NBA Hall of Fame coach Don Nelson dies at 86
· UPIAug. 9 (UPI) -- Don Nelson, who won five titles as a player and later became the second-winningest coach in NBA history, died Sunday at 86, the Golden State Warriors announced.
No cause of death was provided.
Nelson played 11 of his 14 NBA seasons for the Boston Celtics, where he won five championship titles with four separate coaches.
He is one of two coaches in league history with at least 250 wins for three different teams, Milwaukee Bucks, Dallas Mavericks, and Golden State. He also served as each of the teams' general manager and won three coach of the year honors. The teams made the playoffs in 18 of his 31 seasons, but he never won a title.
Nelson introduced the point forward strategy, which shifted the game from relying on large players, which he attributed to his time playing for legendary Celtics coach Red Auerbach.
His fast-pace approach was likely best seen with the Warriors teams with future Hall of Famers Chris Mullin, Tim Hardaway, and Mitch Richmond
After retiring as a player, Nelson was hired as an assistant coach for the Bucks and became head coach in 1976. The Bucks win seven consecutive division titles. Nelson, who also coached the New York Knicks, spent 11 seasons with the Warriors over two stints.
"Don Nelson was a true innovator whose influence on the game of basketball is still felt today," current Warriors coach Steve Kerr said in the team's statement.
"He consistently challenged conventional thinking, experimented with different lineups and styles of play and saw possibilities in the game that others often did not. So much of what is now commonplace in the modern NBA can be traced back to the way Nellie approached the game."
Nelson resigned from the Warriors in September 2010 as the league's all-time leader in wins. His record was broken in 2022 by then-San Antonio Spurs coach Greg Popovich. In 2012, Nelson was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.