Lenny Wilkens

Leonard Randolph Wilkens (born October 28, 1937) is an American former basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been inducted three times into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, first in 1989 as a player, as a coach in 1998, and in 2010 as part of the 1992 United States Olympic "Dream Team," for which he was an assistant coach. He is also a 2006 inductee into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.

Lenny Wilkens
Wilkens in 1968
Personal information
Born (1937-10-28) October 28, 1937
Brooklyn, New York
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Listed weight180 lb (82 kg)
Career information
High schoolBoys (Brooklyn, New York)
CollegeProvidence (1957–1960)
NBA draft1960 / Round: 1 / Pick: 6th overall
Selected by the St. Louis Hawks
Playing career1960–1975
PositionPoint guard
Number32, 15, 14, 19, 17
Coaching career1969–2005
Career history
As player:
19601968St. Louis Hawks
19681972Seattle SuperSonics
19721974Cleveland Cavaliers
1974–1975Portland Trail Blazers
As coach:
1969–1972Seattle SuperSonics
1974–1976Portland Trail Blazers
19771985Seattle SuperSonics
19861993Cleveland Cavaliers
19932000Atlanta Hawks
20002003Toronto Raptors
20042005New York Knicks
Career highlights and awards
As player:

As coach:

Career playing statistics
Points17,772 (16.5 ppg)
Rebounds5,030 (4.7 rpg)
Assists7,211 (6.7 apg)
Stats  at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Career coaching record
NBA1332–1155 (.536)
Basketball Hall of Fame as player
Basketball Hall of Fame as coach
College Basketball Hall of Fame
Inducted in 2006

Wilkens was a combined 13-time NBA All-Star as a player (nine times) and as a head coach (four times), was the 1993 NBA Coach of the Year, won the 1979 NBA championship as the head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics, and an Olympic gold medal as the head coach of the 1996 U.S. men's basketball team.

During the 1994–95 season, Wilkens set the record for most coaching wins in NBA history, a record he held when he retired with 1,332 victories. Wilkens is now third on the list behind Gregg Popovich and Don Nelson, who broke it in 2010. He won the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award for the 2010–11 NBA season.[1] Wilkens is also the most prolific coach in NBA history, at 2,487 regular season games, 89 more games than Nelson, and over 400 more than any other coach, and has more losses than any other coach in NBA history, at 1,155.

Early life

Wilkens grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.[2] His father was African American and his mother was Irish American.[3] Wilkens was raised in the Catholic faith.[3]

At Boys High School, Wilkens was a basketball teammate of longtime Major League Baseball star Tommy Davis.

Playing career

Wilkens was a two-time All-American (1959 and 1960) at Providence College. He led the team to their first NIT appearance in 1959, and to the NIT finals in 1960. When he graduated, Wilkens was, with 1,193 points, the second-ranked scorer in Friar history (he has since dropped to 20th as of 2005). In 1996, Wilkens' No. 14 jersey was retired by the college, the first alumnus to receive such an honor. In honor of his collegiate accomplishments, Wilkens was one of the inaugural inductees into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

Wilkens was drafted sixth overall by the St. Louis Hawks in the 1960 NBA draft. He began his career with eight seasons with the St. Louis Hawks, who lost the finals to the Boston Celtics in his rookie season. The Hawks made the playoffs consistently with Wilkens but never again reached the finals. Wilkens placed second to Wilt Chamberlain in the 1967–1968 MVP balloting, his last with the Hawks.

Wilkens was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics for Walt Hazzard and spent four seasons there. He averaged 22.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 8.2 assists per game in his first season for the SuperSonics, and was an All-Star in three of his seasons for them. He was named head coach in his second season with the team. Although the SuperSonics did not reach the playoffs while Wilkens simultaneously coached and started at point guard, their record improved each season and they won 47 games during the 1971–72 NBA season. Wilkens was dealt to the Cleveland Cavaliers before the start of the next season in a highly unpopular trade, and the SuperSonics fell to 26-56 without his leadership on the court.[4]

Wilkens ended his career spending two seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers (19721974) and one with the Portland Trail Blazers (1974–1975).

