him in the game and accept the applicable technical foul that came with doing such a thing. He’d already done it earlier in the season when Stephen Curry fouled out of a game and was allowed to keep playing. But during that game, the Warriors didn’t have eligible players in uniform sitting on the bench.

Before we go any further, watch the video I cut together from the game.

Here are some of my thoughts, reactions and things of note from this video:

- Nellie tried to let referee Phil Robinson know initially that Chris Hunter wasn’t going to come into the game. He wanted to keep Devean George in and take the technical foul. However, Eddie F. Rush takes control of the situation and explains to the Warriors coaching staff that the three eligible players (Anthony Morrow, Chris Hunter and Ronny Turiaf) were going to have to play before that could happen. In his mind and in the minds of the NBA rules, these guys should be playing in the game. Although I wanted to disagree with the referees (and did), they were ultimately correct. The Warriors tried to skate by the last game of the season without signing anymore players despite the fact that they were chock-full of injuries.

- It was brutal seeing Chris Hunter dragging his leg up and down the court. I know the Warriors were caught up in the moment a bit and didn’t really know how to approach it but I would have kept him on defense and never had him try to cross halfcourt. Especially when Chris Hunter gets knocked down on the blocking foul and is trying to get up, you know that had to have Nellie seething at this situation.

- At the 2:11 mark, I love that Nellie screams, “you’re supposed to know the rules.” It does actually seem like the refs were following the rules even though for the safety of the players involved there could be an exception made.

- Once Hunter is taken out of the game for good and Devean George is once again denied entry like a group of guys at a Vegas night club, I love the strategy that Nellie implements. Put Turiaf in, let him commit a foul right away and pull him from the game. Then when there’s a stoppage of play after Morrow goes in, pull him from the game too so that Devean George HAS to be allowed to come back in.

- For those of us that have chastised Nellie this season and the past couple seasons for not caring about his job, it’s nice to see how disturbed he was by this whole incident. He genuinely hated having to put Chris Hunter, Ronny Turiaf and Anthony Morrow into this game. He was worried for their health and safety as if he was a concerned parent.

- How about that blocked shot by Hunter?!?

- Everyone that was watching this game and not a Blazers fan was rooting for a Devean George game-winner. It would have sparked a crap hurricane throughout the media world.

- I think we’ll see this rule revisited with the competition committee in some way. Maybe it won’t be changed because after all, Nellie and the Warriors were fudging the injury report a bit. However, there has to be a way for a coach to be able to avoid bringing in his injured players.

- Stephen Curry goes OFF. 26 points in the second half for him and he scored 11 of the Warriors final 14 points to win this game. He capped off a fantastic rookie season with a 42-point effort. He’s in the same zone that I felt Allan Houston was in when he played. I can’t remember a single jumper that either player has ever missed in their careers. As far as I’m concerned, Curry and Houston have never missed a jump shot before.

- I don’t know how you could possibly not love Nellie after watching that video.

Weird Team Makes Weird Trade With Bad Team, News At 11

November 16, 2009 in by with 1 Comment

So that happened.

My initial reaction is very much similar to the same reaction I had to the Diaw-Bell for Richardson trade.

“Well. That’s really weird.”

It’s just a weird trade. Weird players, weird swap, weird identities.  The Bobcats needed a scorer, so Jackson can definitely contribute there, and when motivated can play some serious defense. So in the short term, that’s probably a good move. But then again…

Jackson’s salary increases every season, culminating in $10 million in ’12-’13 when he’ll be 34. So you know, big expiring contract for them at that point! But that’s three years from now, and the Bobcats are hanging on by a thread as it is. It’s almost as if Larry Brown saw what happened with the Hornets and Peja and said “that sounds like fun!”

On the flip side, I’ve discovered that every move Brown has made has helped the franchise. It may not have helped them after he’s gone, but it’s made them a better team.  The jury’s still out on Chandler, though that’s looking like his first miss, even though Okafor’s not exactly flourishing in NOLA. So there’s a certain level of trust I put into Brown to know what will work on his squads. The issue I think is that this team still lacks a creator. Jackson can knock down shots, but there’s still no one on the team you can give the ball to down 1 with 24 ticks left and say “get us a bucket.”  They have a solid supporting cast, but still not one guy you point to and go “They have to go to X now.”

For Golden State? I mean, is this even worth mentioning? The best part about this is Anthony Morrow should get more time. But then, he should have been getting time all the while. So who knows. The only thing this affirms for Golden State is what we already knew. The Warriors suck.