What About Donnie Nelson?

[footey]

Rick Carlisle' resignation got all the headlines in Dallas, but an equally seismic shift occurred when Cuban fired Donnie Nelson as GM following 24 years working for the team.  Most of you know that Donnie is the son of ex-Celtic great Don Nelson.  Son Donnie had an extraordinary career working for the Suns and Mavs' front offices.  He is credited with being perhaps the greatest international scout for the NBA. He was instrumental in expanding the reach of the NBA internationally.

I think he would be a phenomenal addition to our front office, especially helping strengthen our scouting department, particularly internationally. 

Some of Donnie's accomplishments: Getting the Suns to draft Steve Nash, getting the Mavs to draft Dirk Nowitski, and Luka Doncic.  Not bad.

He may want to run a team, which is not in the cards. But would be curious to see if the Celtics would reach out to gauge his interest in joining them. I hope so.  I have lost some faith in our team's scouting group, which is notoriously smaller. Needs some new blood.

The fact that he has some local ties (played HS ball at Worcester Academy when his dad played here) couldn't hurt.

[Roy H.]

If he’s willing to work under Brad and alongside Zarren, absolutely.

[Who]

He would be an interesting out of the box coaching hire as an alternate idea. He was a talented coach before he went into the front office.

[GreenlyGreeny]

A better question: Why not make Rick Carlisle our next coach? Remember what he did in 2010-2011. Dude can coach. Maybe not a HOFer, but definitely borderline. One of only 11 people in history who won an NBA title as a coach and as a player. And he started as a player with the Celtics winning a title, so it would be neat to see him finish his career as a coach winning a title. I bet it’s alluring to him right now unless he’s retiring for good.

Plus, a good bridge to Stevens’ eventual return to the coaching bench once the team is completely his roster. Maybe they come to the agreement of four years with Carlisle, who could then retire at age 65, and then Brad is back as CBS at age 48 and Zarren is finally GM at that point.

[tazzmaniac]

A better question: Why not make Rick Carlisle our next coach? Remember what he did in 2010-2011. Dude can coach. Maybe not a HOFer, but definitely borderline. One of only 11 people in history who won an NBA title as a coach and as a player. And he started as a player with the Celtics winning a title, so it would be neat to see him finish his career as a coach winning a title. I bet it’s alluring to him right now unless he’s retiring for good.

Plus, a good bridge to Stevens’ eventual return to the coaching bench once the team is completely his roster. Maybe they come to the agreement of four years with Carlisle, who could then retire at age 65, and then Brad is back as CBS at age 48 and Zarren is finally GM at that point.

Carlisle would not be a good choice.  2010/11 is ten years ago.  He hasn't had much success since then.  He's not a players coach.  He's a controlling personality and has clashed with several players not just Rondo.  Luka certainly isn't sorry Carlisle is gone.  I expect he'd be a negative as far as attracting free agents. 

[tazzmaniac]

He would be an interesting out of the box coaching hire as an alternate idea. He was a talented coach before he went into the front office.

Do you really think players today would want to play for someone who last coached in 2002?  16 years as an assistant never a head coach?   There are players in this upcoming draft who weren't born when he last coached. 

[Who]

He would be an interesting out of the box coaching hire as an alternate idea. He was a talented coach before he went into the front office.

Do you really think players today would want to play for someone who last coached in 2002?  16 years as an assistant never a head coach?   There are players in this upcoming draft who weren't born when he last coached.

If he's good? Yeah.
If he's not? No.

The first reaction does not matter. The quality of the coach is what matters.

[Who]

I thought Donnie Nelson was head coach of Lithuanian National Team for awhile. Looks like I got that wrong. He was only an assistant.

Memory fail.

[mr. dee]

Nothing wrong with our scouting as most of our picks recently have been solid in the first round. People are so impatient with the young guys. But I agree that he could help us for international scouting.

[vjcsmoke]

As an addition to the scouting department, yes sign me up.  As a coach, hell no!