More pub about Don Nelson - this time from Stein

[Dooby]

Originally Posted by chumdawg

Shhh...don't tell the kids, spiral.

Nellie has always done whatever it would take to win. Always. No way he was going to beat those Boston, Philly, and LA teams on offense, so the Bucks played defense. No way he was going to beat Shaquille O'Neal on defense with Raef LaFrenz and Shawn Bradley, so he played offense.

Is this so hard to understand? To me, it's not.

You know, I find it funny looking back to see that in the '03 playoff run we spent well less than ten minutes a game without a center on the court. Oh, but Nellie, even if he had Shaq, wouldn't play him. Please.

And don't give me Patrick Ewing on the very down side of his career as a counter-example. Ewing was a dog.

I don't hang out here as much as I used too, but how can anybody say this anymore? Avery has a bunch of guys that could not play defense according to Don Nelson, and not only has them playing better D, but playing better overall.

Nelson was lazy at the end. He preferred playing golf to going to practice. F' him.

[chumdawg]

Originally Posted by Dooby

I don't hang out here as much as I used too, but how can anybody say this anymore? Avery has a bunch of guys that could not play defense according to Don Nelson, and not only has them playing better D, but playing better overall.

Nelson was lazy at the end. He preferred playing golf to going to practice. F' him.

Well, he didn't have Diop, and he didn't have Griffin. So there's two of five in the starting lineup. (Yes, I know, he had Griffin before. He also won 60 games that year.)

Nellie may well have been lazy in '04, but he was on his game in '03 (and every year up until then). I don't have a whole lot of doubt in my mind that if Nellie's team hadn't been broken up in that ill-fated summer of '03, he would have already won a championship by now, or been very close.

You may, but I don't.

As I always say, genius strikes where it pleases. And it struck right on top of Don Nelson's silver head.

[Rhylan]

Nellie is great at building franchises, but he's not great at getting over that proverbial hump. It's happened three times, now. I love the guy for his personality, and his attitude, and his smarts, and what he did for the Mavs while here... but he lost interest in the team, and they've been better since he left! He hardly even coached last year.

It's Nellie's very attitude and approach, that make him such a great innovator, GM, and resurrector of franchises, are what rob him of the focus and fine tuning necessary to build a champion. He's a set-up man.

[sike]

Originally Posted by Rhylan

Nellie is great at building franchises, but he's not great at getting over that proverbial hump.

you only say that because it's always been true.