Don Nelson: Fantasy Owner's Dream Coach

After a long holdout, Don Nelson has finally decided to return to the Golden State Warriors. Nellie took the upstart Warriors and turned them into the Cinderella story of last season by thoroughly dismantling the #1 seeded Dallas Mavericks. Of course, revenge couldn't have been sweeter for Nelson, who has a lingering feud with Mavs owner Mark Cuban over money that Nelson claims the Mavs owe him.

One would have assumed that after such success with the Warriors last season Nelson's resigning would have been a sure thing, but Nellie is nothing if not stubborn. This stubbornness caused the negotiation of his contract to drag on all summer, and while Warrior fans may lament Nelson's unwillingness to budge, it is this very same trait that had them cheering on their team into the second round of the playoffs.

Don Nelson has long been known for using unconventional strategies and sticking to them in spite of the nay sayers. This is the man who invented the Hack a Shaq strategy (although he originally used it on Dennis Rodman, and before that a similar strategy was used by others on Wilt Chamberlain). He also played "Nellie Ball", or going with small, quick, skilled lineups before it was the "in" thing to do. Nelson favors a free flowing offense that maximizes fast breaks and three point shooting, while gambling on defense by using a variety of zones and traps in order to make up for the lack of size in the post.

Essentially, it's video game style basketball at it's finest. Sure, the Suns are currently the kings of the run and run style, but give Nellie a team loaded with Nash, Marion, Bell, Diaw, Stoudemire, etc and you would see similar (if not better) results.

So what does all of this mean for fantasy basketball? Well, it makes Nellie and the Warriors one of the best teams for fantasy owners to draft players from. Their quick style means more possessions, and more possessions mean more opportunities to pile up the stats. Plus the small ball style he uses means that relatively small players wind up with additional eligibilities, like Al Harrington did with the Center spot in most leagues last year.

Nellie's offense also seems to bring the best out of players, as Monta Ellis, Matt Barnes, and Andris Biedrins had career years last season, while Stephen Jackson saw a big resurgence after he was traded to Golden State. Thanks to Nellie ball, the Warriors have a whopping 5 players who will be solid fantasy contributors (Baron, Monta, Jackson, Harrington, Biedrins) plus an additional 3 players who can be considered sleeper prospects (Barnes, Brandon Wright, Marco Bellinelli). By my count that's more than any other team in the league, which makes Don Nelson a fantasy owner's dream coach. So here's to you Nellie, enjoy your hammock in Hawaii for a few more weeks, then get those Warriors ready to run again.

-unpossibl1

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