From drafting Dirk Nowitzki to inventing "Hack-a-Shaq," the innovative Hall of Famer transformed a struggling franchise into a champion through his brilliant, eccentric, and fearless basketball mind. Long-time Mavs beat writer Richie Whitt reflects ...
Long-time Dallas Mavs beat writer and guest columnist Richie Whitt (find him on Substack) reflects on his memories of the late, great "Nellie'' ....
DALLAS - If you think Jimmy Johnson deserves credit for all three Dallas Cowboys’ Super Bowls in the ’90s, then you should also be sad that the man who built the Mavericks’ only NBA Championship in 2011 passed away over the weekend.
Jimmy drafted Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith and orchestrated the Herschel Walker trade. Don Nelson discovered, drafted and developed Dirk Nowitzki.
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Nellie died peacefully at an assisted living facility in Frisco on Sunday at age 86.
He won five rings playing for the Boston Celtics. He was voted NBA Coach of the Year three times, is second on the all-time wins list behind only Gregg Popovich, and is in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
But the Nellie I’ll remember and cherish is not for what he did, but rather how he did it. He was creative. He was innovative. He was … Nellie.
They were the Mav-wrecks when he arrived in February 1997. Jim Cleamons was the pathetic head coach. Ross Perot real-estate henchman Frank Zaccanelli was running things, and was just two months removed from the disastrous trade of Jason Kidd. Just 10 months after taking over as GM, Nellie named himself coach. In his second draft he nabbed Nowitzki, the relatively unknown 19-year-old German. He retired in 2005, turning the team he built over to Avery Johnson. When the Mavs finally won their title in 2011, Nellie’s fingerprints were all over it in the name of Dirk’s NBA Finals MVP.
During his time in Dallas,, Nellie invented “Hack-a-Shaq” in an attempt to force Shaquille O’Neal to make pressure free throws. He showed up for games wearing a red clown nose, and striped prison garb after a league suspension. He publicly and privately jousted with owner Mark Cuban. He didn’t shy away when a daughter he unknowingly fathered 30 years before showed up out of the blue.
His creativity didn’t always work, but it was usually entertaining. Right, 1999 draft pick Wang ZhiZhi?
I was the Mavs beat writer for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 1997 and was in Vancouver the night of Feb. 17 when Nellie trade five players for Shawn Bradley. He’d been on the job for like a week. I called him for an explanation.
“This guy is amazing,” Nellie said of Bradley. “He’s 7-foot-6 and is a great athlete. Have you seen him water ski?”
Even legends shoot airballs.
Don Nelson the genuine man was even better than Nellie the genius coach. My 3 favorite personal memories:
CUTE ON CANCER
In 2000 the Mavs revealed Nellie had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Before that revelation, I was scheduled to go to his house and write a warm-’n-fuzzy story about Christmas and family with his wife, Joy, and son, Donnie.
Gulp. Considering his medical situation, the tenor of the interview certainly changed. I tentatively rang the doorbell.
“Get your ass in here,” Nellie joked. “After dealing with you for a couple hours cancer’s gonna be a fucking walk in the park.”
DRAFTING DIRK
It is June 23, 1998 and I am scrambling to find out who Nellie was going to draft. I was at Hooter’s in Dallas’ West End having lunch with a friend, and decided to call him.
Me: “Do you know who you guys are taking?”
Nellie: “Where are you?”
Me: “Um … Hooters.”
Nellie: “Give me 10 minutes. I’ll come tell you.”
Sure enough, he walks in, sits down, orders wings and beer. Again, the NBA Draft is only about 24 hours away.
Nellie signs autographs. He poses for photos. He starts diagramming plays on a napkin with my buddy, who at the time was a high-school girls’ basketball coach.
As he got up to leave, I pressed one more time.
“You said you’d tell me,” I reminded/begged, “who are y’all drafting?”
Momentarily slowing his stride toward the door, Nellie says “We’re drafting the big guy. Write it.”
Ah-HAH! One of the players Dallas had shown interest in was Michigan power forward Robert Traylor. He was 6-foot-8 and almost 300 pounds. He earned the nickname “Tractor Traylor” because he was, well, big.
My story in the FWS-T predicted the Mavs would draft Traylor. And I was right.
Sorta.
After indeed taking Traylor with the No. 6 pick, they traded him to the Milwaukee Bucks for Nowitzki.
At a press conference the next day, Nellie pulled me aside. “I told you,” he said with a smile. “Dirk’s a 7-footer. Big guy, right?”
WISH COME TRUE
In July 2012 I decided to open my heart and wallet and give the gift of a Make-A-Wish. My kid was an 11-year-old boy named Jackson, who had both a life-threatening disease and a dream to go to Hawaii. Oh, and he was also a big Mavs fan.
With an assist from Nellie, done and done.
(Listen to my interview with Jackson and his experience with Nellie HERE.)
I called Nellie for some help, and he knocked it out of the park. Jackson got a behind-the-scenes tour of American Airlines Center, primo tickets to a game, and a jersey autographed by his favorite player, Dirk.
But then, wait for it, Nellie then even hosted Jackson and his family in Maui, Hawaii, where he lived for years. They went on a helicopter tour, did some deep sea fishing, attended a luau and had dinner at Nellie’s famous coffee shop, complete with poker room.
They don’t make ’em like Nellie anymore.
RIP, legend.
