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Jason Terry wasn't even through his first year with the Dallas Mavericks when then-coach Don Nelson apparently wasn't pleased with his point guard skills. Nelson apparently was so disenchanted that he already had a deal done to ship Terry to the Utah Jazz. But owner Mark Cuban pulled the plug on the trade. "I remember having to tell Nellie that, 'No, we’re not trading him to Utah for Raul Lopez,' '' Cuban said. "Because Nellie told me the deal was done. "The point being that Jet went through some tough times when he first got here. And he got better and he grew with the team.'' Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks, Utah Jazz, Trade, Mark Cuban, Don Nelson, Raul Lopez, Jason Terry 

Rick Majerus' solitary season on an NBA bench in 1986-87 was spent as a Milwaukee Bucks assistant to head coach Don Nelson and sidekick to then-Bucks assistant Del Harris. Nelson and Harris quickly became two of Majerus' closest friends in the game. The longtime college basketball coach's passing Saturday was thus felt deeply in Dallas, where the Nelson-and-Harris tag team remains firmly entrenched after they reunited with the Mavericks from 2000 through 2007 alongside current Mavs president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson. ESPN.com

Dallas Mavericks, Coaching, Donnie Nelson, NCAA, Don Nelson, Del Harris, Rick Majerus 

Said Harris on Sunday: "Rick will be known by his friends and those players who followed him closely by one short sentence: He cared. "Regardless of how demanding he was, Rick proved his love for friends and players past and present in a myriad of ways. I have recorded and saved voicemails he has sent me and my son Dominic has saved encouraging letters Rick sent him from years past. Obviously I could go on and on. "He had tons of friends (in the game). He was totally dedicated to his family, particularly caring for his mother after his father died. He called me the brother he never had and I suspect he used that expression a lot." ESPN.com

Dallas Mavericks, Coaching, Donnie Nelson, NCAA, Don Nelson, Del Harris, Rick Majerus 

Stephen Curry: Congrats to coach Nelly on his induction to the HOF tonight. Glad we got him the record my rookie year. Tried stuff nobody tried before! Twitter

Golden State Warriors, Don Nelson, Stephen Curry, Hall of Fame 

Marc Stein: Charles Barkley tells @matt_winer that idea of night on the town w/Don Nelson scares him: "I'm afraid to hang out w/Nellie. He enjoys life" Twitter

Golden State Warriors, Charles Barkley, Don Nelson, Hall of Fame 

“Hopefully, this will be the last tuxedo I’ll be wearing. “There is life after basketball. Come out and have a cup of coffee with me in Maui.” —Don Nelson, the legendary Celtics player and the winningest coach NBA history, during his induction into the Hall of Fame speech Friday. NBCSports.com

Coaching, Don Nelson, Hall of Fame 

Don Nelson will officially enter the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday. But there is one notable person that thinks the NBA's all-time leader in coaching victories should not be inducted. Nellie himself. "I don't really feel deserving to be in the Hall of Fame, but I am in and I'm happy about that," Nelson told Yahoo! Sports. "It's a great, great honor. There are a lot of guys who deserve it more than me that haven't got in yet like Al Attles, Bill [Fitch], [Dick] Motta and those guys. They were real coaches. Man, did they ever coach. "So I feel a little undeserving. But anyway, here I am. Here I come." Yahoo! Sports

Don Nelson, Hall of Fame 

Nelson had a good run as the Mavericks' coach, but his relationship with owner Mark Cuban soured. Nelson guided the Warriors to a stunning upset of the top-seeded Mavericks in the first round of the 2007 playoffs. "I haven't heard from Dallas," Nelson said in regards to making the Hall of Fame. "But that's (Mavs owner Mark) Cuban. He's not going to do anything. I don't blame him." Yahoo! Sports

Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Mark Cuban, Don Nelson, Hall of Fame 

The Warriors acquired Webber as the No.1 pick in the 1993 draft. He was named Rookie of the Year, but clashed with Nelson in his first year. Golden State ended up trading Webber to the Washington Bullets for forward Tom Gugliotta and three draft picks on Nov. 17, 1994. Nelson stepped down as coach and general manager on Feb. 13, 1995. "He was a talented young player, but he was very difficult to coach early in his career," Nelson said. "I'm not the only coach that had trouble. Until he matured and knew what it was all about he was a difficult guy to coach." Yahoo! Sports

Golden State Warriors, Washington Wizards, Don Nelson, Chris Webber, Hall of Fame 

Q: OK, fine. How true is the statement that you had pretty much given up all hope of getting into the Hall? Don Nelson: Absolutely. I didn't think this was going to happen. I think I got rejected four times, so I had pretty well dismissed it from my mind. But I think Jerry Sloan helped me. He got in a couple years ago without winning a championship and I think that might have helped open the door for me. ESPN.com

Coaching, Don Nelson, Hall of Fame 

Q: How much were you thinking about coaching when you were still playing with the Celtics? A: I never thought about coaching. I always wondered what in the world I'm going to do when I retire. That's why I tried refereeing [in summer league before joining the Bucks]. I didn't really know any coaches other than the Celtics' guys. I didn't get friendly with other coaches and I played so long with the Celtics that they were the only coaches I knew. I wouldn't have even known who to call. ESPN.com

Coaching, Don Nelson, Hall of Fame 

Q: What's your reaction when you hear people talking about Nellie Ball? How would you define it? A: I suppose it means small ball, fast and exciting, point forward, players playing out of position ... all those kinds of things. It's kind of funny to me when people talk about stuff like that. I don't necessarily think it's accurate. You only play Nellie Ball when you don't have a very good team, or when you have a bunch of good small players and not many good big players. When you have bad teams, you've got to be creative to win games you're not supposed to win. ESPN.com

