The first two picks in the NBA Draft that year were. 1 at the time. A five-time All-Star during those six seasons, Wilkens had his finest campaign in 1967-68, averaging 20.0 ppg and 8.3 apg and finishing runner-up to Wilt Chamberlain for the NBA Most Valuable Player Award. Among his coaching trophies are a 1979 NBA championship with the Seattle SuperSonics and a 1994 NBA Coach of the Year Award with the Atlanta Hawks. On the day the trade was announced, 200 Sonics ticket holders signed a petition that stated unequivocally, "If Lenny goes, I stay home.". In those 20 games he averaged 18.2 ppg and 5.8 apg. He is pictured here taking part in a youth clinic during the 2012 USA Men’s National Team training camp. But the season ended in familiar frustration. Located in Springfield, Massachusetts, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting, preserving and celebrating the game of basketball at every level. As a player, Wilkens was diminutive in stature, but his list of accomplishments made him one of the giants of the game. When he retired in 1975, Wilkens ranked second on the NBA all-time assist list with 7,211 assists.
"After a while, we had started to do more things within the league, with trapping and double-teaming, becoming more sophisticated. Nearly 200,000 people visit the Hall of Fame museum each year to learn about the game, experience the interactive exhibits and test their skills on the Jerry Colangelo "Court of Dreams." As Wilkens remembered in the Boston Globe almost 25 years later, "We went around and around. "When I started coaching, all of us looked at Red and thought his record was something that would stand forever. Everyone always said I was like a coach on the floor, anyway.". On January 6, 1995, in his 22nd NBA season as a head coach, Wilkens became the winningest coach in NBA history, notching his 939th coaching victory to surpass Boston Celtics legend Red Auerbach's 938. After one year in the front office Wilkens was lured back to the bench by the Cleveland Cavaliers, who hired him as head coach for the 1986-87 season. In 1971 he was named the All-Star Game Most Valuable Player. Even then he wasn't sure he wanted to play in the NBA. "He's poised, calm and patient, always under control, accepting the good and the bad equally," Ramsay told the Miami Herald in 1993. But this time he knew that his on-the-job training as a guard was no substitute for his role as teacher, which demanded a great deal more of his time. Get the latest Hall of Fame basketball player news and be notified when new player profiles and posts are added to the site. "I realized I would have to start focusing more on the coaching end of things to be successful at it," he told HOOP. After winning 54 regular-season games Cleveland was bumped from the playoffs by the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls for the fourth time in six years. In 1985, following a 31-51 campaign, he relinquished the coaching duties and became the team's vice president and general manager. He contributed 15.7 points per game as a junior, helping Providence to the National Invitation Tournament semifinals. At first the disillusioned Wilkens refused to join the team, and when he finally did Cleveland already owned an 0-6 record. In 1996, he coached the United States to another gold medal in Atlanta. He has been inducted into the Hall of Fame in Springfield three times: as a player, as a coach, and as a member (assistant coach) of the iconic 1992 Olympic Dream Team. Wilkens' formula has succeeded beyond even his dreams. Lenny Wilkens’s age is 82. Copyright © 2020 NBA Media Ventures, LLC. Lenny Wilkens has earned the highest recognition in the game of basketball. As a player, Wilkens was a southpaw, play-making guard who could also score the ball. ", Nissalke had a long-term vision for the team, and that vision did not include Wilkens, who at age 35 would be the oldest starting point guard in the NBA. The Hawks, featuring a stifling defense led by Mutombo and Blaylock, improved by 10 games to 56-26 in 1996-97 to finish second behind Chicago in the Central Division. He was enshrined in the Hall of Fame as a coach in 1998 but continued to coach through the 2002-03 season. As a player, Wilkens was a southpaw, play-making guard who could also score the ball.

