Don Nelson Steps down....

[Xaiveir]

Interesting move3/4 through the season....

http://www.nba.com/mavericks/news/avery ... 31905.html

[Malluas]

i bet Avery was doing most the work anyways. he really hasn't seemed into the last 2 years. Talked about retiring last year, then Cuban eluded to wanting to fire him, lots of other crap that i don't even think was any where near the truth.

He was a good coach.. and the only Boris Yeltsin lookalike i ever saw in prosports

[Jirig]

I'd like Vonk's opinion on this~

[LostCause]

I'd like Vonk's opinion on this~

[vonkaar]

Sorry, haven't had much time to respond... birthday weekend was pretty crazy...

Basically, his time was here. In his own mind, that is. I mean... to be honest, he probably could have kept coaching... Cuban wouldn't have done anything... and the team would have suffered because of it. Don't get me wrong, I'm about as big of a Nellie fan as you'll find outside the NBA, but even he would be the first to admit that his game was slipping. While he had 2 games off to be at home with his wife (post-surgery), he watched Avery coach what he called 'the perfect game' against Minnesota. He loved watching the moves. As a fan, it was a good game... I mean, we won... and it was a dominating game and all... but it clearly held more meaning to Nellie while he watched from home. Two days later, he returned to the bench for the second game against Minnesota. We were blown out. At one point, they were up 38 to 19... barely into the second quarter. The fans booed the poor performance. We ended up losing by 9.

A couple days later, we played lottery-bound Portland and eeked out a 4-point win. Nellie said that he had to coach his ass off to win that game. Again, he heard boos in Dallas... something he hadn't heard in years. It was in those 3 games that allowed him to realize that 'his time had come'. He hand-picked his replacement years ago. He knew back in 2002 that he wanted AJ to be his successor... and he wasted no time in getting him back in Dallas during the 2004 off-season. This wasn't a 'quick' decision... it was just the 'right' thing to do. We saw the transition building all year... Nellie taking 10 games off for surgery, AJ going 7-3 during that period. Nellie giving AJ the coaching start against San Antonio for our second game (AJ's first coaching gig EVER). This whole year was built up as a training-wheels guide to get AJ into the driver's seat.

And we are totally responding to him. We just destroyed Cleveland by 31 points. We took out a completely healthy Detroit at home (the 3rd best home team in the league) despite our continued health issues. AJ is possibly going to get to see what Nellie never got - a healthy Mavericks team in 2005.

All in all... it's a good thing. Nellie is still a Mav... he's the "Godfather" of the organization. Cuban is still honoring the contract, even though he didn't have to. What's $7.2million to him anyway? Despite all of the bad things that people have said about Don Nelson... he leaves the Mavs in a much better position than when he got here. He and Cuban turned the Mavs from the Clippers of the Southwest division, into the #3 franchise in the NBA (according to Forbes). So... I'll miss Nellie, but I'm excited for the future of the organization.

[Lyion]

That cleveland game was an ugly spanking.

[vonkaar]

here is a good synopsis on the whole Nash story... just so you all can understand how much Nellie loved Stevie:

But Nellie can’t move on from this subject until he mentions the departure of Steve Nash, which could go down as a regret of sorts.

“I love Nash,’’ Nelson says. “A little of me died when we lost him. And I didn’t have the enthusiasm when we lost him. You don’t run across a guy like that very often, a great guy, the best point guard I ever coached, easy to coach – any team Nash is on is easy to coach – and now he’s an MVP candidate in Phoenix. Jason Terry is one of the highlights of the year, but Steve. … was just a special guy.’’

Had Nash stayed, would Nellie have stayed?

Says Nelson: “Oh, how do you ever know? This is a good thing for me, and in the long run, a great thing for the Mavericks. Avery Johnson is just the right guy.’’

[Malluas]

not sure he would have stayed.. Last year it didn't seem he was in it like a couple years ago.

Not sure avery is the answer for dallas either. We shall see

[vonkaar]

Last year it didn't seem he was in it like a couple years ago.

[Malluas]

well the games i watched last year.. i didn't see as much of the Angry Boris Yeltsin running around doing the stomach bump like the Friar in Disney's Robbin Hood. He was under control mostly. That isn't him.. he is up coaching... thats the Don i kno.. sittin and not active looks like a tired man