The NBA Betting Public Is Going To Miss Nellie Ball

Don Nelson has been released by the new owners of the Golden State Warriors, and while this move doesn’t impact the championship scene in the 2010-11 NBA season, it does have a disastrous effect on those of us that loved betting Golden State’s TOTALS in NBA betting. Firing the most winningest coach in NBA history seems like a dumb move for the NBA moron, but Nelson also had zero championship titles. At 70-years old, with health complications, it’s hard to imagine Nelson taking the big chair on any other team.

My favorite Nellie moment wasn’t as coach; it was when he was playing for the 1969 Boston Celtics. Nellie hit the game winner from the foul line during open play, and hit the heel of the rim with time winding away. The ball bounced straight up in to the air, and fell through the basket giving Boston the championship victory.

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A lot of us forget that Don Nelson was an integral role player on the Boston Celtics from 1966-1976, where he won five NBA championship alongside Larry Bird and Bill Russell.

That’s because the latter years of his coaching career have been a bit of a mess. The Warriors finished with a record of 103-143 (41.8 percent) SU in the last three NBA betting seasons, but nobody really cared because they play in the Western Conference and had an patchwork assembly of players that sometimes worked, and often times didn’t.

Still they were insanely fun when it all clicked.

What we did like is the fact that Golden State could score so many points under the offensively-focused schemes of Nellie Ball that they went 47-34-1 ATS while chasing huge TOTALS. With Keith Smart – a relative unknown in the NBA coaching carousel – I have no idea how the Warriors are going to do as a regular season bet.

The future of this team is going to be built on a smaller roster that will focus around Stephen Curry, who has had a terrific summer with Team USA, and the newly acquired David Lee who is a solid workhorse underneath the rim. It’s hard to say whether or not Monta Ellis will be on the team as the Warriors continue to silently shop his 4-year contract, with $44 million ($11 million per) remaining, around the league.

The only thing I know for certain is that nobody in their right mind should be gambling on Golden State’s +10000 (yep – that’s four zeroes) NBA betting odds to win the NBA championship.

Don Nelson was one of the most innovative and creative offensive coaches in the league, and while he never won an NBA title, he was always a coach that could take lemons and turn them in to a scoring machine (didn’t see that analogy coming did you?). While I doubt that many in the Bay area will be missing Nellie Ball, the NBA betting public will.

Rest in peace, Nellie Ball. You made me, and the NBA betting public, a lot of money over the years.

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