Mavs Head Coach Don Nelson

Don Nelson

We should have a pretty good ballclub. We had a real good training camp. Everybody came in great shape. Defense has been a point of emphasis over the first two weeks and we’re just now putting our offense in. Everybody’s bought in to the program. I have no special players that have done well, other than the ones you would expect. The veterans have been good. Raja Bell has been an outstanding player in our training camp, and everyone else has done a real good job. We look forward to the season and feel we have a real good training camp assembled.

What do you make of NBA players and incidents with guns and do you think players are bigger targets these days? (question from Lacy Banks, Chicago Sun-Times)
It seems kind of like a Chicago thing to me (laughter). I don’t know. I read the articles. I don’t think we have anyone that packs, but I don’t know. I would hope that it’s registered if they do. I don’t see any reason why somebody 6-8 and 250 pounds should need a gun, but some guys feel that they do.

Can you talk about how Shawn Bradley has performed so far during the preseason?
We were real disappointed last year. He just didn’t ever get down to business. I just couldn’t play him. Every time I would try to get his confidence up, the numbers would go the other way on the floor. He had just signed his new contract. We were very disappointed in him, and I let him know that. But this year, he’s done everything right. He worked out all summer. He was on a program in which he went to the gym every day and never took a day off. It really shows. He’s in really good shape, as good as I’ve ever seen. There’s a limit to what he can be, but I think he’s going to max out his skill this year. That’s going to make him a decent center and he’ll be on the floor. So we’re very pleased with him.

You were on the end of that last Celtics run, how did Red Auerbach keep the team motivated?
He gave the same speech every time we won a title: What have you done for me lately? Forget the past, this is a new year and we’re going to do it again.

How do you make your team believe they can overcome a team like the Lakers?
Talk is real cheap as far as believing goes. You have to beat the team to gain confidence. I don’t really talk too much about that, beating teams that are better than us. I think you have to do it during the regular season, you’ve got to do it consistently and once you do that, the guys feel themselves that they can do the job.

Can you talk about the addition of Popeye Jones?
Well, he’s had a sprained ankle and has been out, but we really liked him the first week of training camp. I think he’s going to be a back-up player for us at the four position. We like him very much there. One thing he does is play really good position defense. He picks up charges and he’s a good rebounder and those are the areas we’re trying to improve in. We see that he’ll be a back-up player probably at the four spot.

What was the intention with Michael Redd?
We signed him to an offer sheet because we think he’s a good player. We didn’t know that Milwaukee was going to step up and match. I thought it was a good signing. We didn’t overpay him. We signed to a reasonable contract, one in which I think Milwaukee would admit is not a bad contract. It’s just that they were capped. We didn’t pay him more than we though the was worth. We signed him to a fair contract, and I think it cost us the player doing it that way, but that’s the way we wanted to do it.