Text/Nostalgia Basketball
When it comes to the famous coaches of the NBA, the first thing that comes to mind must be "Zen master" Jackson, "god operator" Riley and Popovich, because the team they coached has won many championships. However, there is another kind of coach, although he has never won a championship, but he is like a scientist, using the basketball court as his laboratory, creating many tactical play methods that are ahead of the times, providing his peers with a lot of valuable experience, some of which proved to be very effective after a few years. Among this kind of "science maniac", the most famous is Don Nelson.
In April 2012, Don Nelson, the then most-winning coach in NBA history, finally entered the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. It also marks that the crazy ideas and attempts he has made in his coaching career, as well as the various teams he has created and the miracles he has created, have finally been recognized by the industry.
In 2012, Don Nelson was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a coach.
<h1>Test 1: 1977-1987 Milwaukee Bucks</h1>
Test product grade: A
Key invention: Organizational Striker
Test product features: defensive
Major achievements: Coach of the Year in 1983 and 1985
Nelson Sr. was two of the Bucks' favorites: Paul Price (left) and Marquis Johnson
Young Don Nelson.
Nielsen, who had just retired in 1976, replaced Larry Scottno as general manager and head coach of the Bucks. After the first season, with full executive power, he underwent a surgical overhaul of the team, and like a scientist in a white coat, he injected all kinds of crazy potions into poor mice in the laboratory, trying to make the little animal grow into a huge Godzilla overnight.
Defense is the most important philosophy that Nelson instills in the team. In that era of 110 points per game, emphasizing defense was as anachronistic as wearing tank top shorts at a solemn business convention, but Nelson didn't care about that. With the gradual improvement of the defensive system and skills, the Bucks' defensive ability quickly jumped from the midstream of the league when he took over to the top few, and at the same time, under the strong firepower of the attacking line with scoring masters such as Marquis Johnson, in the 1980-81 season, the Bucks achieved a second record of 60 wins in the league, but unfortunately lost seven games to the powerful 76ers in the second round of the playoffs. The Bucks finished fourth in the league defensively the following year and again finished second in the 57th eastern conference, but once again they lost in the playoffs to the 76ers with Moses Malone and Irving.
From then on, the Bucks have been a top-notch team in the East, and while not a top league star, an unprecedented invention by Nelson has made the team a "thorn in the eye" in the eyes of opponents. That is to organize the forward, with a small forward who is taller and larger than the defender to control the ball and organize the attack, taking into account the defense of the opposing frontal team, thus causing the dislocation of the offensive and defensive alignment, so that the opponent's defensive system is chaotic. Paul Price, who was 1.96 meters tall, became the league's earliest organizational forward, and he became the team's top assist in 6.8 assists per game in 1984-85.
Perhaps with a taste of sweetness from the organization forwards, Nelson's crazy thoughts grew, and he began to become more and more obsessed with small lineups and speeds, he could have three shooting guards on the floor at the same time, and the center could not participate in the offense, and even half-time in the face of a fast turn. Celtics big forward McHale once recalled a game between them and the Bucks. The Bucks' highest player in the starting lineup that game was just 1.96 meters. Old Nelson jokingly said to McHale, "Since the big guys on our team can't stop you, let's all get on the little ones!" ”
In the Bucks' decade, Nelson led the team to the Eastern Conference Finals three times but never went any further. Considering he's facing super heavyweight opponents like the 76ers and Celtics, the decade has been brilliant enough for the Bucks.
<h1>Test 2: 1989-1995 Golden State Warriors</h1>
Test product grade: B
Key inventions: running and bombing tactics, small lineups
Characteristics of the test product: only attack and not defend
Major achievements: Coach of the Year 1992
Warriors TMC combination in the early 1990s: Tim Hardaway, Richmond and Mullin
After the Bucks lost to the Eastern Conference Finals in 1987, Nelson, feeling uncertain, left Milwaukee and traveled to San Francisco on the Pacific coast, picking up the two big seals of the Golden State Warriors' vice president and head coach. Nelson, who was known for his defense in eastern Milwaukee, became overnight a "show time" supporter with a high offensive banner, as if the monster scientists were fighting each other. Thinking about what Pat Riley did in the Knicks, New York, 4 years later, we have to lament that the original "Godfather" style shift was nothing more than picking up what Nelson played with.
During his time in Golden State, Nelson dedicated the league with the most magnificent and magnificent three high-speed "self-propelled guns." Known as TMC's combinations, Tim Hardaway, Mitchell Richmond and Chris Mullin, have developed the projection of the No. 1, 2 and 3 positions to the highest peak that a single team can accommodate and carry. In the 1990-91 season, Mullin, Richmond and Hardaway averaged 25.7 points, 23.9 points and 22.9 points per game, respectively. Due to the extremely fast pace of the game, the Golden State Warriors were dubbed the "Golden State Athletics Team".
