Kevin Mackey Had a Keen Eye for Basketball Talent
Kevin Mackey, who epitomized the phrase "basketball lifer," passed away on Tuesday at the age of 79. He made his mark at the high school, college, and professional levels as a coach, and as a scout with a keen eye for basketball talent. Mackey had a self-induced downfall at the height of his coaching career, and then he bounced back to finish his career as part of the basketball community at the NBA level by working as a scout for the Indiana Pacers. He was inducted in the American Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024.
I told Mackey's story in detail in my January 2007 Basketball Times article titled Catching Up With...Kevin Mackey, but it is worth retelling the highlights here so that younger fans can appreciate the impact that he had on the game as a whole and on many specific players who he coached or scouted.
Mackey led Don Bosco Technical High School (Boston) to the 1976 Massachusetts state title plus three consecutive Class A Catholic championships before serving as an assistant coach at Boston College from 1977-83. Mackey earned a reputation as a top recruiter, and several of the players who he brought to Boston College later played in the NBA, including Michael Adams, John Bagley, John Garris and Jay Murphy. One of his top prospects was future NBA player Manute Bol, who Mackey attempted to bring to Cleveland State.
Mackey served as Cleveland State's head coach from 1983-90, posting a 142-69 record with back to back Mid-Continent Conference regular season titles (1985-86) and two NIT appearances. His teams employed a "run and stun" full court pressure defense adapted from what he learned while coaching under Tom Davis at Boston College. Some of these concepts were later borrowed by well-known coaches such as Rick Pitino and Jerry Tarkanian. The highlight for Mackey at Cleveland State was the team's Cinderella run in the 1986 NCAA Tournament, when the Vikings upset the Bobby Knight-coached 3rd seeded Indiana Hoosiers and then beat 6th seeded St. Joseph's before losing 71-70 to Navy (featuring Hall of Fame center David Robinson) in the Sweet 16. That was the first time a 14th seeded team reached the Sweet 16. Cleveland State used the proceeds from that NCAA Tournament run to build what is now known as the Wolstein Center, and in 1990 the school signed Mackey to a two year $300,000 contract. Unfortunately, midnight struck for Mackey and the Cinderella Vikings when Mackey was caught driving under the influence after leaving a Cleveland crackhouse.
Mackey admitted that he had been an alcoholic for many years, and that he had begun using cocaine shortly after the 1986 NCAA Tournament. He immediately went into drug rehabilitation, requesting that Cleveland State grant him a leave of absence to complete the 60 day program. The school president stated "I fired Kevin Mackey, but really he fired himself." Mackey completed the drug rehab program run by John Lucas--a former number one overall draft pick whose NBA playing career was ruined because of his drug addiction--and then Lucas helped him get a job coaching minor league basketball. Mackey spent 13 years coaching in a veritable alphabet soup of leagues in addition to coaching in Argentina, Canada and Korea. He won four championships, including three straight USBL titles. During that time, he coached 35 players who later played in the NBA, including Darrell Armstrong, Michael Curry and Adrian Griffin, who played on the Dallas Mavericks team that made it to the 2006 NBA Finals.
After Larry Bird became president of the Indiana Pacers, Mackey was the first person he hired. Mackey worked for the Pacers as a scout for 18 years before retiring in 2021. Mackey was gracious enough to provide a lot of time for me as my primary source for "A Scout's-Eye View of the Game," which is still one of my favorite articles that I have written. I had long wanted to have the opportunity to learn about--and share with my readers--how elite basketball talent evaluators do their job, and I would say that the insights that Mackey provided nearly 20 years ago are still relevant today. I will never forget Mackey's concise, colorful descriptions of players he scouted, including one who "has hands like feet" and another who he dismissed as "JAG" (just another guy). Although intelligent use of statistics is part of talent evaluation, the value of the educated eye should not be minimized--and Mackey's basketball eye was as educated as anyone's.
In 2007, Mackey shared with me his all-time NBA team:
1st Team
Center: Wilt Chamberlain
Power Forward: Bill Russell
Small Forward: Larry Bird
Guard: Magic Johnson
Guard: Michael Jordan
2nd Team
Center: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Power Forward: Shaquille O'Neal
Small Forward: Julius Erving
Guard: Jerry West
Guard: Oscar Robertson
Mackey said that if he could expand the roster to 11 then he would include Elgin Baylor. Mackey selected Red Auerbach as his coach, with Phil Jackson as the assistant coach (back in the day, teams did not have an armada of assistant coaches).
Speaking with Mackey and watching games alongside him is one of the highlights of my basketball writing career. I felt like we were kindred spirits because of our mutual love of basketball; we connected despite our differences in age and life experiences.
Mackey lived a life with no regrets; after I asked him if he thought about what he might have accomplished had he been able to coach longer at Cleveland State, Mackey replied, "I think that regret can be a cancer. I'd rather do a good job with
today. We had a great run—it was too short--at Cleveland State and that
was a great, wonderful part of my career. College-age coaching was a
wonderful opportunity and we had terrific success." However, he admitted that he missed coaching and that if he ever had an opportunity to coach again then he would take it.
That opportunity never presented itself, so I am picturing Kevin Mackey in basketball heaven now, coaching the "run and stun" and recruiting players who do not have "hands like feet."
Labels: Boston College, Cleveland State, Indiana Pacers, Kevin Mackey
posted by David Friedman @ 3:17 AM
Remembering Michael Ray Richardson, Who Excelled at Both Ends of the Court
Four-time NBA All-Star Michael Ray Richardson* passed away today at the age of 70, not long after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. He led the NBA in assists (10.1 apg) in just his second season (1980), and he led the league in steals three times (1980, 1983, 1985). Richardson was not a great outside shooter, but his size and quickness made him very difficult to stop when he drove to the hoop, and trapping him was ineffective because of his superior skills as a ballhandler and passer. He was also a tenacious defender who made the All-Defensive First Team in 1980 and 1981. Richardson was often called "Sugar" or "Sugar Ray," and there is no doubt that he had a sweet game.
