Thursday, 21 November 2024

Lenny Wilkens

Contest: The US Athletic Hall of Fame - Coaches 2024
Embed from Getty Images
Sport(s): Basketball
Statistics: 1 NBA Championship (1979)
1 NBA Coach of the Year Award (1994)
2 Olympic Gold Medal (1996) (1992 as an assistant)
1,332-1,165 NBA Record
Member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame

*9 All-Star Games (1964, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971 & 1973)
*1 NBA Assists Title (1970)
*Named to the NBA 50th Anniversary Team
*Number Retired by the Seattle SuperSonics

*As a player
Lenny Wilkens is not just inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach. He is also enshrined as a player and as an assistant coach on the 1992 Olympic Dream Team.

A nine-time NBA All-Star, Wilkens coaching began when he was still a player with the Seattle SuperSonics in 1969. Seattle was a new team and not very good, but Wilkens gained valuable coaching experience in the three years he was there. Wilkens was again a player/coach for another relatively and struggling team, the Portland Trail Blazers, for two years. Experience is one thing, but Wilkens never tasted the playoffs as a coach, but that would change when he returned to Seattle in 1977, but this time only in a suit and tie.

Wilkens took Seattle to the finals in both 1978 and 1979, and in the second appearance, he brought the SuperSonics their first championship. This turned out to be Wilkens's only title, but he had a long and prosperous coaching career. He had another 50-win year with Seattle in 1981-82, and he also generated three 50-win campaigns for Cleveland and three for Atlanta. Wilkens also coached the Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks and took both of those teams to the playoffs.

Wilkens has won the most games (1,332) of any head coach in the history of the NBA.

We are proud to nominate Lenny Wilkens for the United States Athletic Hall of Fame.

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