The Warriors' emphasis on offense and defense to what extent, just look at the 1991-92 season, that year they averaged 118.7 points per game league first, losing 114.8 points is also the league first, but it is such an undefended method of warfare, still let them win 55 wins, of course, in the playoffs of the "track and field team" set can not play, when they were supersonics 3-1 in the first round easily kicked back home.
Since he couldn't beat anyone else and didn't want to change his tactics, Nelson traded Richmond to the Kings, then bought the incredibly fast forward swinger Spreeville, and in 1993 recruited Chris Weber. With the original Mullin and Hardaway, no matter how you look at this lineup, it is enough to compete with the top strong teams.
In the 1993–94 season due to a torn Hardaway ligament, Webb and Spreeville supported the team, and they perfectly inherited the TMC tradition: second in the league on the offensive end and fifth in the defensive end, and then ended with Barkley in the first round of the playoffs after completing a 56-point solo show.
Why is it the end of the curtain, because Weber really can't stand the crazy reprimand of "Jackie Chan" Nelson, who played only one season to "force" the team to trade himself away, Nelson, who had just returned from the Toronto World Championship, suddenly felt a darkness, coupled with the change of the team's shareholders, the new boss no longer let the "mad scientist" take the team as his test field year after year, and Nelson had to say goodbye to the Warriors after the 1994-95 season.
<h1>Test 3: 1995-1996 New York Knicks</h1>
Key invention: Iron blood becomes gorgeous
Main achievement: None
Old Nelson stood in the middle of a bunch of New York brown guys, a little uncoordinated.
This time, the "mad scientist" is the metropolis of New York, and Riley is left with an overly masculine macho muscle group. Nelson began to think again, he did not like to watch the gorilla-like Old Master Yu stretch out his ape arm every night in the box tirelessly asking for the ball, and then almost mechanically second pass, position, rabbit jump shot or split the ball to the outside of the Starx to make the audience secrete adrenotropin three-pointers. Nelson wanted a fluid offense and a score.
So we saw Ewing's fast-breaker, we saw Oakley's three-pointer, and we saw the former clunky Knicks like a 60-ton main battle tank to a brisk Porsche sports car. What is remarkable is that the team's record has not dropped much while the style of the game has changed so much, and it is not difficult for them to win 34 of the first 59 games and hit 50 wins. But Knicks fans are not satisfied, perhaps the "Godfather" era of the first four years spoiled them, they want the team to occupy the Top Of the Atlantic Division every year, and they hope that the team will win more than 55 games a year.
These are not the main problems, but more importantly, Nelson's "crazy" idea: he wants to kick the team totem Ewing away in exchange for the Magic's young giant O'Neal. At the age of 34, Ewing was still able to provide the team with a steady number of 22.5 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists, and perhaps O'Neal was stronger, but Nelson clearly did not consider the deep feelings that players and fans have for the decade-old "King Kong". As a result, the "mad scientist" who was betrayed by the players had to flee in March 1996. The Knicks became the only team in the East to win a game with the Bulls in the playoffs, and if these changes were not born, perhaps the helper would have to work harder before the Finals.
<h1>Test 4: 1998-2005 Dallas Mavericks</h1>
Key inventions: shooter big forward, shark slashing tactics
Main achievement: Coach Senkatsu
Nelson Sr. was with Nowitzki and Nash.
Seemingly feeling that the Tone of the East's emphasis on defense was very unappetizing to himself, Nelson ran back to the offensive West and became the general manager of the Mavericks. There was also a small episode in which the Spurs' Popovich wanted Nelson to be the team's head coach, but in the end he failed to do so, not expecting that he and Nelson would become the enemies of the playoffs in the next few years.
Nelson kicked the indomitable head coach from his place in his second year at the Mavericks. Then throughout the 90s, Dallas, who studied with the prince, began to revive, first introducing the German Dirk Nowitzki, which was widely ridiculed at the time, thinking that the big European man was worthless. Then there was Finley and Nash, and since then the Mavericks have had the real "Big Three."
