I thought this was an interesting excerpt from an ESPN interview with Don Nelson about the possibility of coaching the Spurs when Pop was GM. I assume this was when Bob Hill was fired. Not really sure if I would have liked him as the Spurs head coach.
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So what would be your do-overs if you could have them?
"There were two opportunities I probably should have made happen. One was when we beat the Celtics in the playoffs in Milwaukee [in 1983]. They were going to make a coaching change. I think Bill Fitch was their coach at the time. After the last game, Red [Auerbach] walked by and asked me, 'Would you ever consider coaching the Boston Celtics?'
"I said, 'Red, it would be a dream come true. But the guy's been so good to me here, I really couldn't leave [Bucks owner] Jim Fitzgerald.' But looking back as a career move, that's probably something I should have done at that point. They had a really good championship-caliber team and that would have solved all the problems if I would have done that. K.C. Jones got that job and did a really good job and they won a few championships. Looking back, I was a loyal guy because Jim Fitzgerald was so good to me, so I don't really regret not going. But as a career move I probably should have.
"And then the second one was when I was in Golden State and I was having all the [Chris] Webber problems and Gregg Popovich was the GM in San Antonio and wanted to make a change. He called me up and said, 'Can you get out of your contract and come here and be my coach?'
"It was a great idea, because the way we were looking at it, one of us [Webber or Nelson] had to go and if I leave they can keep Webber and get a good coach and everything would be great. So I begged Fitz [Jim Fitzgerald had since bought the Warriors] to let me out of my contract, but he refused, so he and I got into a big argument.
"But he was going to sell the team and I had to be part of the sale because I guess [new owner] Chris Cohan wanted me in place. I've often thought, if Pop would have been the GM and I would have been the coach, that would have been a happy, happy time for me. But I ended up staying and we probably ended up making a bad decision on Webber [by trading him to Washington]."
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/column...=Nellie-100406
Last edited by Old School 44; 04-06-2010 at 01:27 PM.
I guarantee if Nelson had come to the Spurs, there's no way he and Pop would be friends today. Seeing as how Nelson has shammed every coaching opportunity and burned most of his bridges he's had since that time, I would guess that his professional relationship would've ended badly, too.
Nelson would of ruined Tim Duncan's career.
At least Nellie would play Ian and Malik for 30 minutes a night.
Yeah, and their bad habits would've been magnified and glorified.
there's more than a few on here that would love to have Nelson over Pop
Yep, that was my first thought. My second, was we could have become the Mavericks.
And those people aren't Spurs fans.there's more than a few on here that would love to have Nelson over Pop
The rafters of the AT&T Center would be devoid of any championship banners - that's for sure.Yep, that was my first thought. My second, was we could have become the Mavericks.
Yeah, he plays a lot of d-league callups in GS. How's that working out for them?
Nellie is le kryptonite, and he would only have thrown Pop under the bus like he did Mullin, who rescued his ing career, post-Dallas.
The very thought makes me
Good thing it didn't happen, Duncan would have gone to Orlando the first chance he got and Robinson would have retired playing for some other team. Good thing this is just a nightmare that never occurred
He would've won twice as many championship coaching the Spurs than he did coaching the Mavs. Wait A SECOND...that's still 0...
If you squinted hard enough this season, Pop was coaching a whole lot like him for a majority of it.there's more than a few on here that would love to have Nelson over Pop
It would have be enjoyable seeing Nellie turn David Robinson into a three-point threat, and then complain about how the Spurs didn't have a good post player.
Spurs Head Coach Don Nelson?
Too old plus he's a bigger boozer than Pop. The owners then or now would have never gone for it.
There's no doubt that he would've ultimately undermined Pop and likely moved hiimself into both roles of coach and GM. It would've been ing nightmare. I know Pop is grateful to Nellie for all he's done for his career, but certainly Pop is smart enough to realize the philosophical differences between them are as big as the Pacific Ocean.
What a nightmare that would have been. The coaching styles are so opposite of one another. And something would have given very shortly. Hill got the boot due to the fact that his style wasn't going to beat Utah. Neither was Nelie's. I think Pop would have recognized that and canned Nellie - if he had come that is.
Anyway thank God that didn't happened.
And a beautiful friendship was saved.
at the first sight of nellie or any coach destroying the team would have been kicked the out esp with a young hungry timmy deeeee, thats what separates us and the other teamsWhat a nightmare that would have been. The coaching styles are so opposite of one another. And something would have given very shortly. Hill got the boot due to the fact that his style wasn't going to beat Utah. Neither was Nelie's. I think Pop would have recognized that and canned Nellie - if he had come that is.
Anyway thank God that didn't happened.
And a beautiful friendship was saved.
Fan-ta-diddily-astic
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