He is the guy I want on difficult situations. He likes to gamble with his philosophy and he wins not only the game but the wisdom and repect of his players.

But..

In my opinion, He is not a coach who gambles with his trust and it is so hard to gain his trust. To gain PT, You have to be his favorite or you have to get his attention by asking for a trade to get his notice..

As a result, the team becomes competitive, but without a solid bench foundation, it is inevitable that we fall short of the playoffs.

Here’s my point, When Nellie came over to the team, I vividly remember how he expressed his admiration for Patrick O Briant. He liked what he saw in him, He saw lots of potential in the kid expressing and hoping that he becomes a ‘star’ in his lifetime. The same thing could be said about Bellineli. His assesment of Marco was so sensational it got the fan community on a high.

Later on, he would backtrack from his statements then conclude the two arent ready yet. They lurked in the bench.

I have a problem with that.

If these players have shown something you like, Then atleast they have raw talent, then develop them by all means! If they aren’t matured in confident enough just yet, then Make them believe in themselves by believing in them.

Don’t pound them on the bench, give them a good five to seven minutes as role players. With 82 games, they will surely develop something in their game.

But Nellie is not that trusting.

On the matter of trust, He will not gamble like a poker player and therefore the consequence is a long term one.

According to rumors, Team Captain Baron Davis was benched in the Phoenix game because of his Birthday Party celebrations which didnt give him a sound game in Phoenix… Another rumor report says that Diddy said something in the media what he honestly obeserved about how tired and unresponsive the players are. Rumors reports (hope Im wrong) this action led to his benching on that crucial game with the Suns with a succeeding exclamation point of a statement, “I gave Baron a much needed rest!” Which I think is wrong, egoistical and immature. I don’t know which rumor is true but Ironically, rumors have it that Mullin himself made a similar comment in the media beforehand.

Nellie likes to ride you like a horse if you have his trust though and you have to be lucky at that.

He rode Run TMC with millions of minutes and it worked in the short term, but in the long term, Mullin and Hardaway became injury prone and Richmond who also has his injuries, got traded. We had Mario Ellie at that time who rode the bench as well, but would later became “Super Mario” in Houston and win a championship. There goes the core of the team.

What he was mainly responsible for creating (Run TMC), He was also mainly responsible for its demise.

Webber, Spree and Owens were very talented players but they were always seen through the magnifying glass through a microscope.

If The Micro approach was too much for them, How much more for it to take for the likes of POB, Bellineli, Perovic, Pietrus and Wright, most of them have to go Dleague after a few bad games.

I read somewhere Mark Cuban’s comment on Nellie which goes something like ( I can’t remember the exact words) “as a regular season coach he is good, but as a coach that reaches the playoffs and thereafter, He is no longer a winning coach.”

Somehow I would like to believe that because his style of play from game 1 to the last game, rarely varies. If he wants it fast, I dont have a problem with that but at least change your rotations.

The game in the playoffs changes its complexion. What you did in the regular series will not always work in the playoffs.

Nellie made a statement that this team is not deep. Im no coach and I respect that assesment. But if he was aware of this, especially after giving up JRich for nothing in return, Why didn’t he made the proper accomodations by giving his bench minimal minutes..

With no inside isolation plays, no inside post game which explains his lack of power forward as he relies more on speed than power, and probably more.. It’s not that hard to anticipate what Nellie will do.

Therefore, reaching the playoffs without a variety of gamestyle will surely stagnate.

Do I want him to be a coach for the Warriors? Yes! Because he is really good in what he does but He also, has to grow with the team.

He has to provide more dynamics to bring the team to the championship. Maintain the fast speed of the game, sure, but get everyone involved, especially the bench.

The Bench as unit has to have a goal.

He has to believe in them by challenging and motivating them to surprise him and he has to do it NOW not next season when his pay after negotiations is higher.

I’m just hoping the young bench guys who didn’t see minutes this year are ready next year and that this team goes closer to 9 deep than 7 deep on a regular basis.

I’m not sure how much to blame Nellie though. Seems like the Warriors were trying to build for the future and win now all at once, which is a tough spot for the coach. Not his best year, by any means, but I keep wondering who else on earth could have coaxed 48 wins out of this bunch.

but i do agree that nellie mis-used the bench. it’s hard to believe that you can’t squeeze 15-20mpg out of keleena, and 10-15mpg out of wright, marco, and barnes. nellie could definitely have bought more rest time for davis and jackson.

on the same token, davis and jackson should also have taken better care of their body. yes they played alot of minutes, but to fade like they did at the end is inexcusable. boxing match in vegas, birthday party, film premier, unnecessary activities that took a toll in addition to the minutes.

As a fan, we don’t get to peek behind the curtain very much to get a feel for how Smart, Riley, Silas, Turner etc. are really doing. They toil out of the limelight and as such, their work goes mostly unrecognized by the public. For me, the true test of how valuable the assistant coaching staff is will be how ready Wright, Belinelli and Perovic are to contribute next year. Otherwise, this year’s grade is all about Don Nelson.

This year Nelson basically ignored long term development and did what he thought he had to do to get to the playoffs. It was bad luck that the West was the toughest it’s ever been. The Warriors overall had amongst the fewest games lost to starters for injuries and/or suspension so out goes that excuse. Nellie and Co. had plenty of time to adjust for the condition of their bench and they made the gamble to ride their starters. That gambit failed: Mission unaccomplished.

Ironically, not making the playoffs is probably for the best in the long haul. Baron and Jax were gassed and would have had nothing left for the playoffs the way Nellie used, and some would say, abused them. A sweep by the Lakers was on the horizon. On the flip side, it may have kept the market values for Baron, Biedrins, Barnes, Azubuike, and Pietrus from increasing in their contract years. No such luck for Ellis though. The 14th pick in a talented draft also isn’t going to hurt. But back to coaching…

Nelson and his assistants didn’t consistently have the team ready to play lesser team, nor ready to give the effort necessary to play consistent defense. The root of this was the coaching staffs’ failure to devise a strategy to incorporate a suspect bench and untested rookies into the rotation while masking their deficiencies and providing much needed rest to the starters.

It can be debated eternally whether the bench just wasn’t very good or Nellie just didn’t trust them; it looked like a combination of both. A great coach takes on that challenge and changes the paradigm. Nellie and his staff didn’t. I give them credit for wringing 48 wins from a very flawed team in a highly competitive year but at best I give him and his mates a C. No playoffs, no bench/rookie development, the Webber fiasco, the Baron benching, too many loses to cupcakes, and no #@%*! fracking defense. Nellie has had great years but this wasn’t one of them.