RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Some, giggling at some of his imaginative lineups, called him the mad scientist of the NBA. Others considered him cunning, even ruthless, a shrewd behind-the-scenes manipulator with a gift for obscuring his ulterior motives with a smile or a joke.
Don Nelson was all that and more.
The former Golden State Warriors coach who in 2012 entered the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame, died Sunday at age 86. It is conceivable that no coach in NBA history did more moving and shaking and feuding, on the court and off, than Nelson.
No coach did more winning, either, until one of Nelson’s disciples, San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, supplanted him atop the NBA’s career wins list in March 2022.
“Don Nelson was a true innovator whose influence on the game of basketball is still felt today,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr wrote in a statement. “He consistently challenged conventional thinking, experimented with different lineups and styles of play and saw possibilities in the game that others often did not. So much of what is now commonplace in the modern NBA can be traced back to the way Nellie approached the game. His impact on the Warriors is just as significant. He helped shape some of the most memorable teams and moments in franchise history and built a lasting connection with generations of Warriors fans. His legacy will always remain an important part of this organization. My thoughts are with the entire Nelson family.”
“One of the big reasons I was drafted by the Warriors was because of Don Nelson,” Warriors superstar Steph Curry wrote. “The story is he never liked rookies, but from Day 1 he challenged me and gave me an opportunity to be my best self on the court. He taught me a lot during our one season together and I’ll never forget the night he became the winningest coach in NBA history in Minnesota. We were so happy for him. He had an immeasurable impact on the sport and will go down as one of the greatest minds in the history of the game. He’s a true icon and will be missed by the countless number of people he touched, including myself, during a legendary career. Sending my love to Joy, his family and all those who were fortunate enough to know him.”
Nelson was the first coach to make copious use of a “point forward,” running plays through Marques Johnson and Paul Pressey in Milwaukee, though Rod Higgins and Chris Mullin and Stephen Jackson in Golden State. Nelson displayed considerable ingenuity with schemes that generated offense but never devoted much attention to defense.
Which is how Nelson executed one of the great magic tricks in sports. He retired in 2010 with more wins than any coach the league had ever known yet never won a championship or reached The Finals.
Nelson spent 31 seasons coaching four different NBA teams, serving two terms with the Warriors – 1988-94, 2007-10 – both of which mixed excitement before devolving into controversy or animosity.
As Golden State coach/general manager in the late 1980s and early ‘90s, Nelson was the architect of the fabled Run-TMC teams featuring Hall of Famers Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin. After so many sub-mediocre seasons, the enthusiasm for those teams made Nelson a Bay Area celebrity so popular that he would receive standing ovations at the Oakland Coliseum Arena when walking onto the court before tipoff.
Yet it was Nelson who, after coaching Run-TMC for two seasons, the second of which included a first-round playoff sweep of the Utah Jazz, dismantled the trio by trading Richmond. The move blew up the team’s strong chemistry. It took 16 years, with eight coaches cycling through the franchise, for the Warriors to win another postseason series; Nelson later acknowledged the trade was his biggest regret.
Yes, even bigger than his mismanagement of Chris Webber. The first overall pick in the 1993 draft lasted one season, in which he was named Rookie of the Year. Nelson, headstrong, made few sincere attempts to connect with the big man of his dreams and their differences quickly became irreconcilable.
The Warriors were swept by Phoenix in the first round of the 1994 playoffs. Webber was traded within six months, with Nelson resigning three months later. Eighteen months after Golden State was positioned to become a perennial playoff team, the franchise plummeted to its nadir, with Webber getting some of the blame but the brunt of it directed at Nelson.
After one uneasy season coaching the New York Knicks, Nelson took a year off before being hired by the Dallas Mavericks. After three sub-.500 seasons, Nelson guided a roster featuring Steve Nash and young Dirk Nowitzki to four consecutive playoff berths, including his first conference finals.
That run also ended bitterly, with Nelson and high-profile team owner Mark Cuban accusing each other of lies and deceit. Nelson filed a lawsuit than ended with him receiving a $6.3 million settlement through arbitration.
By which time Nelson had returned to the Warriors – and taken them to the playoffs.
Mullin, then the general manager, persuaded his former coach, then 66, to return to the sideline. Mullin then made a midseason trade to acquire Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington, who along with incumbent point guard Baron Davis, presenting Nelson with a satisfying roster that finished 42-40 and became the “We Believe” Warriors. Earning the No. 8 seed, they achieved one of the biggest upsets in playoff history, taking down the top-seeded Mavericks. It was a particularly tasty triumph for the coach.
The euphoria lasted one season. Though the Warriors made significant improvement in the regular season, finishing 48-34, their efforts went for naught in an exceedingly rare season in which eight teams in the West won at least 50 games.
A few months later, Nelson and Davis were at odds, with Mullin in the uncomfortable role of referee – while also trying to re-sign in the point guard. Golden State president Robert Rowell nixed the Davis deal, which led to friction...
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