One of 5 to be voted into the Hall of Fame as both a player and coach. He won gold in Atlanta ’96 as coach of the USA
Mourning in the NBA: Lenny Wilkens, one of the five (John Wooden, Bill Sharman, Tom Heinsohn and Bill Russell the others) voted into the Hall of Fame both as a player and as a coach, has died at the age of 88. Remembered as one of the best point guards of his era, Wilkens later collected 2,487 benches as a coach in the NBA, a record that is still unbeaten. He was long the most successful ever, with 1332 hits, before being surpassed by Don Nelson (1335) and Gregg Popovich (1400). He was also Larry Brown’s assistant in the Dream Team at the 1992 Games. At Atlanta 1996 he won gold as coach.
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“Lenny Wilkens represented the best of the NBA: as a player, as a coach and as one of the game’s most respected ambassadors – said NBA commissioner Adam Silver – So much so that, four years ago, he received the unique honor of being named one of the 75 greatest players and 15 greatest coaches in the history of the league.” Wilkens was a nine-time All Star as a player (including MVP once), winning assists in the 1969-70 season. He was the first to reach 1000 victories as a coach. In 1979 he led the Seattle SuperSonics to the NBA title, remaining an icon of the city for the rest of his life.