Golden State coach Don Nelson made a surprising announcement on Friday when he named assistant Keith Smart the team's "defensive coordinator".

Some believe that the move could be an effort by Nelson to ease the franchise into another coach.

"I've decided to identify one of my weaknesses at this point in my life, which is I'm not tough enough anymore," said Nelson. "I'm a little soft as I get older, and I feel like I haven't done a very good job defensively this year. ... They will be handling all of the defensive training, the game plans defensively and, during the game, the switching of situations. They're in charge of the defense now."