R.I.P. Don Nelson aka “Nellie”. Blessed to have been there to film his last press conference with the Golden State Warriors, when PR man Raymond Ridder brought various Dubs luminaries back to Oracle Arena for the team’s last season there.
It was February 21, 2019, and Nellie, Stephen Jackson aka “Stak” and Jason Richardson aka “J-Rich” came back to reminisce on the 2007 We Believe team. J-Rich said he was going back to get his college degree and Stak was just getting All The Smoke podcast off the ground with Matt Barnes.
S/O to my friend and colleague Felicia Purcell of Sports In The Bay who prompted Nellie to give that epic answer: “Yeah, I’ve been smoking some pot.” 😂
Here are some highlights in a 90-second YouTube Short:
Full nine-minute presser. I’ve placed the entire transcript behind the paywall way below 👇
We’ve got a ton more content on our Nellie/WeBelieve playlist you should check out, too!
And a bevy of Nellie tributes from former players, teammates, and friends — too many to copy and paste here, I literally tried! — on our free-to-join Discord Knowledge Base, under the “Former Dubs” section [hyperlink only works if you are a registered member (free) of our Discord.]
A graphic my old Golden State of Mind (aka GSoM) colleague Tony “TonyPSD” Robles made back in 2007:
Tim Hardaway, Sr. said on 95.7 The Game this morning (video is on our Discord) that Nellie made the game fun. Thank you, Nellie, for that super-fun Run TMC ride. I’ll never forget my dad getting us mini-plan tickets and witnessing Mitch Richmond rack up 47 points, all on only two-pointers and free throws against Sacramento.
FULL TRANSCRIPT OF NELLIE, STAK, AND J-RICH 👇
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00:00 RAYMOND RIDDER, WARRIORS PR: All right, you got any questions, please raise your hand. We’ll bring in a microphone and get this started.
00:08 ANTHONY SLATER, THE ATHLETIC: All right.
00:12 RIDDER: All right, Anthony Slater, far side, right-hand side.
00:18 SLATER: What are you guys’ most vivid memories of that Mavericks series?
00:22 STEPHEN “STAK” JACKSON: Winning. I mean, making history. We had the blueprint from Coach to do everything we need to do and just executing and just being able to make history on a lot of people didn’t expect us to even make the playoffs. To make it and to win the first round was special. Just winning was special.
00:40 VERN GLENN, KPIX: J-Rich, this is for you. I mean, I’m looking at you guys. I believe it’s been 12 years? Holy smoke.
00:45 DON NELSON AKA “NELLIE”: I believe it.
00:45 JASON “J-RICH” RICHARDSON: And my knees believe it, too. Yeah the time, it definitely flies. Time never waits for no man. But it’s incredible always, seeing guys. I haven’t seen Coach in so long, man. It’s so good to see him. Every time we get together, it’s just a special moment.
01:15 LOGAN MURDOCK, NBC SPORTS BAY AREA: You guys, obviously, know this is the last year in Oakland and you guys have pretty much a special relationship with this city. What does it mean for you guys to see it’s the last year here and how was that with the new team? How was that connection between you guys and this city?
01:29 STAK: Well, I mean, just this is a hardworking city. This is a city that overcomes a lot of adversity, a lot of ups and downs. A lot of people here struggle and fight to make it and to make it from out of poverty and to have a better life, so our whole attitude, we had a team full of journey men. We had a team full of guys that were trying to prove myself. I think me, personally, for Coach to bring me here and to make me a captain of this team, I remember. I hold on to one of the best compliments I’ve ever got from a coach. Not only a coach, but winningest coach. Coach said that he wished he had five Stephen Jacksons on the court at one time, so not only being in the way this city embraced me, but this coach embraced me after everything I’ve been through in my career, to make me feel like a leader, make me feel like I belong in this league. All that came into play when I got here, so the city, the coach, everything, the teammates, the brotherhood, everything was a vital part of my career and the city meant a lot to me.
02:21 MURDOCK: How does it feel that it’s the last year for you?
02:25 STAK: It just feel good to come back and be a part of the last year. Like I always just tell, I’ve been on a lot of teams. I won a championship on other teams, but it’s the only organization that make me feel like family, so being able to come back and be a part of this last year in this arena, it means a lot. It means a lot to me.
02:41 MARK MEDINA, BAY AREA NEWS GROUP (SJ MERCURY): Steve Kerr was crediting you a lot for pioneering the age of small ball and fast pace, three-point shooting. How did those philosophies come about? Why were those important to you?
02:52 NELLIE: It came about because I never had a good big man. When I finally got one, he had about one leg left. That was Bob McAdoo. I only got him for a few years, but it’s easier to get smaller players and sometimes you just have it exist that way. The Warriors are playing it now the way I’ve always wanted to play and a lot of my teams played that way. When I had good big men, which wasn’t often, but then I slowed down a little bit. But when you don’t have them, well, you gotta go. And the Warriors, I love the way they play and I wish I could coach then as good as Steve does.
03:32 VERN: Yeah, touching off of that question, Nellie, yeah, again, I mean, he was saying, Steve Kerr was saying that all the teams doing everything now offensively, the small ball, the [inaudible, it all came from you. You were doing it, like, 40 years ago. And did you take it upon yourself maybe as a personal challenge? Yeah, I know you joke you didn’t have a big man, but kind of a personal challenge that you’re gonna, like a chess match, like, you’re gonna outdo the other guy by coming at you this way, coming small.
