Donnie interviews with Nuggets

[David]

06/29/2002

By JODIE VALADE / The Dallas Morning News

Mavericks assistant coach Donnie Nelson interviewed for the Denver
Nuggets head coaching position Friday in a rapidly scheduled trip to
Denver.

Nelson flew to Denver on Friday morning and met with Nuggets general
manager Kiki Vandeweghe and assistant general managers David
Fredman and Jeff Weltman before returning to Dallas on Friday night.

"It was an open-ended discussion," Nelson said. "There were a lot of
questions both ways, and it was a fairly in-depth exchange. I don't know
where it goes from here, but I feel really good about our first meeting."

Vandeweghe asked for permission to speak to Nelson on Thursday,
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said.

The move to interview Nelson so quickly after Wednesday's NBA draft
suggests he is a front-runner, along with New Jersey assistant coach
Eddie Jordan, and Mavericks assistant Del Harris.

Nelson has an extensive history with Vandeweghe, as the two worked
together when Vandeweghe was an assistant coach with the Mavericks
from 1999-2000. Nelson also worked with Denver draft pick Nikoloz
Tskitishvili in a big-man camp in Italy last summer. And he has experience
coaching a player who doesn't speak English (Wang Zhizhi), like the
Nuggets' second first-round pick, Nene Hilario.