There are singular characters in NBA history, those who define an era from the background, escaping the unheralded norm of just being a GM or a coach, and instead becoming a show in and of themselves.
While it's worth giving credit for how Gregg Popovich or Jerry West did that as coaches and GMs of dynastic eras, no one was better at it than Don Nelson, who passed away today at 86.
Nelson was the visionary head coach who saw the vision with Stephen Curry when he was head coach. Just before retiring, Nelson instructed the Golden State Warriors to draft the Davidson guard, anticipating his three-point shooting off the dribble as a league-altering weapon.
The rest is history.
However, that is not the only move that Nelson made that can still be felt in today's basketball. It is hundreds, at the very least, made over his 31 years in basketball.
Here's where you can see it on the Indiana Pacers.
Visionary for forwards with vision
This may be the move that is least attributed to Donnie, but the concept of a power forward only exists because of his move to push Paul Pressley to have more on-ball responsibility. The Pacers have Nelson to thank for their leading scorer.
Pascal Siakam may just be the player most affected by Nelson's moves. From the international scoring that brought Siakam over to NC State to the playstyle he now excels in, it all comes from a move Nelson made before Pascal was even born.
It's funny to put so much credit on Don, especially considering he'd likely hate to hear it, but he deserves every bit of it.
Pascal's driving and playmaking, Tyrese Haliburton's shooting and heliocentrism, and Jay Huff's shooting (even if it feels ridiculous to highlight a player of his level here) are all innovations brought directly from Nelson systems.
He was infinitely adaptable, opinionated to an extreme, and lived basketball.
He was the definition of a trendsetter.
Maybe it is Huff's placement in that list that is the biggest compliment. Stars will be great in any era. While Nelson can take the credit for bringing Dirk Nowitzki to the States, it's likely that he would've become a star wherever he went.
However, in carving out new archetypes for a whole position group, Nelson proved that he shaped not just individual players but whole ecosystems of talent.
A coach with personal experience
The Pacers' own coach, Rick Carlisle, spent multiple years alongside Nelson in Dallas, where the two won a title as a coach - GM duo. Carlisle posed with his former boss when he returned to the Finals in 2024.
While the two disagreed on basketball, there was a great deal of respect there. Carlisle implemented the very strategies that Nelson had thought of decades earlier and added a few of his own.
The Pacers system does not exist without that relationship, that shared vision for how basketball should be played. It's fast, it's fluid, and it ignores labels. It defines players as what they can do and what the team needs, instead of what a clipboard says.
They are both pioneers in their own right, but one was clearly the mentor. Now, the old man, Carlisle, will likely be thanking Nelson for the rest of his career.
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