Nelson stuck in the middle

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Nelson stuck in the middle
He'd scrap his schemes for dominant center
By Richie Whitt
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

DALLAS - In the summer of 1998, the wings were hot, the beer was cold and the napkins were growing scarce as Don Nelson frantically sketched the Xs and Os of his drive-and-dish offense for a table of awe-struck observers.

As the NBA's most innovative coach drew the "O" for yet another center, he abruptly came to a mental jump-stop. What appeared to be a startling revelation for the three-time Coach of the Year and third-winningest coach in league history was instead a salivating daydream.


"I'm sittin' here drawing all this crap," Nelson chuckled after snapping out of it, "but give me a guy like Shaq, and I'll throw it in the trash and change styles tomorrow. I'm no fool."


After 25 years, countless blueprints and no trips to the NBA Finals, Nelson is still diagramming, still plotting and still inventing ways to win a championship without an elite center. During a Hall of Fame career in which he's seen Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Robert Parish, Hakeem Olajuwon, Tim Duncan and Shaquille O'Neal lift trophies high because they dominated down low, Nelson has - by chance and by choice - counter-punched with a litany of slim-and-none centers, including 7-foot-3 Randy Breuer, 7-4 Ralph Sampson, 7-7 Manute Bol and 7-6 Shawn Bradley.


"It's certainly not for lack of trying," said Nelson's son and Mavs assistant, Donnie. "Nobody knows better than him that center is the hardest piece to find. He's tried a little of everything, and it's just never panned out."


In today's Game 2 of the Mavs' Western Conference first-round playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers, Nelson will again count on his latest pivot potion - Bradley mixed with Raef LaFrentz - to support his team's pretty points with dirty work. In Game 1, the duo combined for 13 points, 14 rebounds and seven blocked shots, enough to help the Mavericks to a 96-86 win.


With production from Bradley and LaFrentz, the Mavericks are arguably the NBA's best team. Without, they can be reduced to a team forced to make double-digit 3-pointers. A team that can tie for the NBA's best record and yet be the least-respected 60-something since Roger Maris. A team that, against a Shaq or a Duncan in the West finals, will be an underdog equal to the NHL's Mighty Ducks against the Stars.


Admitted Donnie, "It's a very difficult way to go about the task."


For a franchise whose most reasonable facsimile of a dominant back-to-the-basket center has been James Donaldson, the disadvantage is nothing new. Nor is it unique to Nelson, whose creative ploys for David to outrun Goliath will likely be both his legacy - and his epitaph.


Nelson got his first NBA job with the Bucks in 1976, in part because they were off to a 3-15 start after trading away someone named Abdul-Jabbar. Behind the 8-ball then, Nelson's been chasing the 7-footers ever since. Initially saddled with Scott Lloyd and Swen Nater, Nelson eventually built 50-win, division-championship Bucks teams that featured Kent Benson, Dave Cowens, Alton Lister, Jack Sikma and Paul Mokeski.


"If he could use me, he could use anybody," joked Mokeski, who averaged 4.0 points per game in a 12-year career and is now a Mavs' developmental coach. "He hasn't always had the best cards, but he's always won with the hand he's been dealt. It's because he adapts. Give Nellie a guy who's an expert at the half-court hook shot, and he'll find a way to work him in his offense."


Nelson actually coached two Hall of Fame centers in Bob Lanier and Patrick Ewing. But in Milwaukee in the early '80s, Lanier's knees and production were worn out. And in New York in 1996, Ewing resisted when Nelson -- in an attempt to keep his center fresh for the playoff grind -- tried to lessen his regular-season offensive load.


"Patrick was set in his ways and Nellie was set with his style," said former Mavs star Derek Harper, a guard on that Knicks team that saw Nelson fired with a 34-25 record. "Nellie likes his centers to be more versatile, not really guys who you just throw the ball to on the low blocks and let go to work. He's never had a legit center, but with the way he's won, at some point you just have to give credit where credit is due."


As general manager of the Golden State Warriors in the late '80s, Nelson continued his unconventional plan to simply go over, instead of around or through, the NBA's biggest men. In Oakland, he traded for Sampson and signed Bol, after drafting Breuer in Milwaukee and before trading for Bradley in Dallas. Those 30 feet of fascination produced wins, but not rings.


"He's always gone for agile shot-blockers more than guys that are the focal point of the offense," Mokeski said. "But that's only because he never had the luxury of Olajuwon or Duncan or Shaq."


Frustrated by early playoff exits in Golden State with centers Tyrone Hill, Tom Tolbert, Christian Welp and even Mavs reject Uwe Blab unable to complement the high-scoring "Run TMC" trio of Tim Hardaway-Mitch Richmond-Chris Mullin, Nelson traded for a marquee low-post presence in Chris Webber in '93. But that experiment failed, as did drafting Chris Anstey, trading for Juwan Howard and counting on John Williams in Dallas.


Now, despite journeying 1,156 coaching victories, Nelson finds himself not far from where he started. Armed with the jump-shooting LaFrentz and the inconsistent Bradley, the Mavs coach is again winning at a record pace -- only to see the player he's never had (Duncan or O'Neal) perhaps waiting to keep him from the place he's never been (NBA Finals).


"History says it's difficult," Nelson said at the restaurant in '98. "But obviously I don't think it's impossible."


Another order of wings. Another round of beer.


And another roll of napkins.