Quote:
Originally Posted by chumdawg
I'm pretty sure that Nellie's willingness to allow the seven-footer to hoist threes (at a time when a lot of coaches, Pops perhaps included, would not have) played a large role in Dirk's development as a player.
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That's a fair point. On the other hand, I remember being frustrated at the time because of Nelson's reluctance to try using Dirk as a creator rather than a finisher every once in a while.
It's great that he can shoot 3's and all, but in my opinion there were a lot of good years wasted because Dirk was basically used as a featured floor spacer. He didn't REALLY become a star until Johnson started giving him iso's and running high post plays for him on a the reg. Don't get me wrong - there's a whole list of things I think Johnson did wrong, too, but I think Nelson wanted no part of turning Dirk into the type of player he has become.