Nellie Out Per New Golden State Owners

Don Nelson will not be retained by the new ownership group that purchased the Golden State Warriors as was reported by ESPN late yesterday. With 1333 careeer coaching victories, I think Nellie has earned the right he wasn't given, that is for him to decide when he's had enough. Word is,Keith Smart will be given the reigns. Also the Maloofs won't be renewing the lease at ARCO arena nor their contract with ARCO petroleum. After next year's lockout, could be Slim Pickens (not the western character actor) for NBA basketball in the BAY Area and Northern California!

Would he ever come out of retirement and coach the Celtics? Or is there a past unresolved problem there? Rumors there will be a major overhaul in the team over the next couple of years. Maybe some young guns who like to run and a current coach retiring. Sounds interesting on paper. Smothering defense and getting the shot off no less than 5 seconds into the shot clock...That combo may just throw Sam and the rest of us into the proverbial briar patch.

I hated playing Golden State every year. They always seemed to have our number on all those West Coast runs.

I know Nellie is a revered Celtic (and justly so), and I liked him early on as a coach, but he just hasn't seemed fully involved in his current stint with the Warriors. Run and gun, put up some points, don't bother about defense, and if they win some games, great. As a Warriors fan, I like him and wish him the best, but I'm glad to see a change.

I have no idea if Keith Smart is up to the job, but with their roster, they're not making the playoffs anyway, so what the heck. If he doesn't work out, then I hope they get a bigger-name coach. Larry Brown -- tired of Charlotte? I've got a perfect job for you.

Maybe he can ride off into the sunset as a Celtic coach with a title as player and coach. We can hire someone for defense. His memory and effort of the 60's and 70's will kick back in once he's back on the sidelines.

MD,

I think Nellie is a little bit like Bobbie Bowden of FSU. He was a top coach years ago but his teams and style haven't produced competitive teams in a number of years. Bowden was forced out by FSU last year. It was time to move on to a younger coach with new ideas.
In my opinion, the only coaches that have earned the right to decide how long they want to coach for is Phil Jackson, Greg Popovich and Doc Rivers. I might be missing someone but not even Stan Van Gundy is there because his team hasn't won a title.

Not a big fan of his coaching style. It creates points and some odd playoffs wins but he never adjusted the style to have sustained success in the playoffs. His offensive style was fun to watch but was always a bit too gimicky for me. I'd rather not see him as the coach of my team.

It's fun to speculate, though. I know this is way down the road, but today if we had to make a prediction, who will replace Doc once he decides to step down?

While we've had great success with a non-Celtic head coach, will Danny and the boys go back to an insider or venture into the unknown with another Doc-type?

dbrown,

I really like Lawrence Frank as a coach.
Unfortunately, he had very little to work with the last few years.
NJ traded away Vince Carter, Jason Kidd, Richard Jefferson and basically only got salary relief.
His won/loss record is due to the players he had.
Excellent coaches like Doc Rivers and Joe Torre didn't become top coaches until they had some talent to coach.

Don is 70. Not the age at which coaches with lots of money would be likely to undertake the head coaching responsibility for a team that's likely to be getting an overhaul in the next couple of years. He's had health issues in the past. He has the record, for which I'm eternally grateful, as he's a good guy.

I would guess that, if there's even a remote chance that he'd uproot his family and come east once again (which I doubt), it might possibly be as an offensive assistant (a position that would probably be ideal for all parties involved). Seems to me the Celtics already have a new defensive assistant.

Run and gun offense? The answer to my dream. Especially since it would be right in Rondo's wheelhouse, which their style of attack never has been. I just doubt Don will be involved.

Congratulations on a job well done, Don. I intend to look up that Bar in Easton, where we had those beers, and hoist one for you. Maybe more than one. I'm just so very happy for you.

Sam

tjmakz wrote:dbrown,

I really like Lawrence Frank as a coach.
Unfortunately, he had very little to work with the last few years.
NJ traded away Vince Carter, Jason Kidd, Richard Jefferson and basically only got salary relief.
His won/loss record is due to the players he had.
Excellent coaches like Doc Rivers and Joe Torre didn't become top coaches until they had some talent to coach.

TJ,

I think that's a good point. My personal hope is that Frank is coming in as the heir apparent; I think he would make a good head coach here.

As for Nellie, he has earned the right to go down as one of the finest men to ever have been a part of the NBA. Hopefully he enjoys a great retirement and we don't see the kind of public bitterness that resulted from Bowden's situation.

Regards

A lot of good points by all the posters coming before me.

Don Nelson is 70 years old and has had a helluva career. He's entitled to rest. Bringing in a coach that everybody knows will only be there for a year or two at most produces limited results due to the the inherent transience of the situation. So bringing him here probably isn't a good strategy.

Don Nelson lives in Hawaii in the offseason. Relocate to Boston for the winter? Don't hold your breath.

I don't know if Keith Smart is ready but he's as ready as Don Nelson could make him and therein lies the paradox. If he's Don Nelson lite, then why not just retain Don Nelson? How much do you want to bet personalities played a part in this? Don's vs new owners? Don's vs Monta Ellis' (with the new owners taking the side of the young high powered player)?

Run and gun is great. Run and gun and no defense isn't. The run-and-gun teams of the Phoenix Suns, the ABA teams of Doug Moe and Stan Albeck and yes of Don Nelson too have pretty much debunked the theory that you can win a championship by viewing defense as a nuisance that must be endured until you can get the ball back on offense. Offense puts butts in the seats but defense wins championships and none of the abovementioned offensive powerhouse teams ever won a championship. KG would do a "Latrell Sprewell" on Nellie before the all-star game. I think the premise by dbrown is flawed because it assumes a new head coach comes in, armed with their playbook and play style (i.e. run and gun) and yet still retains the playing style of the previous coach (e.g. smothering defense).