Wilkens scored 17,772 points during the regular season, was a nine-time NBA All-Star, and was named the 1971 NBA All-Star Game MVP in 1971. With Seattle, he led the league in assists in the 1969–70 season, and at the time of his retirement was the NBA's second all-time leader in that category, behind only Oscar Robertson.

Coaching career

From 1969 to 1972 with Seattle, and in his one season as a player with Portland, he was a player-coach. He retired from playing in 1975 and was the full-time coach of the Trail Blazers for one more season. After a season off from coaching, he again became coach of the SuperSonics when he replaced Bob Hopkins who was fired 22 games into the 1977–78 season after a dismal 5-17 start. The SuperSonics won 11 of their first 12 games under Wilkens and made the playoffs in back-to-back years, losing in seven games to the Washington Bullets in the 1978 NBA Finals before returning to the 1979 NBA Finals and defeating the Washington Bullets in five games for their first and only NBA title.

He coached in Seattle for eight seasons (19771985), winning his (and Seattle's) only NBA championship in 1979. He would go on to coach Cleveland (19861993), Atlanta (19932000), Toronto (20002003) and New York (2004–05).

The Hall of Famer was named head coach of the New York Knicks on January 15, 2004. After the Knicks' slow start to the 2004–05 season, Wilkens resigned from the team on January 22, 2005.

Awards and honors

Later years

On November 29, 2006 he was hired as vice chairman of the Seattle SuperSonics' ownership group,[6] and was later named the Sonics' President of Basketball Operations on April 27, 2007.[7] On July 6, 2007 Wilkens resigned from the Sonics organization. Wilkens currently is seen on Northwest FSN Studio as a College Hoops analyst and occasionally appears on College Hoops Northwest at game nights. He is the founder of the Lenny Wilkens Foundation for Children[8] and lives in Medina, Washington.[9]

Quotes

  • "I learned my basketball on the playgrounds of Brooklyn. Today, being a playground player is an insult. It means all you want to do is go one-on-one, it means your fundamentals stink and you don't understand the game. But the playgrounds I knew were tremendous training grounds."
  • "Show people how to have success and then you can push their expectations up."[10]

Head coaching record

Legend
Regular season G Games coached W Games won L Games lost W–L % Win–loss %
Playoffs PG Playoff games PW Playoff wins PL Playoff losses PW–L % Playoff win–loss %
Team Year G W L W–L% Finish PG PW PL PW–L% Result
Seattle 1969–70 823646.4395th in Western Missed playoffs
Seattle 1970–71 823844.4634th in Pacific Missed playoffs
Seattle 1971–72 824735.5733rd in Pacific Missed playoffs
Portland 1974–75 823844.4633rd in Pacific Missed playoffs
Portland 1975–76 823745.4515th in Pacific Missed playoffs
Seattle 1977–78 604218.7003rd in Pacific22139.591 Lost in NBA Finals
Seattle 1978–79 825230.6341st in Pacific17125.706 Won NBA Championship
Seattle 1979–80 825626.6832nd in Pacific1578.467 Lost in Conf. Finals
Seattle 1980–81 823448.4156th in Pacific Missed playoffs
Seattle 1981–82 825230.6342nd in Pacific835.375 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
Seattle 1982–83 824834.5853rd in Pacific202.000 Lost in First Round
Seattle 1983–84 824240.5123rd in Pacific523.400 Lost in First Round
Seattle 1984–85 823151.3785th in Pacific Missed playoffs
Cleveland 1986–87 823151.3784th in Central Missed playoffs
Cleveland 1987–88 824240.5124th in Central523.400 Lost in First Round
Cleveland 1988–89 825725.6952nd in Central523.400 Lost in First Round
Cleveland 1989–90 824240.5124th in Central523.400 Lost in First Round
Cleveland 1990–91 823349.4026th in Central Missed playoffs
Cleveland 1991–92 825725.6952nd in Central1798.529 Lost in Conf. Finals
Cleveland 1992–93 825428.6592nd in Central936.333 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
Atlanta 1993–94 825725.6951st in Central1156.455 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
Atlanta 1994–95 824240.5125th in Central303.000 Lost in First Round
Atlanta 1995–96 824636.5614th in Central1046.400 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
Atlanta 1996–97 825626.6832nd in Central1046.400 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
Atlanta 1997–98 825032.6104th in Central413.250 Lost in First Round
Atlanta 1998–99 503119.6202nd in Central936.333 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
Atlanta 1999–2000 822854.3417th in Central Missed playoffs
Toronto 2000–01 824735.5732nd in Central1266.500 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
Toronto 2001–02 824240.5123rd in Central523.400 Lost in First Round
Toronto 2002–03 822458.2937th in Central Missed playoffs
New York 2003–04 422319.5483rd in Atlantic404.000 Lost in First Round
New York 2004–05 391722.436(resigned)
Career 2,4871,3321,155.5361788098.449

