Nelly to Minnesota: It's Getting Hot in Hurrrr...?
This just in: Nelly wants to join the Wolves?
No, not that Nelly. THIS Nelly:
Please click "Read More" to see what this all means...
Yes, that's right... THE Don Nelson, the chubby belly scratching one, the one who's really good at coaching up-tempo basketball, THAT Nelly wants to come to Minnesota... But wait; WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
...
So with that little piece of YouTube nostalgia out of the way, I'll link to the REAL story.
Former Bucks, Mavericks, and Warriors Coach Don Nelson, who spent last winter chillaxing at his beach house in Maui and who is the winningest coach in NBA history is interested in giving it all up to coach our very own lovable losers, the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Now, I will preface the rest of this post by saying that, in my professional opinion, the term "loser" applies to our current squad only in terms of actual Wins and Losses over the last couple of years (since no one on our current roster was on the team before Kahn started in 2009 except Love, who threw up a pedestrian 11/9 in 25 mpg as a Rook, and Telfair, who has since left the team and returned, and is unlikely to make the squad this coming year anyway. All of these guys have played for winning teams their entire lives, and the last couple of years have probably been awful for most of them to experience.
The point to be made here is that by and large, no one on our current roster is accustomed to losing at any level (with the exception of the last couple years), and there is a certain talent level which has been accumulated that at some point will prevail. Sure, there have been those who criticize the redundancy in positional talent that has been acquired, but talent is talent, and hoopers are hoopers. And hooper is now one of my favorite insider terms, thanks to one Mr. Mike Beasley.
Even if you don't buy the "a rising tide raises all ships" argument, the fact that Nelson wants to come coach our team is an encouraging sign for the many seventeen remaining Timberwolves fans. It means that actual, legitimate professional minds other than the collective genius that is the TWB Community recognize the talent of our younguns and want to be a part of building on their success.
The question remains whether Taylor, one of the notoriously cheap owners in the league, will shell out for the likes of Nelly. We'll leave that question for another day, another post.
In the meantime let's ponder what a Nelly-led Timberwolves team might look like:
- According to Basketball Reference, Nelly's teams have made the playoffs in 18 of his 31 seasons (or 58%)
- Nelson tends to take over bad teams and make them respectable. He seems to enjoy the challenge.
- Each of Nelson's teams have made the playoffs within his first 2 full seasons (he had 3 losing seasons in Dallas before making the playoffs in 2000-2001, but the first season he took over 16 games into the season for Jim Cleamons, the second was the strike shortened 98-99 campaign, and the third was a respectable 40-42 season in 99-00)
- In the five seasons spent with Dallas from 2000-2005, Nelson's teams were 58 games over 0.500.
- By comparison, Rambis was 100 games under 0.500 over the past two seasons alone.[/li] [li]Nelly's Dallas teams thrived with Steve Nash, who many feel has a similar approach to the point guard position that Rubio could bring.
- For all of his positives, Nelly has been followed by drama and clashes with ownership in both Dallas and Golden State.
So, I ask you again double rainbow fans- WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN???
Well, I'll tell you this... Based on zero scientific analysis, my professional conclusion is that a Nelly-led T-Wolves team should be:
- More competitive
- Better prepared
- Higher scoring
- Higher drama
- Have more input from the coach on basketball-related decisions (we can hope, right?)
If nothing else, bringing in Nelly should make it obvious this season that our coach has a pulse (last season at times when the cameras would cut to the Wolves' bench, I thought maybe I was watching TrueBlood, or the Twilight series- and I've promised myself never to watch, or even reference the Twilight series... that's how bad things were).
I'd like to once again interject that it is very possible that Taylor won't want to shell out for Nelly- but at 71, if you are the winningest coach in league history, and you own a winter home in Maui, and you were just paid $6 million for a year in which you didn't even have to coach, are you really contacting Dave Kahn because you're hard up for the money? No. You're coaching because you have coaching in your blood, and because you recognize the potential that this young team has and because it would be an affront to the game to allow the developmental years of Rubio, Love, Beasley, Wes Johnson, Randolph, Webster, and Derrick Williams (I'll throw Malcolm Lee in there for good measure) go to waste by being mishandled by a lesser coach. You want to see how good those guys can be, and if it means you spend some time with your grandkid during the season, hey- that's an added bonus.
So, in closing, we can only hope that Kahn is able to reconcile Nelly's financial requirements and Mr. Taylor's penny pinching ways and make this dream a reality.
Dave K, Glen T, if you're out there reading this, make it happen. Don, if you're out there chilling on a beach in Maui sipping a margarita, I hope you take at least one day and get up at 4 am to drive up the East side of the island and enjoy the chance to see the sunrise from the peak of the Haleakala Volcano- there are only so many transcendent things that one can experience on earth, and to watch the sunrise from on top of the world is definitely one of them. I salute you, and hope that you are able to join the organization next year.
1 Like
Great write up Wolfenstein. A fun read. I liked the bullet point section. Rambis was so bad.
I would be thrilled to have Nellie. Quite frankly I don't care if he has clashed with ownership or coaches or players. Name me a coach who hasn't. Just because you have gotten into a shoving match at a bar doesn't mean you go and fight every person walking down the street. I also wouldnt call Glen Taylor confrontational.
