83 Lenny Wilkens
|
Most know Lenny Wilkens as the winningest coach in NBA history, but many fail to realize that he was also a hall-of-fame basketball player who is the first person to be inducted into the hall-of-fame as a player and a coach.
Wilkens attended Providence university where he was a two time all-American and lead the Friars to two NIT appearances including the 1960 NIT finals. In his three years at Providence he was never a scorer averaging just 15 points a game but did get over 7 rebounds a game as a guard.
The St Louis Hawks drafted Wilkens with the 6th pick in the 1960 NBA draft. Wilkens made an immediate impact on the Hawks becoming their starting point guard and averaging 12 points 4 rebounds and 3 assists per game.
|  |
Wilkens missed most of his second season with injuries appearing in just 20 games but came back his third year to make the all-star team with averages of 12 points. 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Wilkens would make 9 all-star teams in his career.
The Hawks seen mild success with Wilkens, in that they routinely made the NBA playoffs but usually lost to the Lakers and never won a title. The Hawks only finals appearance was his rookie year when they lost to Boston.
Wilkens played for the Hawks for 8 years and became one of the franchises best players, but when the franchise was preparing to move from St Louis to Atlanta they parted much of their team and that included Wilkens. Wilkens was coming off his best year as a pro and a season where he finished 2nd to Wilt Chamberlain in MVP voting, but was traded to Seattle for essentially cap relief.
With the Sonics Wilkens continued to put up star numbers averaging 22 points a game his first season there. His scoring began to dip as the Sonics added more talent but in 1970 his 9 assists a game were not only a career high but a league high as well.
After for seasons with the Sonics he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers where he made one more all-star appearance in 1973. He played two season with the Cavs before finishing his career as a backup with the Portland Trailblazers.
In 1,077 career games Wilkens owns averages of 16 points 5 rebounds and 7 assists. He was a 9 time all-star and was inducted in the hall in 1989.
#82 Main index
#84
| 