The Hawks missed the playoffs in 1962 for the only time in the eight years that Wilkens spent with the team. Also receive our alphabetical and induction year Basketball Hall of Fame checklists immediately. He has been inducted into the Hall of Fame in Springfield three times: as a player, as a coach, and as a member (assistant coach) of the iconic 1992 Olympic Dream Team. There was an error submitting your subscription. The Cavaliers were entering their third season in the NBA and had averaged only 19 wins in their first two campaigns. Lenny was an NBA All-Star in nine of his fifteen seasons in the league. 2 spot with 869 wins, only 69 behind Red Auerbach. During his NBA career, Wilkens averaged 16.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 6.7 assists per game. He logged three 50-win seasons, including a franchise-record 57 victories in 1988-89 and 1991-92, and reached the conference finals in 1992. He trailed only Major League Baseball's Connie Mack (53 years) and John McGraw (33) and the National Football League's George Halas (40), Curly Lambeau (33) and Don Shula (33) for the longest tenure as a head coach in a major professional sports league. But 22 games into the 1977-78 season, with the Sonics at 5-17 under Bob Hopkins, Wilkens moved into the head coaching role. The Basketball Hall of Fame All-America Team, The Mannie Jackson - Basketball Human Spirit Award(s), BHOF Golf Classic at Monarch Beach Golf Links, The Morgan Wootten Lifetime Achievement Award, The John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award, Glenn Roberts and The Genesis of The Jump Shot, Wayland Baptist Flying Queens of 1948-1982, Basketball Hall of Fame Golf Classic at Monarch Beach Golf Links Hosted by Jerry West, MGM Springfield Hall of Fame Golf Classic, 2016 Karl Malone Award Watch List Narrowed to Ten Finalists, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Names Steiner Sports as Licensing Agent, Schedule and Match-Ups Announced for Boca Raton Beach Classic. At 6-foot-1 and 180-pounds, Wilkens was considered small by basketball standards, yet he made most All-America teams as a senior in 1960. These accomplishments and others often overshadow his equally impressive feats as a player. After a Hall of Fame career as one of the great playmakers in basketball history, Lenny Wilkens turned to coaching and led his teams to more wins than any other coach in NBA history when retired (Don Nelson surpassed Wilkins in 2010). And when I turned them around, all of a sudden everyone said, 'Well, we all knew they had the talent.'". It's nice to be there, for however long. Wilkens reached another milestone on March 1, 1996 when his Hawks defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 74-68, making him the first coach in NBA history to record 1,000 regular season NBA victories. Wilkens had the uncanny court sense to serve as a player and coach simultaneously, logging three seasons with Seattle and one with Portland before moving on to concentrate solely on coaching. Wilkens is the only person to be named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History and one of the Top 10 Coaches in NBA History. Privacy Policy | Accessibility and Closed Caption | Terms of Use | Do Not Sell My Personal Information. "I've always believed you need balance," he explained to the Boston Globe. Although Wilkens only began playing high school basketball his senior year, the quietly determined player still earned a scholarship to Providence College. The Basketball Hall of Fame makes no representation concerning, and is not responsible for the quality, content, accessibility, nature or reliability of any hyperlinked site. By his third year the Sonics had posted a 47-35 record to go over the .500 mark for the first time in franchise history. And they continued to build in Wilkens' defensive mold by signing free agent center Dikembe Mutombo, the NBA's shotblocking king, in the summer of 1996. The 1992-93 campaign was one of chart-climbing for Wilkens. Only one guy can be at the top. "It's not that I don't want a star -- I'll always take a star -- but even if you have a star, it's important to surround him with the right kind of complementary players.". The expansion Sonics were entering their second season in 1968-69, and Wilkens helped them to a respectable 30-52 record by averaging 22.4 ppg and 8.2 apg. When the clock gets down to five or six seconds, he'll go to one of the basics -- one-on-one, pick and roll, pass-and-cut. "I still remember when I took over that team," Wilkens recalled in 1994. In his first year as player-coach, Wilkens described the dual job as "a novelty." He was also a first-team selection to two All-America squads. The Hawks, who had finished 43-39 the previous season, set a team record for scoring defense (96.2 points allowed per game) behind a stifling backcourt of Mookie Blaylock and Stacey Augmon. He didn't see his first NBA game until after he had been drafted. A nine-time All-Star, Lenny Wilkens ranked second on the NBA career assist list (7,211) when he retired in 1975. He honed his skills instead in various Catholic Youth Organization leagues. He continued to shine as a player, leading the league in total assists in both 1969-70 and 1971-72. Tommy Davis, a close friend from their Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood who would eventually star for the Los Angeles Dodgers, encouraged his buddy to try out for the high school team during his senior year. A playmaker isn't a guy who simply runs patterns for you. The nine-time All-Star was also the MVP of the 1971 midseason classic in San Diego. As a senior in 1959-60, he led the school to the NIT championship game against Bradley. With more victories than any other coach in NBA history, Lenny Wilkens is one of the premier basketball figures of all time.

He scored 11.7 points per game as a rookie, fourth on the team behind Bob Pettit, Cliff Hagan and Clyde Lovellette.