Donnie Nelson was on the Mike Fisher show on Fox Sports Radio here in Dallas today and one of the first topics that came up was….Yao Ming. Fisher asked Donnie about Mark Cubans comments last month about Yao not being as good as Shawn Bradley and that Wang Zhi Zhi was better than Ming. The normally heavily opinionated Donnie Nelson became very quiet for a few moments and said that Yao should be a very productive player in this league for a long time. He never actually answered the question. Fisher then asked Donnie about Cubans comment that Ming did not have top 10 talent and should not be a top 10 pick. All Donnie would say is that any team that drafts Ming would have their hands full with the Chinese officials. When Fisher once again pressed Nelson about Yao’s talent Nelson refused to answer the question and only said that any team that drafts Yao should be prepared for tough negotiations with the Chinese officials. Nelson never would give a direct answer about Yao’s talent even though Mike Fisher asked him directly twice. The next topic of conversation was about…Donnie getting an interview with Denver about the head coaching position! Who is the general manager of the Nuggets? It’s none other than his good friend Kiki Vandewegh. Donnie confirmed that he is in serious talks about the job and said that he believes he has out lived his usefulness with the Mavs. What position do the Denver Nuggets pick? Number 5. Donnie was just a little too cautious in his attempt not to say something good about Yao Ming but definitely wanted to say something negative to try and scare potential drafters. When I heard that Donnie was the next probable coach for the Nuggets it all started to make sense. Neither of the Nelsons has ever had a problem giving their opinion on a players talent until now. As a matter of fact both are both notoriously out spoken as well as known liars during draft season but they have never been known to hold back an opinion. I am convinced that Donnie believes in Yao’s talent and would love nothing more than for Yao to fall to number 5 so he and Kiki could draft him for Denver. The plot thickens.
Not going to happen, Yao will be the next big thing in Houston this time next year as he solidifies our front court. Of course they believe in his talent he is a fairly mobile 7'5" Center with a shooting touch and unbelievable marketing ability. McDyess and Fodder won't cut it. Take Butler and be happy with it, Yao's ours.
He's tall and talented and that's a good combination to being successful in the NBA," said Mavericks assistant coach Donn Nelson. "He reminds me a lot of Rik Smits." Interesting to see what Donnie had to say in Feb 2002. Like Jery West he has gotten more negative on Yao after he lost the draft.donnie