Former NBA Coach Don Nelson, the originator of ‘Nellie Ball’ is going to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame ….
A person who`s records speak for themselves. Don Nelson, a coach with most career wins in NBA history, a three time NBA coach of the year, got the call to be inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Wednesday
morning.
"It's a great honor to cap my career," said Nelson, who is involved in several business ventures and splits his time between Dallas and Maui. "I've had a great time and a great life coaching basketball. I don't actually need to
be rewarded for anything, but I am very proud and my family is very proud of this award."
At the age of 71, Nelson is the symbol of success in NBA history. He has already made a prominent mark in the record books as a coach and also as an NBA player.
Apart from his coaching exploits, Nelson had an illustrious 14 year NBA career. He started his basketball journey in 1962 with the Chicago Zephyrs. Nelson then went on to play for several other NBA franchises, including the Los
Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics. During his 10 years with the Celtics, Nelson managed to win 5 NBA Championships and had a career average of 10.3 points per game.
His coaching career started with the Milwaukee Bucks, where he originally introduced an aberrant style of play, that is ‘Nellie Ball’.
He then took his coaching exploits to the Golden State Warriors; Nelson remained at the Warriors from 1988-1995. His biggest achievement as a coach came when he joined the Dallas Mavericks 1997, leading the Mavericks to four consecutive
seasons of 50-wins. However, due to lack of dominant players inside the paint, that side could not win an NBA World Championship.
Making a move back to Golden State, Nelson led the Warriors past his previous team, Dallas Mavericks, in the playoffs. Nelson had another highlight in his career when he led the Warriors to most win`s in the regular season since
1993-94 in the next season.
Don ended his coaching career with the Golden State Warriors, finally stepping down in 2010. There were still rumors last year of him coming back to the NBA but it’s a despairing reality that we would not get to see the original
‘Nellie Ball’ offence being played in the NBA again.
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