Today, we continue with the player/coach profiles and highlight one of the most innovative coaches in the NBA. His teams, in an era of defense-dominated teams, has perfected the run-and-gun offense, and has given us concepts like the point forward. He is the coach of the Golden State Warriors, Don Nelson.

Don Nelson was born May 15, 1940 in Muskegon, Michigan. He later moved to Illinois, where he was a great ball player at Rock Island High School. Nelson then attended the University of Iowa, where he was a two time All-American and averaged 21.1 PPG and 10.5 RPG from 1958-62. Nelson was drafted 19th overall (1st pick of the third round) in the 1962 NBA Draft by the Chicago Zephyrs (now the Washington Wizards). After a decent rookie year, Nelson ended up with the Los Angeles Lakers the following season. After two non-descript seasons in L.A., he signed as a free agent with the Boston Celtics in 1965.

Nelson soon blossomed into a reliable sixth man as Boston won championships in three of his first four seasons there. Nelson averaged over 10 PPG in nine of his eleven seasons in Beantown (career best 15.4 PPG in 1969-70) and led the league in feild goal percentage in 1974-75. The following season, Nelson retired as a player. He won five NBA titles as a Celtic. But the next phase of his career was just beginning.

Immediately following his retirement, Nelson joined the Milwaukee Bucks as an assistant to coach Larry Costello (the first ever Bucks coach). However, 18 games into the 1976-77 season, Costello was replaced by Nelson (who also became Bucks GM). After a mediocre finish, Nelson took the Buck to the playoffs in his first full season, setting the stage for a memorable run. Between 1979-80 and 1985-86, the Bucks won a division title in each season (the Midwest in 1979-80, the Central every year after that). They made the conference finals three times during that span, as Nelson created innovative offense schemes, including using SF Paul Pressey as a 'point forward' to bring up the ball on the break. By the time he left the team in 1987, he had amassed seven seasons with over fifty wins (1981-87).

In 1988, Nelson resurfaced in Golden State as coach/vice president of the Warriors, who had won just one playoff series between 1978 and 1988. Nelson guided the Warriors to the playoffs four times between 1989 and 1994, winning two playoff series and getting 50 or more wins twice. Nelson also won the Coach of the Year award in 1992 (the third time he won the award; 1983 and 1985 were the other years) as his high-octane offense was driven by stars Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin (know collectively as Run TMC). However, Nelson resigned early in the 1994-95 season (45 games) after a dispute with Chris Webber. A year later, he was hired by the New York Knicks, but only 59 games into the 1995-96 season, he was fired despite a 34-25 record because of philosophical differences and his reported desire to trade star C Patrick Ewing to clear room to sign free agent-to be Shaquille O'Neal.

Nelson proved he wasn't done with the NBA, however, when he became GM of the Dallas Mavericks in 1996-97. In his first year as a GM alone, his trades helped the Mavericks make history as the team that used the most players in a season. Early in the 1997-98 season, he replaced Jim Cleamons as coach, and after a rough start, Nelson led Dallas to their first playoff berth since 1990 in 2001, upsetting the Utah Jazz in the first round. Nelson guided Dallas to four straight fifty win seasons (2001-04) before resigning late in the 2004-05 season. After a one-year hiatus, Nelson returned to Golden State for a dramatic encore. Nelson led the Warriors to their first playoff berth in 13 years in 2007, and in one of the greatest upsets in NBA history, took the 8th seeded Warriors to a six game upset of his former team, the Mavericks, who had won 67 games that season. Overall, Nelson ranks second in career wins (behind Lenny Wilkens) with 1,285, and has eighteen playoff berths and 75 playoff wins.

