The Basketball Hall of Fame will soon be making room for the
winningest coach in the history of the NBA.
Don Nelson will be announced as part of the newest induction class this
weekend, reports Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News.
Nelson, 71, garnered 1,335 victories over 31 seasons as head coach of the
Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks.
"Very seldom do people get to do something they love to do their whole
life," Nelson told the Mercury News on Wednesday. "But I'm a lucky
guy to stay in the business as long as I did. This is just frosting on the
cake. It doesn't get any better than going into the Hall of Fame."
As a player, Nelson won five NBA championships as a member of the Boston
Celtics, but never led a team to an NBA title as head coach.
Nelson did lead his teams to the playoffs 18 times and was named NBA Coach of
the Year in 1983, 1985 and 1992.
"I thought he was going to get into the shuffleboard hall of fame before
the basketball hall of fame, the way things were going," former NBA head
coach Del Harris told The Dallas Morning News. "Here's a guy who's won
more games than anybody who ever strapped on the whistle. That in itself ought
to be enough."
Nelson is one of 12 finalists for this year's Hall of Fame class along with
Reggie Miller, Rick Pitino, Bernard King, Katrina McClain, Maurice Cheeks, Bill
Fitch, Dick Motta, Hank Nichols, Jamaal Wilkes, Ralph Sampson and the
All-American Red Heads, the first women’s professional basketball team.
The class will officially be announced on Monday in New Orleans before the
championship game of the NCAA tournament.
