Golden State Warriors Examiner
Even if Don Nelson doesn't care about catching Wilkens, he's going to
need another year to do it
http://www.examiner.com/x-441-Golden-State-Warriors-Examiner~y2008m8d20-Don-Nelson-cares-or-not-about-catching-Lenny-Wilkens-hes-going-to-need-another-year-to-do
POSTED August 20, 2:56 PM
Matt Steinmetz


Don Nelson has said repeatedly over the past couple of years that
becoming the NBA’s all-time winningest coach is not important to him.

We’ll see.

Nelson heads into the 2008-09 season ranked second on the coaching
victory list with 1,280, a mere 53 wins shy of overtaking Lenny
Wilkens, the current all-time winningest coach.

But any way you slice it, Nelson is going to need two years -- or at
best a season and change -- to pass Wilkens. In other words, even if
the Warriors do make an unexpected playoff appearance this year,
they’re not going to win more than 50 games doing it.

The thing is, though, Nelson has only one more year remaining on his
contract. And don't forget, he was talking retirement after the
2006-07 playoff-run season.

Nelson is either going to have to walk away and pack it in a dozen or
so wins short of Wilkens' mark or figure out the best way to go about
getting a coaching contract for the following year.

The Warriors’ front office, of course, could just lock Nelson up for
the 2009-10 season, but somehow it’s tough to see Nelson asking for
that year and it’s tough to see the Warriors agreeing. Not right now,
anyway.

One of Nelson’s biggest pieces of leverage over the past few years has
been that he’s financially secure enough to NOT have to work. With
Nelson, there’s always the lingering thought that he could head off to
Maui and call it a career at any moment.

But the closer he gets to Wilkens' 1,332, the harder it's going to be
for Nelson to do that.