03:58 NELLIE: Well, as I was preparing for games, I’d always try to put myself in the other coach’s seat and see what would make it tough for him. And a lot of times he had to match up with me. I didn’t have to match up with him. If he had a big guy, sometimes I’d put a small forward on him. If he could guard him for short periods of time, we could double-team him, but he had to guard that small forward. He couldn’t do that either with those big guys, so, but it was kind of a plus and minus situation. And it worked for us a lot of the time.
04:27 VERN: What was the play with the whiskey? What was it called? Was it one-up? What was that? What was the play that he would —
04:32 NELLIE: We had a play called one-up.
04:33 VERN: Yeah, explain. Explain the one-up.
04:35 STAK: One-up? I can tell you because I remember it. A lot of points off that. Most of the time the we’d be — I sit on the box and the big is on the elbow. Point guard has the ball. The big come down, sets a screen on me. I come to the elbow, catch the ball, point guard cut off. I got an iso or I can go for a pick-and-roll with the point guard at the corner.
04:54 NELLIE: There weren’t a whole lot of passing after he got it.
04:58 STAK: I knew it was my play. One thing he can tell you, you better shoot when Coach call your play.
05:04 J-RICH: Yup.
05:04 STAK: You might not get it back.
05:07 BONTA HILL, 95.7 THE GAME: What do you guys make of athletes in today’s game? You know, people like Anthony Davis or Kyrie who essentially hold franchises kind of hostage by demanding their way out or saying they want to get traded to this, that. Jack and J-Rich, maybe you guys could speak to that and what today’s superstars basically are doing to their franchises.
05:24 STAK: Well, I mean, I love the fact that players have control of where they want to play, but at the same time, guys got to be professional, too. I would be the first to say these guys these days are — they’re spoiled. A lot of them are spoiled. And I was talking to one of the best, one of the Hall of Fame football coach and he said one thing he see about basketball from the outside looking in. More players today are interested in what the game can do for them. They don’t actually love the game like we did. I’m 41 years old and I still play the game every day, so — and I can see that the love of the game is not there, but I’m happy that we had a hand in for these kids to be able to get the money they’re making and the way the game is going. I’m happy that, but at the same time they gotta be professional and continue to show fans that they love the game, too, because they can. It can get away from that.
06:10 NELLIE: I’m 78 and I don’t play anymore. I will say that when I did play, which was for a long time, I think I played, like, 14 years, and you couldn’t leave a team. I mean, you were there for life.
06:26 STAK: Mm-hmm.
06:27 NELLIE: And as long as they wanted to put you on their roster, you’d have — you had nothing to do with a lot of the things that are important to players today, which is movement, money, and salaries. And so it’s way better now than it used to be, because I was in those locker rooms in the old days where you could — once you were with a team, you couldn’t leave.
06:47 FELICIA PURCELL, SPORTS IN THE BAY: Well, it’s good to see all three of you and you look really great.
06:50 STAK: Thank you.
06:50 FELICIA: I’m over here, Coach.
06:52 NELLIE: Oh, okay.
06:54 FELICIA: Can each of you talk briefly about what you’ve been doing after basketball? Coach, I know you live in Hawaii, right? So —
07:02 NELLIE: Yeah, I’ve been smoking some pot, but I never smoked when I played or coached, so I just — it’s new to me. But anyway, I’m doing that and I’m having a pretty good time. It’s more legal now than it’s ever been and so I’m enjoying that. And I personally have evolved with — in the rental business. We have a lot of — I invested my fortune in Maui and so we rent out our structures that we built and bought over the years and we make a good living.
07:34 RIDDER: And that website is?
07:35 NELLIE: Nellie’s On Maui.
07:38 STAK: Nellie’s On Maui.
07:41 FELICIA: J-Rich, what about you?
07:43 J-RICH: I’m currently playing a lot of golf. I get my golf game right. Finishing a promise to my mother, I’m back in school right now, finishing my degree in sports business and spending time with my three kids.
07:55 FELICIA: And Jack?
07:56 STAK: Me, I have a couple things going on. I’‘m involved with the cannabis line as well, with Al Harrington, called Viola. I also do sports analyst. I’m signed — I’m on with Fox and ESPN, as well. I also play in the Big3 League, Ice Cube basketball league I still play in. And I’ve shot my first movie last year, so I’m getting into movies as well.
08:17 FELICIA: So Jack, when can we expect the podcast with Matt?
08:20 STAK: Oh, yeah, me and Matt have a podcast called All The Smoke. It’ll be out next month. Thank you.
08:26 NELLIE (TO J-RICH): I’m glad you’re returning to college to get your degree.
08:30 J-RICH: Thank you.
08:30 NELLIE: You know I graduated at 71 years old? I went back —
08:32 STAK: Wow.
08:32 NELLIE: I went back when I was 71, after they fired me here. [Inaudible I went back to college and got my degree. I’m happy I did.
08:43 STAK: That’s impressive.
08:43 J-RICH, SHAKING NELLIE’S HAND: Thank you.
08:43 STAK: That’s impressive.
08:44 RIDDER: All right? All right, let’s do a quick — if you guys wanna stand, let’s do a quick photo up here. I’ll get all these chairs out of here and get this —
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