Don Nelson’s influence on basketball cannot be measured simply by the number of games he won.

The Hall of Fame coach became one of the NBA’s great innovators, challenging conventional ideas about positions and how teams should attack opponents.

His teams helped popularize smaller, faster lineups and created difficult matchup problems for traditional big men.

Ahead of his time

Basketball has changed dramatically since Nelson began coaching.

Today, teams routinely use lineups where players can handle the ball, shoot from outside and defend multiple positions.

Nelson was already exploring many of those concepts during his coaching career.

That does not mean every idea worked perfectly.

But innovation rarely comes from copying what everyone else is doing.

A five-time champion as a player

Nelson also had an exceptional playing career.

He won five championships with Boston before becoming a coach, giving him an understanding of championship basketball from inside the locker room.

His passing marks the end of an important era in NBA history.

The modern league may look very different from the one Nelson coached, but many of his ideas remain visible on today’s courts.