When Don Nelson questioned the Warriors' 3-point-heavy offense in 2014: "You don't want to be that kind of team"

NBA purists scoffed at the Golden State Warriors’ 3-point-heavy approach when their rise began in 2014-15. But the most surprising critique came from someone who helped pioneer pace and space himself — their former head coach, Don Nelson.

Nelson, a two-time Coach of the Year and one of the early architects of small-ball, thought the Warriors were taking their philosophy a bit too far.

“I love the Warriors team, I really do. But they take way too many 3s,” Nelson told Tim Kawakami of The Mercury News. “I don’t know what’s going on. They pass up even 90 percent little runners to kick it out and shoot 3s, and it kicks them in the butt so many times… When you pass too much, when you’re too unselfish, then you’re going to commit turnovers. Just take the shot that’s there.”

Nellie voiced his criticism one season before the Warriors’ championship run in 2015, and he was mostly right. Golden State did not lead the league in 3-point attempts that season, but they were in sixth behind the Houston Rockets, Atlanta Hawks, Portland Trail Blazers, Phoenix Suns and the New York Knicks.

The team also ended up in the bottom tenth in turnovers per game, which was a direct result of their constant 3-point hunting.

However, the Warriors sharpened their offensive philosophy after that season. They still had a knack for turning the ball over, but they finished the last four months of 2014-15 hitting over 40 percent from deep. In fact, as a team, Golden State connected on a 41.2 percent clip from the 3-point area in April at over 27 attempts per game!

The Warriors proved everyone, including Nelson, wrong

Nelson’s historic teams, such as the iconic “Run TMC” and the “We Believe” Warriors, were perennial fan favorites because of their fun, fast-paced brand of basketball. Yet, critics thought they couldn’t win it all because they relied on the outside shot too much and often lacked the size to compete down low.

The same doubts later trailed the Warriors’ ascent. Basketball legend and “Inside the NBA’ co-host Charles Barkley was probably the most vocal one.

“They’ve had a terrific season, but I don’t like jump-shooting teams,”declared Sir Charles. “I don’t think you can make enough jumpers to win four series in a row. I’ve said that for 25 years, not just now. I think you physically manhandle them inside.”

Barkley would later change his tune, but that’s because Dub Nation showed it could be done. From 2015 to 2019, the Warriors captured three championships with a motion offense built around elite shooters. Instead of relying on post-ups, they used constant movement to create open looks. And when that didn’t work, they simply let Kevin Durant take over.

Instead of being manhandled, as Barkley predicted, the Warriors were doing the manhandling, only in a different form.

Nelson’s vision came full circle

Nelson might have questioned the Warriors’ approach, but in many ways, they were the living proof of his basketball ideals. The emphasis on spacing and using speed to create mismatches all came straight out of his old playbook.

Many back then thought of Nellie’s style as a gimmick, but it became a championship formula perfected by the Warriors. That offensive style took a new turn when Steve Kerr took over Mark Jackson, building an entire system out of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. He encouraged the Splash Brothers to fire at will, while Nelson pulled his teams back on that end.

For all of Nelson’s concerns, the Warriors showed that his vision worked. They just had the right players — and coach — to finish what he started.

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Oct 26, 2025, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

When Don Nelson questioned the Warriors’ 3-point-heavy offense in 2014: “You don’t want to be that kind of team”

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