Season-by-Season Statistical Review (Player):
1962-63: 62 GP, 6.8 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 1.2 APG, 44.0 FG%, 72.9 FT%
1963-64: 80 GP, 5.2 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 1.0 APG, 41.8 FG%, 74.1 FT%
1964-65: 39 GP, 2.4 PPG, 1.9 RPG, 0.6 APG, 42.4 FG%, 76.9 FT%
1965-66: 75 GP, 10.2 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 1.1 APG, 43.9 FG%, 68.4 FT%
1966-67: 79 GP, 7.5 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 0.8 APG, 44.6 FG%, 74.2 FT%
1967-68: 82 GP, 10.0 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 1.3 APG, 49.4 FG%, 72.8 FT%
1968-69: 82 GP, 11.6 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 1.1 APG, 48.5 FG%, 77.6 FT%
1969-70: 82 GP, 15.4 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 1.8 APG, 50.1 FG%, 77.5 FT%
1970-71: 82 GP, 13.9 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 1.9 APG, 46.8 FG%, 74.4 FT%
1971-72: 82 GP, 13.8 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 2.3 APG, 48.0 FG%, 78.8 FT%
1972-73: 72 GP, 10.8 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 1.4 APG, 47.6 FG%, 84.6 FT%
1973-74: 82 GP, 11.5 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 2.0 APG, 50.8 FG%, 78.8 FT%
1974-75: 79 GP, 14.0 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 2.3 APG, 53.9 FG%, 82.7 FT%
1975-76: 75 GP, 6.4 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 1.0 APG, 46.2 FG%, 78.9 FT%

Season-by-Season Statistical Review (Coach):
1976-77 Milwaukee: 27 Wins, 37 Losses (did not make playoffs)
1977-78 Milwaukee: 44 Wins, 38 Losses (5-4, lost conf. semifinals)
1978-79 Milwaukee: 38 Wins, 44 Losses (did not make playoffs)
1979-80 Milwaukee: 49 Wins, 33 Losses (3-4, lost conf. semifinals)
1980-81 Milwaukee: 60 Wins, 22 Losses (3-4, lost conf. semifinals)
1981-82 Milwaukee: 55 Wins, 27 Losses (2-4, lost conf. semifinals)
1982-83 Milwaukee: 51 Wins, 31 Losses (5-4, lost conf. finals)
1983-84 Milwaukee: 50 Wins, 32 Losses (8-8, lost conf. finals)
1984-85 Milwaukee: 59 Wins, 23 Losses (3-5, lost conf. semifinals)
1985-86 Milwaukee: 57 Wins, 25 Losses (7-7, lost conf. finals)
1986-87 Milwaukee: 50 Wins, 32 Losses (6-6, lost conf. semifinals)
1988-89 Golden State: 43 Wins, 39 Losses (4-4, lost conf. semifinals)
1989-90 Golden State: 37 Wins, 45 Losses (did not make playoffs)
1990-91 Golden State: 44 Wins, 38 Losses (4-5, lost conf. semifinals)
1991-92 Golden State: 55 Wins, 27 Losses (1-3, lost conf. 1st round)
1992-93 Golden State: 34 Wins, 48 Losses (did not make playoffs)
1993-94 Golden State: 50 Wins, 32 Losses (0-3, lost conf. 1st round)
1994-95 Golden State: 14 Wins, 31 Losses (resigned after 45 games)
1995-96 New York: 34 Wins, 25 Losses (fired after 59 games)
1997-98 Dallas: 16 Wins, 50 Losses (did not make playoffs)
1998-99 Dallas: 19 Wins, 31 Losses (did not make playoffs)
1999-2000 Dallas: 40 Wins, 42 Losses (did not make playoffs)
2000-01 Dallas: 53 Wins, 29 Losses (4-6, lost conf. semifinals)
2001-02 Dallas: 57 Wins, 25 Losses (4-4, lost conf. semifinals)
2002-03 Dallas: 60 Wins, 22 Losses (10-10, lost conf. finals)
2003-04 Dallas: 52 Wins, 30 Losses (1-4, lost conf. 1st round)
2004-05 Dallas: 42 Wins, 22 Losses (resigned after 64 games)
2006-07 Golden State: 42 Wins, 40 Losses (5-6, lost conf. semfinals)
2007-08 Golden State: 48 Wins, 34 Losses (did not make playoffs)
2008-09 Golden State: 29 Wins, 53 Losses (did not make playoffs)