[Dr.Zoidberg]

Nellie deserves more cash, but repeat performance won't be easy



Aug. 27, 2007
By Tony Mejia
CBSSports.com Staff Writer
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Even as he's contemplating walking away from coaching again, it's nice to see Don Nelson is still dropping knowledge on his players. The latest lesson in crafty Nellie's handbook instructs his guys on the virtues of taking full advantage of leverage.

When you have it, you better use it. When you don't, you end up like Mickael Pietrus. That noise you hear is Baron Davis, Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins furiously taking notes.


Don Nelson wants a $2 million raise for the upcoming season. (Getty Images)

Nelson wants more money to return as Golden State's head coach and is going to get it. He'll get it on his terms, maybe as early as this week. Entering the second year of a three-year deal, he wants a raise of $2 million for the coming season and an additional $5.1 million guaranteed for 2008-09.

The Warriors have agreed to the raise, but want the wiggle room to hold the option on picking up Nelson's contract at that inflated rate. The 67-year-old Nelson isn't buying. He knows he's holding all the cards and doesn't need to budge. He delivered Jessica Alba.

Alba attended Warriors games religiously just a few months ago, and it was Nelson's coaching that drew her there among the masses of other fans that embraced a perennial loser gone straight. Not only did Golden State make the playoffs, it became the story of them.

The excitement generated still resonates. You can close your eyes and see Oracle Arena rocking, the color yellow everywhere, and because of that, the extra green Nelson is asking for is merited. He's being smart, capitalizing on the team's popularity while he can.

Love affairs are known to go south, in particular with Nelson and his employers.

Realistically, it's going to be difficult for him to top last season. The Warriors were headed for another sub-.500 finish before getting everyone healthy and winning nine of their last 10 games. Then they dismantled Dallas, a team they matched up with favorably. They captured everyone's imagination so thoroughly that you wonder whether they haven't already peaked, putting together a single month that won't be replicated by anything other than a championship run.

Is that something this team realistically has in them? Golden State could become an imposing force even in the mighty Pacific, but there's also the chance that things go the other way.

Brandan Wright might become the perfect big man for the franchise, but he won't be more productive than Jason Richardson would've been. There's no way to guarantee that Davis will stay healthy, or that Stephen Jackson won't get complacent.

Right now, you don't even know if Pietrus will be back, because his lack of leverage has put him in the type of compromising position Nelson is right to want to avoid. The Warriors have offered Pietrus only the one-year qualifying offer that allows them to match any team's offer, but haven't had to guarantee anything long term, denying the French swingman the job security he covets. He's unhappy, but he's just a victim of circumstances likely to have a new address by this time next year.

In contrast, Nelson can sit back in Hawaii and wait for things to play out, safe in the knowledge that he's doing the right thing in scrounging up a little extra for the retirement fund.

He deserves the money, too, because he's set the bar higher than it would've originally would've been entering the second year of his deal. The Warriors are still an underdog, but now that we've seen what they can accomplish, he'll be subjected to greater criticism if he fails.

Fans in the Bay Area only know they want the show they saw last spring, and know it doesn't really work without Nelson. Not bringing him back would significantly affect the team's positive momentum, and you can't do that to a loyal base that has supported the team through a playoff drought that spanned 12 years.

You can't make Jessica frown.

Nelson knows this, and he'll reap the benefits as a result.

Ideally, Davis, Ellis and Biedrins will too.

If Davis has a strong season, and playing in Nelson's system gives him the best opportunity to put up eye-popping numbers, he has the option to get out of his contract and secure his future with greater leverage than he normally would given his injury history. Should his body cooperate for the next few months, Golden State will almost have no choice but to bank that he can stay healthy.

Ellis and Biedrins, who thrive getting up and down the floor and have tremendous upside, are still playing on rookie contracts. Both will be looking to get paid, and should be able to follow Nelson to the bank.

Business is best when you're winning, but the Warriors are finding out that success does come at a greater price.

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