Don Nelson steps down as Mavericks head coach!!

[SpursFanInAustin]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2016984

Don Nelson has resigned as Dallas Mavericks coach and been replaced by Avery Johnson, ESPN.com's Marc Stein reports.

A press conference is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday.

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told ESPN.com that Nelson resigned Saturday "for family and other reasons."

He will stay with the Mavericks as a consultant.

Nelson, the second-winningest coach in NBA history, has missed several games in recent weeks to be with his wife while she recovers from surgery.

Nelson had been grooming Johnson to become his successor. Johnson has run most practices this season and has coached several games, sometimes with Nelson serving as an assistant. Johnson also had a 10-game stint in charge while Nelson was out following shoulder surgery. The Mavs went 7-3 in that span.

The Mavericks host the Charlotte Bobcats on Saturday (8:30 p.m. ET).

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

[Rick Von Braun]

:wow

I didn't expect this until next season...

[T Park]

AJ is now fulltime.


Interesting to see how the Mavericks will be.


I wonder if this is more, the Mavericks seem to play better D under AJ than Nelson, so Cuban just told him, go ahead and stay off the team.

[ducks]

about time to get rid of no d nelson

[ducks]

I wonder how much cuban is saving now
aj would be a much cheaper coach then nelson

[bigbendbruisebrother]

Dang, I'll miss seeing Nelly's boobs giggle when he yells at refs.

[JsnSA]

Well its a good and bad way for this transition to occur.

Its good for Nelson that it is his decision...and he leaves the Mavs withought being fired or anthing...but the health issues with his family that has caused this is a real shame.

Hopefully everything will work out with his wife.

Af far as AJ goes...congratulations to him. He should make a great coach in this league.

[exstatic]

Its good for Nelson that it is his decision...and he leaves the Mavs withought being fired or anthing...

"Resignations" are often nothing more than a firing with a lot of perfume added.

[JsnSA]

Well...at least his leaving smelled good. :lol

[exstatic]

Kudos to AJ. I wonder how long Del Harris will stick around? He probably though at one point that he might be next in line.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

It was pretty nice of him to step down before a game against the Bobcats.

Help AJ pickup the easy W in his first game as head coach.

[Zarko]

With AJ at the helm full time, the Mavericks might have just got scarier. If he can penetrate the preconceived notions of "defense = bad" to some of their younger, athletic players (Howard, Daniels, Harris) they may become a force to be reckoned with.

Nelson and his man boobs were always amusing to me.

[xcoriate]

Damp plays a lot better under AJ I think they got some kind of relationship as they played together at GS anyway he is the important part of there D

[timvp]

http://www.cbc-raleigh.com/capcom/news/2003/bulls_03/als_smith_promo/dean_smith.jpg

http://www.sportsfanfare.net/images/large/WM2-088A.JPG

http://www.bostonbaseball.com/whitesox/graphic/caseyism.jpg

http://www.ffbookmarks.com/Vince%20Lombardi%202.jpg

http://www.harrywalker.com/photos/Auerbach_Alan.jpg

http://www.hockeyautographexchange.com/cards/scottybowmanphoto.jpg

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/buck/image/play/av616.jpg

[boutons]

The New York Times
March 19, 2005
Nelson Resigns as Coach of Mavericks
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 2:49 p.m. ET

DALLAS (AP) -- Don Nelson, the second-winningest coach in NBA history, resigned as coach of the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday and turned the team over to protege Avery Johnson.

``I see a little slippage as a team,'' Nelson said. ``The team is just responding better to Avery at this point.''

The 64-year-old Nelson also had the title of general manager, but most of those duties were done by his son, Donnie, the team's president of basketball operations. The elder Nelson will stay with the team as a consultant.

``Nellie has earned the right to approach this any way he wants,'' team owner Mark Cuban said. ``I just wanted to be supportive of any direction he wants to go.''

Nelson leaves with a career record of 1,190-880 over 27 seasons, including stints with Milwaukee, Golden State and the New York Knicks. Only Lenny Wilkens has won more games as a coach -- 1,332. Wilkens stepped down as coach of the New York Knicks earlier this season.

Although he never won a championship, or even made it to the NBA Finals, Nelson was considered a master of mismatches who won games early in his career by stressing defense then later made a mark with clubs that tried outscoring everyone.

Nelson went 339-251 in Dallas, tops in franchise history both in wins and winning percentage. It's even more impressive considering he started 35-81 before going 40-42 in 2000.

Johnson already has coached the team for 13 games this year, first while Nelson had shoulder surgery, then recently when Nelson took time off to be with his wife after she had an operation. Johnson has also run practices since training camp and had some test runs as the coach with Nelson serving as his assistant.

His first game was Saturday night at home against Charlotte. Dallas went into it 42-22 and in good position to get the fourth seed in the Western Conference playoffs, which gets home-court advantage in the first round.

When Johnson coached the Mavs, he stressed defense. Nelson's emphasis was offense. The mixed message could be part of the reason Dallas has struggled recently, especially at home.

``We're going to keep moving forward,'' Johnson said. ``We're not trying to abandon the things that Coach has implemented here, but there are some things that I feel a little stronger about.''

Johnson, the starting point guard on San Antonio's 1999 title team, first joined Nelson's staff during the team's run to the Western Conference finals in 2002 when he was left off the playoff roster. Nelson wanted him back last season, even though Johnson was playing for Golden State. The league didn't allow it, so Johnson signed with Dallas this summer to be a player-coach. He wound up retiring in training camp to focus strictly on coaching.

Nelson isn't the only one who thought highly of Johnson's coaching ability. League GMs voted him the player most likely to become a coach each of the last two years.

Nelson, a former Boston Celtics star, came to the club as general manager in 1997, hoping to salvage a lost franchise that had just traded Jason Kidd. Within months he traded every player he inherited except Michael Finley, fired coach Jim Cleamons and took over himself, then eventually added Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash. All told, his moves turned Dallas from lottery regulars to a consistent 50-win team.

Dallas is the eighth team to make a coaching change this season, following Memphis, New York, Denver, the Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota, Portland and Orlando.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press

[T Park]

omg, AJ is not in the class of Scotty Bowman, Lombardi, and Red???

Good god.

[Guru of Nothing]

You forgot Quinn Buckner.

[Tek_XX]

Since when did AJ become the next great NBA coach? What happaned to Don Nelsons son taking over after he left?