Don Nelson is the second-winningest head coach in NBA history behind Gregg Popovich, finishing with 1,335 wins. But what people rarely talk about are his humble beginnings, how close his college career came to being affected by one of basketball’s biggest scandals, and how the kid shooting through a bicycle wheel eventually helped reinvent how basketball is played today.
Don Nelson grew up with his two sisters on his grandfather’s rural farm near Sherrard, Illinois. His childhood was about as country as it gets. He learned basketball in a chicken yard, shooting at a spokeless bicycle wheel nailed to the side of a shed, and attended a one-room school with six grades and only seven students.
When his family lost the farm, the Nelsons moved to Rock Island, trading isolated farm life for an industrial Mississippi River city in the Quad Cities. Nelson adjusted by basically turning the whole city into his basketball court. He would stop and shoot at different baskets while walking to school, then go to the YMCA for even more shots after practice.
At Rock Island High School he became a star, leading the Rocks to a 47-7 record over his final two seasons. Yet Nelson was not heavily recruited, and his father was so unconvinced basketball would work out that he wanted Don to become a watch repairman.
Nelson quickly proved that idea wrong at Iowa. In his first varsity season he averaged 15.8 points and 10 rebounds, then exploded to 23.8 points and 10.6 rebounds the following year.
This is also where his story crossed paths with the infamous 1961 college basketball gambling scandal.
One important distinction: Nelson himself was not implicated in point-shaving. His Iowa teammate Connie Hawkins became caught up in the scandal, which involved gamblers paying college players to manipulate the point spread of games. Hawkins was never charged with a crime, but the fallout ended his Iowa career and temporarily kept him out of the NBA.
He later said that if Hawkins had remained, he believed Iowa could have challenged powerhouse Ohio State.
Nelson entered the NBA in 1962 and eventually found his home with the Boston Celtics.
He was never the superstar of those Celtics teams, but he became exactly the kind of player championship teams need: smart and willing to do the dirty work. Nelson eventually won five NBA championships as a player, including hitting a famous late jumper in Game 7 of the 1969 Finals against the Lakers.
That mentality eventually carried into the part of his career that mattered even more.
Nelson became one of basketball’s great mad scientists.
Long before positionless basketball became normal, Nelson helped pioneer the point forward, using forwards such as Paul Pressey to initiate the offense instead of relying on a traditional point guard. That allowed him to put more size and scoring on the court without sacrificing playmaking.
Nelson’s teams also embraced smaller lineups with run-and-gun playstyles before “small ball” became normal NBA terminology. His style became known as Nellie Ball: spread the floor, play fast, create mismatches and stop worrying so much about traditional positions.
He even became associated with deliberately fouling terrible free-throw shooters, the strategy eventually nicknamed Hack-a-Shaq.
Nelson will forever be remembered as a man who pioneered the game of basketball. Whether it is his innovation of the point-forward, small-ball playstyle, or Nellie Ball doctrine. Nelson will forever live in the hearts of NBA fans as one of the greatest coaches in basketball history.
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