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Don Nelson has a unique perspective on the recent Warriors race.
The Basketball Hall of Fame was the sixth man in the Boston Celtics from 1965-1966, and his appearance in the NBA finals that season was their tenth row in a row. The Celtics were the last team to qualify (at least) to five consecutive finals, until the Warriors join them by completing the Portland Trail Blazers West Conference final on Monday night. Of course, Nelson also coached the Warriors for two stints, successfully pushing the team to designate the future MVP Stephen Curry at the end of his second round in 2009.
So, how does he think these Warriors compare to these Celtics? In an interview, he told Mark Medina of Bay Area News Group that he saw some key differences.
On the one hand, even though many consider the Curry as the straw that powers the glass of the Warriors, Nelson does not think the Warriors' leadership comes from one person. The Celtics dynasty was centered on the legendary Bill Russell Center, whose leadership exploits rivaled his dominance on the field. Instead, Nelson sees "strength in numbers" more than just a marketing slogan.
"But all the hard core members are great leaders in their own way," Nelson told Medina. "They are all leaders and nobody is the leader. It's really like they do it. If you can have more than one guy as a leader and be as selfless as these guys, it's really easy.
There is also the nature in which the respective lists were constructed. Nelson signed with the Celtics after being cut by the Los Angeles Lakers rival, but unrestricted free will did not exist at that time in the NBA. All but three of the fourteen players to compete for the Celtics in 1965-1966 were recruited or acquired during a transaction with another team (one player was sold Warriors to the Celtics).
In contrast, nine of the 17 players to equip for the Warriors this season have signed as free agents.
"You have to remember one thing," Nelson said in Medina. "We had no free will when Boston ran, but these guys did it with the free agency over there.In Boston, you can not leave. 39, team forever, so it's amazing, it's a great story, I've never heard such a story ever since.
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Nelson won a title with this Celtics team, and if the Warriors want to follow in their footsteps, he thinks the key to success is the health of Kevin Durant and DeMarcus Cousins.
"Without Durant in training and Cousins in training, they will struggle to beat one or the other team to the east," Nelson said in Medina. "It will not be easy, hopefully they will be back, they will need all the weapons they have.
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