Don Nelson to enter Hall of Fame as NBA's leader in coaching victories

Posted: September 7, 2012 at 7:15 am


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OAKLAND, Calif. Don Nelson will officially enter the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday. But there is one notable person that thinks the NBA's all-time leader in coaching victories should not be inducted.

Nellie himself.

"I don't really feel deserving to be in the Hall of Fame, but I am in and I'm happy about that," Nelson told Yahoo! Sports. "It's a great, great honor. There are a lot of guys who deserve it more than me that haven't got in yet like Al Attles, Bill [Fitch], [Dick] Motta and those guys. They were real coaches. Man, did they ever coach.

"So I feel a little undeserving. But anyway, here I am. Here I come."

Nelson walks into the Hall of Fame with one thing that can't be questioned. His record win total.

[Also: Rajon Rondo is interning at GQ during NYC Fashion Week]

Through 11 seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks the first beginning in 1976 11 seasons in two stints with the Golden State Warriors, one short-lived campaign that lasted 59 contests with the New York Knicks and eight seasons with the Dallas Mavericks, Nelson earned a record 1,335 victories. He downplayed his excitement about surpassing Lenny Wilkens' old mark as he approached it. But Nelson showed his true feelings by dancing with players following record win No. 1,333 in the struggling Warriors' 116-107 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on April 7, 2010.

"That team that I coached that I love so dearly wanted me to have that record so bad," Nelson said. "And they worked so hard for me to get it that I got caught up in it just like they did. They were excited. I got excited. Personally, second would have been fine with me."

Nelson wore fish ties early in his career and sneakers with his suits, yet for all his quirkiness, his innovative schemes and personnel decisions made an impact on the league. Nelson was big on using small ball, sometimes playing Golden State guards Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Sarunas Marciulionis together. He started Hack-A-Shaq. He allowed the late Manute Bol, a 7-foot-7 center, to shoot 3-pointers. He once had 7-foot forward Dirk Nowitzki guard 5-3 guard Muggsy Bogues.

"I didn't do it to be different," Nelson said. "I did it because I thought it gave me an advantage to win games otherwise I wouldn't have done it. When I coached good teams, I didn't have to do that. But when I coached bad teams I had to be creative."

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Don Nelson to enter Hall of Fame as NBA's leader in coaching victories

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September 7th, 2012 at 7:15 am

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