Nellie's a mad scientist. He's the ultimate "lemonade-maker". He took a tremendously injured team last year (for at least one game they had to suit up an injured Ronnie Turiaf just so they wouldn't default because they didn't have enough players in uniform. Raja Bell played the same role for a few games too) and made them exciting. He took D-leaguers Anthony Tolliver, Reggie Williams and Chris Hunter and elevated their games. Tolliver signed with Minny, Reggie's still with the Warriors and Hunter's trying to catch on with NY. That's a minimum of 2 D-leaguers who are going to make it in the NBA because the Mad Scientist figured out a way to use them effectively and made them look good.

I wish Don Nelson nothing but the best, but I'm glad he's not going to coach the Celts. I love defense too much.

bob

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NYC,

I didn't mean to make it sound like Nellie is some kind of perfect saint. I'm sure he was not blameless in his battles with ownership and some players. After games as a player, he and Wayne Embry could shake the roots of the town in which they had played. From what I understood, he could have been the root cause in his first marriage. But, in most things, he's just a good guy.

A little bit of a study in contraditions. Who would have believe that a guy who was slow afoot as a player would make his coaching mark with the run and gun attack? (Actually, I would believe it because I have video of Nellie racing down the right lane for corner jumpers time and time again.)

In a sense, he has been the coaching antithesis of Phil Jackson. Whereas Phil has had a history of taking over teams well on their way to greatness, Nellie often seemed to exhibit more of a death wish by taking over teams in bad, bad trouble. I realize many people criticize his coaching strategies, and I think there's plenty of truth in his lack of attention to defense. But I believe his run-and-gun offenses were the result of what he had to work with.

He seldom had an all-star on his teams (at least in the past couple of decades), and it seems he had more than his share of players with more athleticism than brains. I've always said that uptempo offense is the optimal direction for teams that are gifted mostly with athleticism. The strategies of the fast break are much less complex than the strategies of the half-court game.

Anyway, he has certainly had a coaching career that inspired a lot of debate. As for his playing days, I'm sure glad that Red picked him up when the Lakers made him a castoff in the 60s. And I bet some stickum company is glad too. LOL.

Sam

Sam: Nellie will always be remembered for the shot that lifted so high that I think it popped a balloon or two before it nestled trough the iron tickling the twine on its' way through in Game 7 vs. Lakers in '69!-MD.

Sam,

I know you weren't trying to paint Nellie in a saintly light; but who among us didn't burn the candle at both ends when we were younger and had the energy! (We both know from past discussions that you and I weren't exactly tucked in and asleep by 11 pm as young men!)

His contributions to the NBA as a player and a coach have been those of consistent work over a long period. I think he deserves to be remembered as someone who gave a lifetime of work to the NBA and helped make the league what it is regardless of what he does from here on. You've met and talked with him and know something about the man himself; but from a more removed fan's standpoint I'm willing to give him the gold star seal of approval.

From a pure excitement point of view, as a fan of the sport, I've always liked his run-and-gun, try and outscore 'em approach. There's something about the gunslinger mentality of let's outscore them 115-113 that creates a great adrenaline rush throughout the game. While I know, value and appreciate the value of a good defense, it's the transition to a fast-break offense that gets the crowd on its feet.

Regards

P.S. Back in the day I may have headed out at 11 pm, now I want to be tucked in and asleep not too much later!

NY: You mean your current lights out call is what your youthful wake up call was "Back In The Day"?-MD!

MDCelticsFan wrote:NY: You mean your current lights out call is what your youthful wake up call was "Back In The Day"?-MD!

MD,

True!

Regards

NIC,

Oh oh. I was really on a roll, picking up my extremely disheveled office. Then I read your response to me, and one thing you mentioned totally preoccupied me. The memory of Russ blocking a shot (or two or three or four) and the rising crescendo of the crowd as it anticipate that transition to offense that you cited.

The anticipation was half the fun. And it was invariably rewarded with an outlet to The Cooz (and later KC or John and very often Sam), and the race was on! The crescendo would keep building and was still on the upswing when the basket was made. The thunder of the crowd was nearly deafening, and you could only hope you were contributing to it because the sound of your own voice was totally indistinguishable. The Garden balcony would bounce up and down (truly a scary thing, but somehow you didn't care). The wall of sound would still be escalating at least through the middle of the timeout the opponents would usually call.

Looking back, I think what most fueled that human tsunami was the inevitability of the whole thing. Once Russ got his hands on the ball, a Boston basket was virtually guaranteed. There was no turning over the ball due to showboating or needless gyrations. Guys like Heinsohn, Nellie and Satch—none of them speed demons—would fill their lanes and beat their opponents down the floor because they and the crowd shared the same anticipation once Russ grabbed the ball. They'd get down the floor, and the ball would be perfectly thrown to the right guy.

Many people think that the remarkable thing about Cousy was his magic act with the ball. Not true—at least not in my estimation. The most remarkable thing about him was his consistency. His turnovers would have been amazingly low if the stat had been kept back then. And some of his few turnovers would have been deliberate, such as his rewarding Satch's filling a lane by throwing the long pass to him even though he knew Satch couldn't see it at that distance.

That's just one of numerous reasons why I claim that only by recognition of contexts behind stats makes many basketball stats of any more relevance than a satisfying trip to the outhouse with a Sears & Roebuck catalog.

My wife just returned from work, and she can't understand why I didn't make more of a dent in the cleanup. So I gave her your phone number.

Sam