» Blog Archive » If Don Nelson’s going to go, it has to be as soon as the season ends . . . if not sooner

Mar
17

If Don Nelson’s going to go, it has to be as soon as the season ends . . . if not sooner

Filed under: Commentary; Tagged as: Chris Mullin, Don Nelson, Flip Saunders, Jeff Van Gundy, Kelenna Azubuike, Monte Poole, Robert Rowell

There’s been a lot of chatter in the wake of Monte Poole’s evisceration of the Warriors’ two leading front-office lights — team president Robert Rowell and coach Don Nelson — about the Warriors cutting Nelson loose before the end of his contract, which has another $12M and two years to run, thanks to an extension agreed upon in October.

I don’t see it, for a variety of reasons:

** The allure of topping Lenny Wilkens’ all-time NBA coaching victories total is too much for Nelson and the marketing-obsessed W’s to pass up.

** Rowell didn’t ascend to his pinnacle of power by kissing off the majority of $12M on a guy who’s smoking cigars and watching for the green flash at the end of another Maui sunset.

** To fire Nelson would be for Rowell to admit making a mistake in choosing him over Chris Mullin. In four years covering this team, I’ve never even heard of that happening, let alone seen it displayed for all the ticket-going public to see.

** If Nelson moves from the bench to a corner office and replaces Mullin as the EVP in charge of basketball operations, what coach in their right mind is going to believe that they’ll be allowed to do their job without interfence from Nelson?

But if the Warriors really are, somewhere deep in the back of Chris Cohan’s not-to-be-shared-with-the-public mind, thinking of pulling the plug on Nelson’s second go-round, then it has to be done quickly.

Like, right now wouldn’t be too soon. And 24 hours after the end of the season might be too late.

No other coach constructs and uses a roster in the manner of Nelson — who else is going to run Kelenna Azubuike out there as a 4? — and if Nelson, who goes through perimeter players like someone using napkins at a BBQ joint, already thinks the team is overloaded with swingmen, how badly out of whack must more conventional coaches think it is?

It’s going to be hard enough to retool given that the Warriors have few deals that will entice teams to make a decent offer, and the majority of players who are here on the cheap are exactly the guys most coaches would want to keep and try to build around.

To construct another Nelson-style team, then tear it apart in December to meet the needs of Jeff Van Gundy or some other, similarly defensive-minded coach — that’s just plain ludicrous.

– Geoff

14 Responses to “If Don Nelson’s going to go, it has to be as soon as the season ends . . . if not sooner”

Andrew Rosenblum March 17th, 2009 at 6:28 pm

Well-put Geoff — I can’t imagine the Warriors firing Nelson. There are $12 million reasons not too — and because Cohan doesn’t care about winning as long as he is making money.
Dave March 19th, 2009 at 12:06 pm

Geoff, there is no way Rowell is going to admit a mistake by firing Nelson, he has too big an ego, and he doesn’t want to give up a job where he has free reign to make all these mistakes, and not get in trouble by Cohan, who wants to be totally invisible.
JoeSez March 19th, 2009 at 4:57 pm

Nelson’s small ball isn’t that unique. Surely the roster can be coached to some degree.

Bucks Scott Skiles could coach this perimeter team, De Antoni, and a few others.

The GSW’s problem is at PG. They have to draft one in the first round and sign a useable backup for next year.

Kirk Hinrich is available and could play alongside Ellis.

Turiaf, Crawford and Azibuke for Hinrick and Tim Thomas PF/SF (1 year left).

Thomas can play PF or SF along side Randolph and then he’s a free man shed salary after next year or resign him. Hinrick can play PG/SG to help Ellis run the fast break.

Turifa is a loss but Bulls would need someone besides Crawford who IMHO isn’t that liked right now.
justafan March 19th, 2009 at 5:57 pm

Boycott the Warriors until Chris Cohan Sells the team!!!
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