OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 Legendary former NBA coach Don Nelson used what is perhaps the final crowning achievement of his career on Sunday as a chance to \u201cprotest\u201d the Luka Don\u010di\u0107 trade.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a tremendous mistake by the Dallas franchise to trade him,\u201d Nelson said after accepting the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Basketball Coaches Association prior to Game 2 of the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n
Nelson, 85, was coach and general manager of the Dallas Mavericks from 1997 to 2005 and was succeeded by his son, Donnie. It was the younger Nelson who drafted Don\u010di\u0107 to the Mavericks, and the elder, Hall-of-Fame coach on Sunday said Don\u010di\u0107 was \u201ca dear friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI want everybody to know I\u2019m wearing Luka\u2019s shoes, his new shoes from Nike that just got on the market, and I wore them in protest for the trade from Dallas,\u201d said Nelson, who was indeed wearing the latest of Don\u010di\u0107\u2019s signature shoe from Jordan Brand (a subsidiary of Nike).<\/p>\n
Nelson\u2019s son was also wearing a pair of Luka shoes. It was clear the intent of not only the Nelsons, but former Mavericks and current Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle to make a point about Dallas\u2019 trading of Don\u010di\u0107 to the Lakers in February.<\/p>\n
Carlisle, president of the coaches association, who had a finals game to coach about a half hour later, introduced Donnie Nelson in the audience and mentioned he drafted Don\u010di\u0107 and Knicks star Jalen Brunson in the same year. What he didn\u2019t need to say, because everyone in the room already knew, was that both Don\u010di\u0107 and Brunson are no longer helping the Mavericks win.<\/p>\n
The elder Nelson, who left Maui for the first time in seven years to attend the press conference in Oklahoma City, said his philosophy of team building was learned from Red Auerbach.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this philosophy, when you have a great player, you don\u2019t want to lose that player; you keep him for a lifetime,\u201d Nelson said. \u201cYou put his number up and you honor that player. \u2026 My philosophy was always to honor the great players, not trade them away, but to add pieces to that player and make him and your franchise the best that you can be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neither Nelson nor Carlisle mentioned current Mavs general manager Nico Harrison, who was in charge when Brunson left Dallas as a free agent and who traded Don\u010di\u0107 for Anthony Davis. Nelson did say, however, that when the Mavs failed to re-sign Steve Nash 21 years ago despite Nelson\u2019s insistence that it happen, it \u201cruined\u201d his relationship with then-team owner Mark Cuban.<\/p>\n
Nelson won 1,335 regular-season games in 31 years as coach of the Mavs, the Golden State Warriors (twice), the Knicks and the Milwaukee Bucks. He retired in 2010 and was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2012. On Sunday, he said that winning the Chuck Daly award was \u201cas important to me\u201d as his Hall induction.<\/p>\n
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