Welcome back to Keeping Score, our Friday column that highlights the personalities, teams and games that sports fans are talking about — by the numbers.
7: Basketball Hall of Famers drafted or acquired by Don Nelson
One of the most influential NBA coaches and executives ever, Don Nelson died this week at age 86. As a player, Nelson won five NBA championships and his No. 19 hangs in the Boston Garden rafters, and as a coach his 1,335 victories is behind only Gregg Popovich's 1,390. His "Nellie Ball" style of play — inspired by Red Auerbach's Celtics practices — prioritized smaller and more athletic players and was the progenitor of the "small ball” style that changed the NBA. For his part, Nelson always insisted that he only played “Nellie Ball” by necessity: "When you have bad teams, you’ve got to be creative to win games you’re not supposed to win.” But his most lasting legacy may be as a GM, where he proved to have an unmatched eye for transcendental NBA talent. He drafted Hall of Famers Sidney Moncrief, Šarūnas Marčiulionis, Mitch Richmond and Tim Hardaway, and acquired on or near draft night Hall of Famers Chris Webber and Dirk Nowitzki. He also traded for a young Steve Nash (Hall of Fame class of 2018) and encouraged the Warriors to draft Steph Curry with the seventh pick in 2009, though he was the Warriors coach and not the GM at the time. And he won his retirement, too, moving to Maui, where he liked to golf, play poker with actor Owen Wilson, and grow marijuana. RIP, Nellie.
4: Days after playing in the World Cup that French forward Michael Olise appeared sockless in an NYC pickup game
The Bayern Munich superstar had just set the record for assists at a single World Cup for France when he joined a pickup game at Manhattan's Gansevoort Peninsula Athletic Field in checkered pants, an orange T-shirt and no shoes, and gave some amateurs the experience of a lifetime. Something special happens when these French athletes get to New York. In 2024, San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembenyama played chess with fans in Washington Square Park.
18: Bottles of red wine that Open Champion Ryan Fox drank out of the Claret Jug
The winner of the Open Championship gets to keep the Claret Jug for a year, and many champions put the trophy to its proper use.