Despite his skills and accomplishments, Richardson will forever be remembered for being banned for life by the NBA in 1986 for drug use, and for his brutally honest comment about the New York Knicks' prospects during a rough stretch: "The ship be sinking" Richardson said, adding "The sky's the limit" after he was asked how far it could go.
The Knicks selected Richardson fourth overall in the 1978 NBA Draft after he averaged 24.2 ppg and 6.9 apg as a senior at Montana. He averaged 6.5 ppg and 3.0 apg in limited playing time as a rookie before blossoming into one of the league's top point guards in his second season, averaging 15.3 ppg and 6.6 rpg along with leading the league in assists (10.1 apg) and steals (3.2 spg). In 1980-81, the Knicks went 50-32 and reached the playoffs for the first time since 1978 as Richardson contributed 16.4 ppg, 7.9 apg (fourth in the league) 6.9 rpg, and 2.9 spg (second in the league). The Knicks slumped to 33-49 in 1981-82, prompting Richardson's famous assessment of their dismal prospects. Richardson averaged 17.9 ppg, 7.0 apg (10th in the league), 6.9 rpg, and 2.6 spg (third in the league) that season while playing in all 82 games.
On October 22, 1982, the Knicks shipped Richardson and a 1984 fifth round draft pick to Golden State for Bernard King, who later became one of the most beloved players in Knicks' history. Richardson played just 33 games for Golden State before the Warriors traded him to the New Jersey Nets for Sleepy Floyd and Mickey Johnson.
Drug addiction and stints in drug rehabilitation limited Richardson to 48 regular season games in 1983-84, but when the playoffs rolled around he was in peak form; perhaps the highlight of Richardson's career is when he led the Nets to a shocking first round upset of the defending champion Philadelphia 76ers, a powerful squad featuring Hall of Famers Moses Malone, Julius Erving, Maurice Cheeks, and Bobby Jones. After the Nets stunned the 76ers 116-101 in Philadelphia in game one, 76ers coach Billy Cunningham declared, "There
is not really a lot I can say. They outplayed us in every phase of the
game." Cunningham lamented his team's defensive breakdowns: "Michael Ray
Richardson was doing things to us that we don't let Magic Johnson do." The Nets won game two 116-102 as Richardson scored a game-high 32 points, passed for a game-high nine
assists, grabbed seven rebounds and swiped four steals. He shot 12-23
from the field, including 3-7 from three point range. The 76ers rallied to win games three and four in New Jersey to set up an elimination game in Philadelphia (first round series were best of five at that time). Richardson scored a game-high 24 points and had six rebounds, six assists, and a game-high six steals as the Nets won, 101-98. Richardson averaged 20.6 ppg, 8.6 apg, 5.2 rpg, and 4.2 spg during the series while shooting .494 from the field in 42.4 mpg; that was a tremendous performance, but it was the only playoff series that Richardson won during his NBA career. Richardson's numbers slipped to 13.7 ppg, 6.0 apg, and 4.7 rpg in the second round as the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Nets, 4-2.
In 1985, Richardson made the All-Star team for the first time since 1982, averaging 20.1 ppg, 8.2 apg (sixth in the league), 5.6 rpg, and 3.0 spg (first in the league). The Nets slipped from 45-37 to 42-40, but still made the playoffs. The Detroit Pistons swept the Nets 3-0. Richardson averaged 18.3 ppg, 11.3 apg, and 6.0 rpg in that series.
Richardson, who played all 82 games in three of his eight seasons and who played at least 3000 minutes in four seasons, appeared in just 47 games in the 1985-86 season before being suspended by the team for his ongoing drug abuse problem. NBA Commissioner David Stern later banned Richardson for life for repeated violations of the league's drug abuse policies.
After being banned from the NBA, Richardson cleaned up his life, and he played in European professional leagues until he was 46. He later thanked David Stern for saving his life. After Richardson finished playing, he coached the Lawton-Fort Sill Cavalry (formerly the Oklahoma City Cavalry) to two CBA titles and one Premier Basketball League title.
I met Richardson at the 2009 NBA Legends Brunch, and I told him that as a kid I rooted for the 76ers but respected how well he played in that 1984 playoff series. Richardson's career averages of 14.8 ppg, 7.0 apg (31st in ABA/NBA history), 5.5 rpg, and 2.6 spg (second in ABA/NBA history behind only Alvin Robertson) provide just a fleeting glimpse of the impact that he had at the height of his powers; at his best, he attacked the paint to score and facilitate, he played intense defense, and he rebounded like a forward. He was not a great outside shooter and he could be turnover prone, but he was a sight to behold when he drove to the hoop and when he hounded opposing players defensively. George Gervin, Isiah Thomas, and other players from that era speak in glowing terms about how well Richardson defended them.
It is unfortunate that Richardson's drug abuse shortened his NBA career, but it is great that he straightened himself out and had a productive life after his NBA playing days ended.
* For decades, his first name was spelled "Micheal" in official sources, but in his 2024 autobiography Banned his first name is spelled "Michael." I have used both spellings in the labels for this post so that it will be easier to find for anyone searching online, but in the text I used "Michael."
Labels: Golden State Warriors, Michael Ray Richardson, Micheal Ray Richardson, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks
posted by David Friedman @ 4:53 PM
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
