Lenny Wilkens' Remarkable Legacy as Player, Player-Coach, and Coach
Lenny Wilkens, the only person who earned recognition as both one of the NBA's 50 greatest players and one of the NBA's 10 greatest coaches, passed away yesterday at the age of 88. He coached the Seattle SuperSonics to the 1979 NBA title, and he ranks third all-time on the NBA's regular season wins list with 1332, trailing only Gregg Popovich (1390) and Don Nelson (1335). Wilkens became the all-time wins leader in 1994 after he surpassed Red Auerbach, who had held the record (938) since the 1960s. Wilkens was the NBA's all-time wins leader from 1994-2010, when Nelson broke his record. Wilkens won the NBA's Coach of the Year award in 1994, and he finished in the top five in seven other seasons (1971-72, 1978-80, 1989, 1992). He led five different franchises to at least one playoff appearance (Seattle, Cleveland, Atlanta, Toronto, New York), winning at least 50 games in a season nine times with three different teams (Seattle, Cleveland, Atlanta).
Wilkens' coaching career was so long and successful that it is easy to forget how great he was as a player. He excelled at Providence, twice leading the Friars to the NIT during an era when the NIT was much more prestigious than it is now. Wilkens won the 1960 NIT MVP even though Providence lost to Bradley in the championship game. The St. Louis Hawks selected him sixth overall in the 1960 NBA Draft. As a rookie, Wilkens ranked fourth on the team in scoring (11.7 ppg) and fifth in assists (2.8 apg) as the Hawks reached the NBA Finals for the second year in a row and third time in four seasons. The Celtics defeated the Hawks 4-1 to claim their third straight NBA title en route to winning a record eight consecutive NBA championships and 11 championships in Bill Russell's 13 season career.
Wilkens averaged 18.2 ppg and 5.8 apg in his second season, but military service limited him to playing in just 20 games. In 1962-63, his third NBA season, Wilkens earned the first of three straight All-Star selections. Wilkens also made the All-Star team as a Hawk in 1967 and 1968, when he finished second in regular season MVP voting behind Wilt Chamberlain despite not making the All-NBA Team, which featured Oscar Robertson and Dave Bing on the First Team with Jerry West and Hal Greer earning Second Team honors.
On October 12, 1968, the Hawks traded Wilkens to Seattle for Walt Hazzard. Wilkens made the All-Star team in each of his first three seasons with Seattle while ranking second in the league in assists in 1969 (674; league rankings were then determined by totals and not averages, but he also ranked second with 8.2 apg). He led the league in assists in 1970 (683, with a 9.1 apg average that was nearly a full assist per game ahead of Walt Frazier). Wilkens ranked second in assists in 1971 (9.2 apg), the first season when rankings were determined by averages and not totals. He won the 1971 NBA All-Star Game MVP after scoring a game-high 21 points on 8-11 field goal shooting while leading the Western Conference to a 108-107 win over the Eastern Conference back when the All-Star Game was competitive. Wilkens ranked second in the league in assists in 1972 with a career-high 9.6 apg.
Wilkens began his coaching career by serving as Seattle's player-coach from 1970-72. The SuperSonics, a 1967-68 expansion team, won 30 games before acquiring Wilkens, and then won 36, 38, and 47 games during his three seasons as player-coach. Prior to the 1972-73 season, Seattle traded Wilkens and Barry Clemens to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Butch Beard. Seattle plummeted to 26 wins after Tom Nissalke and then Bucky Buckwalter replaced Wilkens as coach.
In his first season with Cleveland, Wilkens earned his ninth and final All-Star selection while averaging 20.5 ppg (the third best scoring average of his career) and 8.4 apg (again ranking second in the league). He also served as a great mentor for Austin Carr, who told me, "Lenny was very instrumental in me becoming a better guard. I was more of a shooting machine when I was in college. I had to learn how to conserve my energy because I had to play a lot of minutes. At the same time, I had to learn how to get the other four guys involved, because I was so used to everything coming to me. Lenny taught me a lot about how to make passes. I had a problem making backdoor passes and Lenny taught me how to do that and when to do it--little things like if I am going to pass the ball but don't quite have the angle, always pass the ball at the guy's head or at his ear, because he has to react to that. That gives you just enough time to get the pass through. I learned those kinds of little things from Lenny that really helped me throughout the rest of my career. Once I started having injuries, I had to start using my mind to stay successful because I lost a step. Once you lose a step in this game, you are in trouble."
Portland acquired Wilkens' rights prior to the 1974-75 season, and he finished his playing career as a player-coach for one year in Portland, averaging 6.5 ppg and 3.6 apg while guiding the squad to a 38-44 record, the best in the franchise's five year history up to that point. Rookie Bill Walton, who would later lead Portland to the 1977 NBA title, played in just 35 games. The 37 year old Wilkens retired as a player and spent one more year as Portland's coach, leading the Trail Blazers to a 37-45 record in 1975-76.
