When Dallas' Don Nelson abruptly took over as Milwaukee Bucks head coach 18 games into the 1976-77 season, he was promoted one spot from his post as Larry Costello's assistant.

No one moved into Nelson's vacancy, so he went assistant-less for a while.

Later, he got some help from a fellow who ran the team's youth summer camps -- "He sat next to me. He didn't know what was going on," Nelson said -- and K.C. Jones, his old Celtics teammate, pitched in. Eventually Nelson was allowed to hire John Killea as his one-man staff. Years passed, and they added a second.

Now Nelson presides over the largest staff in the NBA, a crew that -- counting assorted "player development coaches" and playoff-ineligible guard Avery Johnson -- numbers 14.