Speaking of Glen Taylor. I am in the minority by saying that while an at-times cheap owner with far too much attachment, he has not been notoriously cheap. He has been the opposite in many cases. I have seen far worse, blood boiling caliber moves from teams owenership. Giving away players and draft picks. I mean Taylor is Mark Cuban compared to the Suns owner, good lord. Giving away Big Al is really the only thing that sticks out in my mind, but I think that was more Kahn thinking he would have been able to make a follow up move with the cap space, but since Kahn can't trade for anything resembling something other than a castoff...that never happened.
But Nellie, one of my favorite things about him (and Gregg Popovich for that matter) is he seems VERY good at identifying and developing talent out of nowhere. This seemed most apparent to me in his GS years, when it seemed every year he had 2-3 undrafted free agents join the team and perform very well, while seemingly drafting zero busts. Pretty much every young player Nellie touches succeeds (even AR had a pretty good rookie/sophomore year despite it all). This is VERY important, perhaps moreso than whatever scheme we run.
@WallyWorld Totally fair about Taylor shelling out from time to time. I probably got caught up in the collective group-think Timberwolves ownership/management hating- which I hate.
http://youtu.be/ukV82WsJa_k?t=56s
If you ever have a chance to own the BBC version of the Office, DO IT. That is all.
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Make it happen, Glen open that locked-tighter-then a dolphins-ass pocket book n pay the man. He is the kind of coach we need! His record speaks for itself. He will be great for our young guys. Hes also the kind of coach that can mentor b-ez and Darko...
thanx
Mad dog
oh ya whats up with the server here it wont let me log in half the time.
Seriously though @wolfenstein81, a good article... thank you!
I have to wonder though why would he actually want to coach here? Kinda weird at age 71. You would think it's gotta solely be about the chedder, right? (But maybe not, I could be wrong.) But if he just wants to come here for the money, that’s kinda disturbing. Plus he’ll want over $5 million per year, so I doubt Glen pays that (Read the Mark Cuban vs Don Nelson court case documents I posted a while back, I guarantee Don will want a ton of money.)
At least we don’t have many veterans, because Nelson doesn’t exactly like playing rookies… which is another problem with him coaching our roster.
I don’t think he’s the best for the long-term viability of the franchise. But with that said, why not? It would be someone respectable and give us some legitimacy. Not like anyone else will take the job anyways…
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@CollegeWolf Nelly told Zgoda he wants to be here because he likes the idea of coaching our young guys. Nelly helped develop Mullin, Timmy Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry, etc. all as young players. I think he gets a bad rep for not liking to play rookies just because he didn't get along with certain guys, or felt like certain guys were drafted too early (Randolph). I feel like his attitude of "you have to reach down and become the player you can be" is good for guys like Beasley and Randolph- these guys don't need a coach who's a buddy, they need a father figure who can tell it like it is and demand the excellence that they possess but habitually fail to achieve. I don't know, he doesn't lock us in long term, but I think he's a good short term solution. PS I love the belly pic too.
@Wolfenstein All good points, thanks for the response.
And I really like the sounds of this, to be honest. That really helps for wanting to have him coach here. Maybe like a 2 year contract with mutual options for the 3rd year, or something?
I guess my last concern would be defense. We're one of the worst defensive teams in the league, if not THE worst. So how does he improve that? Even worse than his rep about not wanting to "coach young guys" is the rep regarding him doing NOTHING for coaching or playing defense. That still concerns me some.
But at least we'd be waaaaaaay more exciting to watch!
Make it happen Kahn and Taylor!!!
@Wolfenstein Yes, a perpetual playoff team/contender is exciting to me. Especially after the past half-decade. Great point that at least he has a pulse and would have the respect of his players (at least I think he would.)
And no coach could be worse defensively than Rhombus... but Donnie might give him a run for his money lol. Still, a big improvement.
@CollegeWolf The D thing worries me a bit, but then again Dallas just showed us that creating a winning team based loosely on Nelson's player development, combined with a defensive coach and an added defensive anchor inside can win a championship. In other words, while he's here we probably get better as a team but may not be able to win a championship. Think about that. If our biggest beef against the team was that we can't quite get over the hump to championship caliber, wouldn't we be thrilled? Doesn't that level assume perpetual playoff team status? I'd be cool with that.The other thing is that our D was SO bad last year, he could coach any kind of D and be a better/more successful defensive coach than <s>dracula</s> Rambis. Again, at least he has a pulse. And a plan at the end of games. And the respect of his players. And his own legacy, as opposed to riding on Phil's coattails.
Seriously though @wolfenstein81, a good article... thank you!
I have to wonder though why would he actually want to coach here? Kinda weird at age 71. You would think it's gotta solely be about the chedder, right? (But maybe not, I could be wrong.) But if he just wants to come here for the money, that’s kinda disturbing. Plus he’ll want over $5 million per year, so I doubt Glen pays that (Read the Mark Cuban vs Don Nelson court case documents I posted a while back, I guarantee Don will want a ton of money.)
At least we don’t have many veterans, because Nelson doesn’t exactly like playing rookies… which is another problem with him coaching our roster.
I don’t think he’s the best for the long-term viability of the franchise. But with that said, why not? It would be someone respectable and give us some legitimacy. Not like anyone else will take the job anyways…