Seattle started the 1977-78 season 5-17 before hiring Wilkens to replace Coach Bob Hopkins. Wilkens led Seattle to a 42-18 record the rest of the way, and the SuperSonics reached the NBA Finals for the first time before losing 4-3 to the Washington Bullets in the NBA Finals. In 1978-79, Wilkens led Seattle to the best record in the Western Conference (52-30) and the second best overall record, trailing only the defending champion Bullets (54-28). In the first NBA Finals rematch since L.A.-New York in 1973, the SuperSonics defeated the Bullets 4-1. Dennis Johnson won the 1979 NBA Finals MVP, while Gus Williams scored a series-high 29.0 ppg on .500 field goal shooting. Williams scored at least 30 points in three of the five Finals games, including a series-high 36 in Seattle's 114-112 game four win.
Jack Sikma played a key role for those strong Seattle teams. I interviewed Wilkens during the 2008 NBA All-Star weekend, and he described Sikma's impact: "Jack never shied away. He stepped up. That is why we drafted him. We felt that he was a guy who could contribute and who would be consistent and when I took over as the coach of the Sonics I started him. He had been coming off of the bench. He made free throws at crucial times and was always in the game. When you have success early in your career it makes you that much more confident."
Paul Silas, who had previously been a key player for Boston's championship teams in 1974 and 1976, provided defense, rebounding, and veteran savvy for Seattle. Wilkens told me how important Silas was for young Sikma's development: "Paul was aggressive and he could play. Any time that I thought that another veteran team was trying to take advantage of Jack, I'd insert Paul. He was a wise veteran; he knew what to do and how to do it. That helped give Jack a reprieve, a chance to catch his breath before he had to go back in the game. In practice, Paul would go against Jack. I would match them up because I wanted Jack to learn from one of the best. Paul was huge in that respect."
Wilkens coached Seattle until the end of the 1984-85 season, and then he moved back to Cleveland, where he had enjoyed success as a player late in his career. Wilkens coached the Cavaliers from 1986-1993, highlighted by 57 win seasons in 1988-89 and 1991-92. In the latter season, the Cavaliers reached the Eastern Conference Finals for just the second time in franchise history before falling 4-2 to the Chicago Bulls, who then won the second of their sixth NBA titles in the 1990s. Brad Daugherty made the All-Star team five times with Wilkens coaching him in Cleveland, and Mark Price earned three All-Star selections plus three All-NBA Team selections during those years (Price earned his final All-Star selection and final All-NBA Team selection in 1993-94 after Mike Fratello replaced Wilkens).
Wilkens coached the Atlanta Hawks to a 57-25 record in 1993-94, tied with the New York Knicks for first in the Eastern Conference and tied with the 1986-87 Hawks for the best regular season record in franchise history; that mark stood until the 2014-15 Hawks went 60-22. Wilkens led the Hawks to the second round of the playoffs four times in seven years after the Hawks advanced that far just three times in the previous 13 seasons.
Wilkens' coaching career concluded with two playoff appearances in three seasons in Toronto, and one playoff berth in two seasons in New York.
In addition to his NBA coaching career, Wilkens was an assistant coach for Chuck Daly with the legendary Olympic gold medal winning 1992 Dream Team, and he was the head coach for Team USA’s 1996 gold medal winning squad.
Wilkens is one of five people inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player (1989) and as a coach (1998); the others on this special list are John Wooden (1960, 1973), Bill Sharman (1976, 2004), Tommy Heinsohn (1986, 2015), and Bill Russell (1975, 2021). Other honors that Wilkens received include being inducted in the FIBA Hall of Fame, the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, the College Basketball Hall of Fame, and the Providence Hall of Fame. He also appears on the Cleveland Cavaliers' Wall of Honor.
After hearing that Wilkens passed away, Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said, "I ended up following [Wilkens] as president [of the National Basketball Coaches Association]. He did a lot of things to further the profession; the pension, benefits, coaching salaries rose significantly during his time. He was a great representative to the league office, advocating for coaches and the things that coaches experience that a lot of people didn't know about. Lenny was a great communicator with things like that. The thing that I'll always remember, he was such a great gentleman, and such an eloquent human being, along with being a super competitive coach. He is still way up there in all-time victories. Very, very special man. He'll be missed, but he'll be remembered."
There have been greater players than Wilkens, and greater coaches, but no one matches Wilkens' combined resumes as both an elite player and an elite coach. As Carlisle noted, Wilkens had a very positive impact on the sport because of the effective way that he communicated with players, fellow coaches, and the league office.
Labels: Atlanta Hawks, Brad Daugherty, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dennis Johnson, Gus Williams, Jack Sikma, Lenny Wilkens, Mark Price, Paul Silas, Portland Trail Blazers, Seattle Supersonics, St. Louis Hawks
posted by David Friedman @ 2:36 PM
