NBA Coach of the Year Award
Don Nelson has accumulated 1,335 regular season victories. His 1,410 total wins, regular season and playoffs combined, trails only Gregg Popovich (1,480 wins) and Lenny Wilkens (1,412 wins). Nelson has won the NBA Coach of the Year Award three times: He won the award in 1983 and 1985 with the Bucks, and in 1992 with the Warriors. In 2012, Nelson earned induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame. However, 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 more talented 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 were coached by Popovich, and led by Tim Duncan.