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NBA - Scoop Du Jour

Wed Apr 07 07:13am EDT

Don Nelson missed on coaching Celtics, Spurs

By Mark J. Miller

Don NelsonThe Golden State Warriors lost 112-94 Monday night to the Washington Wizards, keeping head coach Don Nelson one game away from being the winningest coach in NBA history. He's still tied with the 1,332 wins Lenny Wilkens racked up.

Now ESPN is reporting that Nelson missed on opportunities to coach the Boston Celtics and the San Antonio Spurs during his long coaching career.

His Milwaukee Bucks team beat the Celtics in the playoffs in 1983 and after the final game, Red Auerbach apparently asked him if he'd ever consider coaching in Boston. Nelson tells ESPN that he responded, "Red, it would be a dream come true. But the guy's been so good to me here, I really couldn't leave [Bucks owner] Jim Fitzgerald." He admits that it probably was something he should have done. K.C. Jones took the gig instead.

He also regrets an opportunity to move to the San Antonio Spurs at one point when Gregg Popovich was GM there and Nelson was dealing with Chris Webber(notes) as a problem player. "[Popovich] called me up and said, 'Can you get out of your contract and come here and be my coach?' " Nelson apparently begged to get out of his contract but was refused.

Follow Yahoo! Sports Rumors on Twitter at @markjmill.

Source: ESPN

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