[David]

This was posted by "Alec" over at LMF

WHAT IS NELLIE UP TO NOW?

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by Igor Mangovski
for HOOPSWORLD.com
Jun 14, 2002, 5:03pm
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The Dallas Mavericks' assistant coach, Donn Nelson, is regarded as one of the best
evaluators of the oversees' talent. He is the one who unearthed Dirk Nowitzki from the
German's second division league when no other executive had even heard of him. He
put his name at stakes when he persuaded his father, Don Nelson, to trade for
Nowitzki and was even criticized for his decision when Nowitzki had hard time adjusting
to the NBA basketball. Well, Nowitzki developed into one of the most versatile and
difficult to guard forwards in the League. Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Bucks, who
thought to have acquired the coup of the draft when they swapped Nowitzki for
Robert Traylor, must be deploring their sorry decision every day. Instead of having the
Big Four, the Bucks ended up trading Traylor to Philly, making the "Tractor" only the
latest of the draft disappointments to become a journeyman. Traylor is now with the
New Orleans Hornets, his fourth team in the young career, while Nowitzki regularly
dominates the headlines with his stellar play. In addition to playing in the All-Star
game, Nowitzki made the Second All-NBA Team, an unprecedented feat for a player
groomed in Europe. Only the late Drazen Petrovic came close when he was voted to
the Third Team in 1992.

How did the rest of the highly paid decision makers assisted by dozens of scouts
overlook the Nowitzki's potential? Granted, some GM's would have eventually taken a
flyer on Nowitzki in the mid-to-late first round, but only for the fact the draft usually
gets awfully thin there and the risk of tarnishing the reputation by taking the wrong
player is exceeded by the risk of an overlook. From this perspective, 8 GM's made a
dreadful mistake for not drafting Nowitzki, as many experts agree he should have gone
first, but Nelson's clairvoyance and pioneer vision in that regard should not be
diminished. The executives do have an excuse for their mistake however, as few teams
had the full-time oversees scouts at the time. It was different in Dallas, as Donn
Nelson served as an international scout simultaneously with his regular assistant coach
assignments. In fact, Nelson seems to find an immense satisfaction in unearthing
hidden gems from the mud. After all, he lobbied hard for the Warriors to take Vlade
Divac with the #11 pick in the 1989 draft, but the risk was probably too high for Don
Nelson, and Divac lasted all the way to the #26 where the Lakers feasted at the
opportunity to select Divac, who became one of the best players from the crop. The
Warriors still brought an international player to the training camp, as Nelson was
enamored with the Lithuanian guard Sarunas Marciulionis, who would have had a great
career of his own, had his knee's not prevented him from achieving anything more than
being a runner-up for the sixth man of the year award.

The upcoming draft is touted as one of the deepest in years and even the lower
seeded teams in the first round work many players out, expecting to add a significant
piece to their rosters. Some teams even have a marketing strategy in place, as they
try to convey the publicity the first round pick brings to an additional income in these
quiet summer days. The parts of these workouts are open for the media in such cases,
and the sports writers eagerly report on the players who ostentatiously display their
skills in the days when basketball related news is nowhere to be found. The Mavericks
owner, Mark Cuban, is one of the smartest when it comes to using the market in
gathering an extra-income, but the apparent lack of news from the Mavericks camp
suggests that something behind the curtains is going on. Where are the Nelsons after
all?

The whole draft process is a sort of a poker game, and not getting the cards exposed
is almost as important as reading the other players' mind. The Nelsons are certainly
very good at the game and they defended their reputation once again. While the rest
of the league executives are scouring the well-documented and taped talent, Donn
Nelson is pulling a trick to mask the real reason for his recurring visit to Belgrade,
Yugoslavia. Donn Nelson had visited Belgrade a month ago also, when he supposedly
took part in organizing the International Coaching Clinic. The visit coincided with the
Yugoslavian championships semi-final playoff series between Partizan and FMP. The
series featured NBA prospects on both sides, with Nenad Krstic, a talented 18 years
old 7-footer, playing for Partizan against Mladen Sekularac, a fellow 2002 draft
prospect in the FMP uniform. A week ago, Donn Nelson repeated the visit, this time
bringing his father, Don Nelson and another Mavs' assistant, Dell Harris to participate in
the seminar. Yeah, right!

The most attractive part of the seminar had to be the practical one, including the
training sessions with the Yugoslav best young players, essentially giving the Mavs' a
chance of an in-depth workout without much publicity in the States. Among these
were Nenad Krstic, Milos Vujanic, Mladen Sekularac and ... Ognjen Askrabic. Askrabic
should be a familiar name to the most rabid draft followers, as he declared eligible for
the draft last year, but went undrafted mostly because the teams were not familiar
with him. However, as is the case in similar situations, Nelson knows better. Askrabic,
who played for FMP in the aforementioned series, stole the show from the more
acknowledged players and completely dominated the game with his uncanny versatility.
Of course, those in tune with the Yugoslav basketball expected the more experienced
and elder Askrabic to dominate the young Krstic, but Askrabic made up for last year's
draft day disappointment and probably earned himself a shot at the NBA with his
strong play.

Askrabic is very experienced for his age because he played in the FMP's starting lineup
since he was 17, finally grabbing the leading role on the team last year. Askrabic is
6-10 and is very versatile for his position. He has decent range on his shot, knocking
the jumpers with consistency from up to 20 feet. He is very agile for his height and
runs the fast brake very good. What probably likened him most to Nelson is his
strength and a versatile game around the basket array, something the Mavericks did
not have in the playoffs this year. Askrabic worked out for Nelson twice and they were
ready to agree on signing a contract come July. However, Askrabic is tied to a
contract for one more year with his club and the buyout is rumored to be very high,
limiting the financial appeal of the NBA. League rules prevent teams from contributing
to a contract buyout by more than $350 thousand and the Mavs may not be able to
offer Askrabic a contract which would justify his move to the NBA because of their
payroll being way above the salary cap. Askrabic will have enough time to determine if
he is ready to sacrifice money to play for the Mavericks, but according to his
statement, a deal may have been agreed for the next season. With the move, Nelson
secured his unchallenged position as the best shark in the international talent pool.