Nellie Ball - Critics of Nellie Ball

Critics of Nellie Ball

Nellie Ball has a fair share of critics, who claim that the strategy is fatally flawed. Many basketball critics contend that no team can ever win a championship playing Nellie Ball, mainly because the strategy puts such an emphasis on offense and scoring that a team playing Nellie Ball will not have the energy to play defense. Nellie Ball also tends to rely very little on basketball's defensive fundamentals. In addition, these critics argue that Nelson's offense, while innovative and exciting, is only successful to a point. Skeptics contend that his offense is unable to disguise deficiencies, such as the inability of an undersized power forward or center in Nelson's system to dominate in terms of defense and rebounding. Plus, they claim that it is even more difficult to play Nellie Ball when guards are on a cold streak in terms of shooting the ball, making it difficult for teams running the offense to win basketball games. Nowhere is this more evident than during playoff time, where teams tend to get more serious and play tougher defense.

To his credit, Don Nelson has amassed a huge amount of victories by running his unique, fast-paced brand of offense. He has won the NBA Coach of the Year Award 3 times: in 1983 and 1985 with the Bucks, and in 1992 with the Warriors. Nelson is also the NBA's all-time winningest coach with 1,335 regular season victories. In 2012, Nelson earned induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame. But detractors could still point out that while his coaching record is somewhat impressive, Nelson has never coached a team to the NBA Finals, let alone won an NBA title. On more than one occasion, his teams were eliminated by superior opponents. For instance, as coach of the Bucks in the 1980s, Nelson's teams were beaten in the playoffs by either Julius Erving's Philadelphia 76ers or Larry Bird's Boston Celtics. During his coaching tenure in Dallas, the Mavericks lost twice in the playoffs to the defense-oriented San Antonio Spurs, who in turn were led by Tim Duncan. Thus, Nelson owns the rather dubious distinction of having recorded the most coaching victories without making an NBA Finals appearance.

Avery Johnson, Nelson's protégé and successor in Dallas, had abandoned Nellie Ball in favor of a more traditional offensive lineup, which had reached the 2006 NBA Finals. En route to reaching the finals, Johnson's Mavericks had defeated Mike D'Antoni's Phoenix Suns, the latter using an up-tempo style centered around former Mavs superstar and 2-time NBA MVP Steve Nash. Although the Mavericks lost to the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals that year, Johnson won the 2006 NBA Coach of the Year Award for making Dallas a better defensive team while still keeping their up-tempo style of offense.

Despite Nelson's inability to win a title using Nellie Ball, his formula was arguably successful at least once. The Miami Heat successfully used a variation of Nelson's approach ("positionless" as coined by Heat coach Erik Spoelstra) in the 2012 NBA Finals to defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder in 5 games: they used a point-forward, athleticism and small ball to create mismatches, spaced the floor for 3-point shooters, and did not use a true center. Lebron James often ran the offense and rotated with Shane Battier between the small and power forward positions, and Chris Bosh shifted from his natural power forward position to center. Battier—a constant threat from the 3-point line—forced the Thunder's Serge Ibaka to cover him the perimeter, thus neutralizing his shot-blocking at the rim and giving more room for Heat slashers like Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, and Mario Chalmers to attack the rim. This approach also created a mismatch for Chris Bosh, whose quickness and athleticism wore down on Thunder center Kendrick Perkins, forced to guard Bosh away from the basket due to Bosh's polished mid-range game. The Heat's 3-point assault came from Chalmers, Battier, and Mike Miller, who fought injuries in the decisive fifth game and shot 7-8 from 3-point range.