One thing I wanted to make clear before the post starts: I’m not against drinking, in fact I find it necessary for getting through Warriors games (joke). I just find it odd that Nellie’s drinking could be an issue and yet we only obliquely refer to it….
It’s not libelous or even improper to ask the question. There are veiled references to it everywhere—on this site, ESPN, and in the local papers. We all know that Nellie loves his scotch. Back in the day, we almost reveled in his possible alcoholism. It was amusing to watch a guy beat the No. 1 seeded playoff team, and pop open a beer in the post game.
Now, it’s not so amusing. As the losses pile up, and the Warriors start to disintegrate, the question goes begging: Does a non functional alcoholic have a huge hand in our team’s present and future? This is the elephant in the room (no Don Nelson weight jokes, please).
Just a short time ago, Nellie called KNBR from a bar, in the daytime. If that’s not remarkable, what followed was: He said he was drinking scotch, and told Ralph it was “harder than hell” to trade Stephen Jackson. I would add that, subjectively, the guy sounded sloshed. How many other teams would countenance their coach getting drunk (probably) and publicly harming a player’s trade value?
I didn’t hear a whole lot of outcry about that PR disaster, possibly because we’ve become immune to Don’s drinking. Now, after his health problem (pneumonia is a disease that disproportionately impacts alcoholics), his odd practice behavior (Mavericks jacket?), and recent lineups that boggle the mind in only bad ways Vladimir Radmanovic at center?), I wonder how much longer we dance around the issue. Nellie could be the coaching version of Robert Irsay, and we’re acting as though it’s normal for a 69 year old man to lament the loss of a drinking buddy when his star wants out.
Obviously there are many attributions for the current Warriors disaster. But this could be the most underrated one of them all. I have issues believing anyone in his right mind would start SF VladRad at the center position in an actual game. I don’t think I’m alone. In the meantime, the wrong players keep taking shots for Nellie.
This entry was posted on Saturday, December 19th, 2009 at 8:47 pm and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