Against nowitzki, a seven-foot long man who is good at shooting, Nelson unconventionally did not let him stand under the basket as a rebounding blue-collar or low-post hitter, but played his specialty and let him shoot in the middle and long distance. Years later, Nowitzki excitedly recalled the scene: "There were better players in the team than me, but he put me at the core and gave me a lot of room to play. He never restricted me. He asked me to shoot three-pointers and play to the advantage, you know, most coaches wouldn't let a 7-footer do that. ”
Nelson and the new boss Cuban then got Laflentz and Van Axel from Denver. Such a strange lineup of two point guards and two seven-foot-long men wandering on the periphery was born. Their playing style is equally bizarre, with no more than seven seconds of shots per attack, the so-called "seven seconds of attack". Such a stormy whirlwind of quick play has allowed the Mavericks to occupy the offensive end for many years, but similar to the Warriors, they are very difficult to shoot on the defensive end, but with a few more goals thrown than the opponent in each game, they reached 60 wins in the 2002-03 season and truly joined the ranks of championship contenders. The Playoff Mavericks' fighting power did not diminish, and after two consecutive rounds, they met the strongest Spurs in the league that year in the Western Conference Finals. Although Duncan was insoluble at that time, the Mavericks were actually one of their most feared opponents, just as the Rockets in the mid-90s always held the supersonic speed of the inside long line and hated and feared. What no one expected was that the key to solving this series was actually an injury, Nowitzki sprained his knee in the third game, And Nelson decided to protect the love general and not let him continue to play.
In the end, the Mavericks lost six battles and watched the Spurs win the championship trophy.
Nowitzki now looks back on the past and believes that Nelson was right at the time, and that if it were not for the protection of the time, his career might not have lasted so long. But at the time, the hopeless Cuban of the Mavericks did not think so, so at the end of the 2004-05 season, Nelson, whose relationship with the boss was deteriorating, handed the scepter to the young Avery Johnson and returned to the field himself.
During the Mavericks period, another of Nelson's inventions was aimed at O'Neill, the famous shark-cutting tactic that controlled his scoring and bought time by frequently fouling inside players who were not good at free throws. Many academic coaches such as Larry Brown opposed this "crooked way", and O'Neill himself accused Nelson of being despicable, but in any case, the shark-cutting wind suddenly became popular in the league, and it is still today.
<h1>Test 5: 2007-2010 Golden State Warriors</h1>
Test product grade: B+
Key invention: Golden State Athletics Team II
Main achievement: Black Eight Miracle
In 2007, Nelson Sr. led the Warriors to complete the Black Eight Miracle.
It was impossible for the "mad scientist" to calm that restless heart, and nelson accepted the invitation of his old subordinate, then Warriors general manager Mullin, to return to Golden State to take charge of the whip after only a little more than a year of idleness. This time, he wants to lead the Warriors back to the playoffs.
But everyone who reached Nelson's age had some nostalgia, the Warriors were still the Warriors, and the tactics had to be the same set of tactics, so he began to look for the TMC combination that lingered in his mind. Big ass Byron Davis is a shadow of Hardaway, Jason Richardson is a weakened version of Richmond, plus Stephen Jackson from the old friend Larry Bird as a copycat version of Mullin, supplemented by Monta Ellis, Mike Dunllivi and Al Harrington and other running men, the second generation of the "Golden State Athletics" was born, compared with the first generation, They are strikingly similar: in the 2006-07 season, the Warriors were second in the league with 106.5 points on the offensive end, the first in the league with 106.9 points on the defensive end, and the first in the league with 99.2 per game, And Nelson made a "yesterday comeback" after a gap of fifteen years. They squeezed into the last train of the playoffs with a record of 42 wins, but that's the beginning of the show.
In the playoffs, the opponent is 67 wins, the Mavericks who own the season MVP Nowitzki, how to see how the Warriors should go home and fish, but Nelson's mouth appeared a sly smile. He was so familiar with the Mavericks that he knew exactly which leg everyone should take after receiving the ball. At his behest, the warrior's whirlwind of kombat made the calves feel as if they were tied up, and they couldn't make it out, and finally after six games, it was actually them who fished! Nelson once again showed the world his amazing magic, compared to the fierce two decisive games of black eight in 1994 and 1999, this victory is more relaxed and pleasant. The depressed Nowitzki, who lacked the grace and style of an MVP winner, kicked a trash can in the Warriors Arena after the game and smashed a hole in the wall.
Perhaps it was the overdraft in 2007 that was too serious, and the Warriors did not return to the playoffs for the next three years, and after the 2009-10 season, the elderly "mad scientist" finally took off the white coat that had been worn for thirty years and locked the laboratory that had created countless miracles and grotesque inventions.
Orthodox basketball always worships great people such as Jackson the "Zen Master", "Cardinal" Albaque, "Godfather" Riley or Popovich, and the team also occupies most of the historical space with those dynastic teams, but for many people who love basketball, it does not matter who is in the world, what is important is that those works that are always evocative but cannot be copied like shooting stars, and those works full of romantic colors are often in the hands of people like "mad scientists".
<h1>Don Nelson Coaching Career Record Sheet</h1>
Regular season Playoffs
Time Team Win Win Lose
1976-1987 Milwaukee Bucks 540 344 42 45
1988-1995 Golden State Warriors 277 260 9 11
1995-1996 Knicks, New York 34 25
1997-2005 Dallas Mavericks 339 251 24 30
2007-2010 Golden State Warriors 145 183 5 6
Total 1335 1063 75 91