At the end — before Joe Lacob fired him — Don Nelson, the winningest coach in NBA history, was edgy, tired, burnt out. He doesn’t remember it that way, but he was.

He was back in Oakland on Tuesday in preparation for induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame on Sept.7, and he was sunny. He used to have a glow but as things flamed out in Oakland, the glow dimmed. Now he was walking through the Oakland Marriott, wearing jeans and a Warriors jacket. He had lost 30 pounds and, at 72, he looked content.

He sat at the head of a long table in a private room in the fancy restaurant, sat in front of a dozen media people he had not trusted at the end. He was smiling and telling stories. He was being Nellie. At his best, he is the person known as Nellie.

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