Coaching, Don Nelson, Hall of Fame 

Q: Best players you've coached? A: Sidney Moncrief. [Dirk] Nowitzki and [Steve] Nash. [Chris] Mullin, [Tim] Hardaway and Richmond. I think those would be the top guys. ESPN.com

Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Coaching, Chris Mullin, Don Nelson, Hall of Fame, Tim Hardaway, Sidney Moncrief, Mitch Richmond 

It's funny how that one glaring void on his résumé (a championship as a coach) never seems to bother him when he's enjoying the sort of retirement we all should envy, how the bad times he had (like, say, his unceremonious firing by Golden State in September 2010 that brought on retirement before he'd asked for it) have been erased from his memory bank and replaced with a daily dose of beauty and bliss. Nelson, who lives with his wife, Joy, in the town of Paia that sits on the famed Road to Hana, is content and without regrets. "I've had one of those very special lives, really," said the reflective and relaxed Nelson, who is 30 pounds lighter than he was at the end of his career. "I've been in the NBA since I was 22. It's almost 50 years of my life. ... I'm sure there's a lot of tears when you lose and all that, a lot of down times. But I can't remember any of them. They're all positive now. Even the bad times were good. That's kind of where my mind is right now. One of those storybook lives, really." SI.com

Coaching, Don Nelson 

“My whole life has just been a lucky blessing,” he said. “The Boston Celtics was an example. I was waived by the Lakers. Not having a job and they call me up and give me a tryout and I’m there for 11 years and five championships. That’s the way my whole life has been.” Those close to Nelson thought he would enter corporate America after his retirement as a player, but he got a call from Bucks general manager Wayne Embry and agreed to joined Larry Costello’s coaching staff for the following season. Eighteen games into the 1976-77 campaign, Costello, who had led the Bucks to their lone NBA title with Lew Alcindor and Oscar Robertson, abruptly resigned. The 36-year-old Nelson was handed the responsibility of reviving a sagging franchise. And with his roster options limited, Nelson decided to speed up the pace with smaller, quicker players. “I like going to bad franchises and making good ones out of them,” he said. “I like building things, and that was the attraction, and when you are going to a bad team, they don’t have very many good big players. Boston Globe

Coaching, Don Nelson, Hall of Fame 

Nelson’s relationship with Chris Webber in Golden State a decade and half later quickly decayed, leading to the budding superstar’s trade to the Bullets when management decided the duo couldn’t coexist. That is perhaps Nelson’s biggest personal regret, and it may have given him an unwarranted reputation as a coach who couldn’t blend with younger players. “Relating to players has never really been difficult for me,” he said. “There’s only a couple of players who haven’t enjoyed playing for me.” Boston Globe

Golden State Warriors, Coaching, Don Nelson, Chris Webber, Hall of Fame 

Nelson would take those Golden State teams to three playoff appearances before having four more with the Mavericks in the 2000s, including a trip to the Western Conference finals in 2003. He had perhaps his greatest coaching moment when the eighth-seeded Warriors defeated the No. 1 Mavericks in the 2007 playoffs. “What I am most proud of is that I went to those teams when they were down, and when I left them, they were all better,” he said. “They had a chance when I left. If you were evaluating my career, you would say that’s what I did, what I enjoyed. “I thought I was always appreciated as being a good coach but I never thought I’d be in the Hall of Fame. The few years I didn’t make it, I just assumed it wasn’t in my future. But that happened now, too. So I got the cake, I got the frosting, and I will be able to eat it, too.” Boston Globe

Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Coaching, Don Nelson, Hall of Fame 

How about the time he put 6-foot-7 Chris Mullin on 7-foot-1 David Robinson in a playoff series? That was quirky. Just like Mullin on 7-foot-4 Mark Eaton, also in the postseason. And Patrick Ewing as a point-center. Innovative. That was the tag Don Nelson got for decades of trying to lure opponents into mismatch hell as coach of the Bucks, Warriors (twice), Knicks and Mavericks. It was the quirky way he'd encourage Manute Bol to rain threes to force the defense to come out (in the days before zones, thereby opening the interior to give small-ball Golden State a chance to get to the rim) or maybe just to force a good laugh on people. Nelson's fish ties in Milwaukee, Bol launching from distance -- same difference. NBA.com

Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, Manute Bol, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin, Don Nelson, Hall of Fame 

"I thought it was a positive response to my career," he said of the innovator label. "When you're not blessed to coach the best team for all of my career, really, you had to be innovative. The worse your teams, the more innovative you had to be as a coach to stay competitive and win as many games as you possibly can. That's just part of what I was forced into. If I would have been coaching the championship caliber teams, you'd basically just make sure you're solid at both ends of the court. You don't have to be innovative. And I was less-innovative with the good teams that I coached than the bad ones, for sure." NBA.com

Don Nelson, Hall of Fame 

On being a players’ coach and allowing his players more freedom than most coaches: Don Nelson: ”It’s just the importance of every game is so much greater now than when I first broke in. So much pressure to win, win, win. Coaches want more control over the game, stay in game. Once in a while it doesn’t work out, you get blown out. I always tried to train my players to do that on the floor – train them in practice so I didn’t have to do that in the games. “I’ve over-coached in my career as well, though, especially when I didn’t have a good point guard. Then you have to do more of it if you don’t have the leadership on your team. My style would be more like the international rules – where the coach doesn’t have as much control. You can’t call timeout every two mistakes. It’s harder to do that stuff. I think those are good things for the game. It’s bit different game now. There are only a couple of guys who play like I like to play that are left in the game.” CSNBayArea.com

Coaching, Don Nelson