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
 *  Led the league

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1960–61 St. Louis 7425.3.425.7134.52.811.7
1961–62 St. Louis 2043.5.385.7646.65.818.2
1962–63 St. Louis 7534.3.399.6965.45.111.8
1963–64 St. Louis 7832.4.413.7404.34.612.0
1964–65 St. Louis 7836.6.414.7464.75.516.5
1965–66 St. Louis 6939.0.431.7934.76.218.0
1966–67 St. Louis 7838.1.432.7875.35.717.4
1967–68 St. Louis 8238.6.438.7685.38.320.0
1968–69 Seattle 8242.2.440.7706.28.222.4
1969–70 Seattle 7537.4.420.7885.09.1*17.8
1970–71 Seattle 7137.2.419.8034.59.219.8
1971–72 Seattle 8037.4.466.7744.29.618.0
1972–73 Cleveland 7539.6.449.8284.68.420.5
1973–74 Cleveland 7433.6.465.8013.77.11.30.216.4
1974–75 Portland 6517.9.439.7681.83.61.20.16.5
Career 1,07735.3.432.7744.76.71.30.216.5
All-Star 9320.2.400.7812.42.99.4

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1961 St. Louis 1236.4.380.7596.03.514.2
1963 St. Louis 1136.4.370.7556.36.313.7
1964 St. Louis 1234.4.448.7595.05.314.3
1965 St. Louis 436.8.351.8283.03.816.0
1966 St. Louis 1039.1.399.6875.47.017.1
1967 St. Louis 942.0.400.8567.67.221.4
1968 St. Louis 639.5.440.7506.37.816.1
Career 6437.5.399.7695.85.816.1

See also

References

  1. Wilkens presented Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award | NBA.com Archived July 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  2. Beck, Howard. "PRO BASKETBALL; Wilkens Denies He Was Asked to Go", The New York Times, September 28, 2005. Accessed November 20, 2007. "A native of Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, Wilkens had added motivation to succeed in New York, which made leaving so quickly that much tougher."
  3. Smith, Gary (December 5, 1994). "He Has Overcome". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved July 31, 2008.
  4. Gastineau, Mark; Thiel, Art; Rudman, Steve (2009). The Great Book of Seattle Sports Lists. United States: Running Press. pp. 261–262. ISBN 9780762435227.
  5. "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
  6. Evans, Jayda (December 1, 2006). "Wilkens a Sonic again – as vice chairman". The Seattle Times.
  7. "SONICS: Lenny Wilkens Confirmed as President of Basketball Operations". Archived from the original on May 17, 2007. Retrieved May 19, 2007.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 19, 2012. Retrieved April 25, 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. Sports | Where are they now? Championship Sonics remain near and far between | Seattle Times Newspaper Retrieved December 12, 2018.
  10. "Lenny Wilkens Interview (page: 6 / 7)". Academy of Achievement. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
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