| |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Leonard Randolph Wilkens October 28, 1937 Brooklyn, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Physical stats | |
| Listed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Listed weight | 180 lbs (82 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Boys (Brooklyn, New York) |
| College | Providence (1957–1960) |
| NBA Draft | 1960 / Round: 1 / Pick: 6th overall |
| Selected by the St. Louis Hawks | |
| Playing career | 1960–1975 (15 years) |
| Position | Guard |
| Career history | |
| As player: | |
| 1960–1968 | St. Louis Hawks |
| 1968–1972 | Seattle SuperSonics |
| 1972–1974 | Cleveland Cavaliers |
| 1974–1975 | Portland Trail Blazers |
| As coach: | |
| 1969–1972 | Seattle SuperSonics |
| 1974–1976 | Portland Trail Blazers |
| 1977–1985 | Seattle SuperSonics |
| 1986–1993 | Cleveland Cavaliers |
| 1993–2000 | Atlanta Hawks |
| 2000–2003 | Toronto Raptors |
| 2004–2005 | New York Knicks |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| As player: | |
| |
As coach:
| |
Leonard Randolph "Lenny" Wilkens (born October 28, 1937) is an American retired basketball player and coach in the NBA. He has been inducted three times into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (as player, coach and as the 1992 United States Olympic "Dream Team" assistant coach) and also is a 2006 inductee into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.
Early life[]
Wilkens grew up in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. His father was African American and his mother was Irish American. Wilkens was raised in the Catholic faith.
At Boys High School, Wilkens was a basketball teammate of longtime Major League Baseball star Tommy Davis, and played for coach Mickey Fisher.
NBA career[]
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.
Wilkens was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics for Walt Hazzard and spent four seasons there. He was an All-Star in three of his seasons with the team and was named the 1971 NBA All-Star Game MVP. In the 1969–70 season he led the league in assists, being the then second most behind Oscar Robertson. 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.
Wilkens spent two seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers and one with the Portland Trail Blazers, ending his career there.
Coaching career[]
Wilkens coached Seattle from 1969 to 1972, and in his one season as a player in the 1974-75 season with Portland, as player-coach. After his retirement from playing in 1975 he was the full-time coach of the Trail Blazers for one more season. After a season off from coaching, he again became a coach for 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 eleven consecutive of twelve games under Wilkens and made the playoffs in two consecutive seasons, losing in seven games to the Washington Bullets in the 1978 NBA Finals. The SuperSonics returned to the NBA Finals in 1979, defeating the Washington Bullets in five games to achieve their first and only NBA title.
He went on to coach the Cleveland Cavaliers from 1986 to 1993, Atlanta Hawks from 1993 to 2000, Toronto Raptors from 2000 to 2003 and New York Knicks from 2004 to 2005.
Later years[]
On November 29, 2006, he was hired as vice chairman of the Seattle SuperSonics' ownership group, and was later named the Sonics' President of Basketball Operations on April 27, 2007. On July 6, 2007, Wilkens resigned from the Sonics organization.
Wilkens later worked at Northwest FSN Studio as a college basketball analyst and occasionally appears on College Hoops Northwest at game nights.
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 |
Regular season[]
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960–61 | St. Louis | 74 | – | 25.3 | .425 | – | .713 | 4.5 | 2.8 | – | – | 11.7 |
| 1961–62 | St. Louis | 20 | – | 43.5 | .385 | – | .764 | 6.6 | 5.8 | – | – | 18.2 |
| 1962–63 | St. Louis | 75 | – | 34.3 | .399 | – | .696 | 5.4 | 5.1 | – | – | 11.8 |
| 1963–64 | St. Louis | 78 | – | 32.4 | .413 | – | .740 | 4.3 | 4.6 | – | – | 12.0 |
| 1964–65 | St. Louis | 78 | – | 36.6 | .414 | – | .746 | 4.7 | 5.5 | – | – | 16.5 |
| 1965–66 | St. Louis | 69 | – | 39.0 | .431 | – | .793 | 4.7 | 6.2 | – | – | 18.0 |
| 1966–67 | St. Louis | 78 | – | 38.1 | .432 | – | .787 | 5.3 | 5.7 | – | – | 17.4 |
| 1967–68 | St. Louis | 82 | – | 38.6 | .438 | – | .768 | 5.3 | 8.3 | – | – | 20.0 |
| 1968–69 | Seattle | 82 | – | 42.2 | .440 | – | .770 | 6.2 | 8.2 | – | – | 22.4 |
| 1969–70 | Seattle | 75 | – | 37.4 | .420 | – | .788 | 5.0 | 9.1* | – | – | 17.8 |
| 1970–71 | Seattle | 71 | – | 37.2 | .419 | – | .803 | 4.5 | 9.2 | – | – | 19.8 |
| 1971–72 | Seattle | 80 | – | 37.4 | .466 | – | .774 | 4.2 | 9.6 | – | – | 18.0 |
| 1972–73 | Cleveland | 75 | – | 39.6 | .449 | – | .828 | 4.6 | 8.4 | – | – | 20.5 |
| 1973–74 | Cleveland | 74 | – | 33.6 | .465 | – | .801 | 3.7 | 7.1 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 16.4 |
| 1974–75 | Portland | 65 | – | 17.9 | .439 | – | .768 | 1.8 | 3.6 | 1.2 | 0.1 | 6.5 |
| Career | 1,077 | – | 35.3 | .432 | – | .774 | 4.7 | 6.7 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 16.5 | |
| All-Star | 9 | 3 | 20.2 | .400 | – | .781 | 2.4 | 2.9 | – | – | 9.4 | |
Playoffs[]
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | St. Louis | 12 | – | 36.4 | .380 | – | .759 | 6.0 | 3.5 | – | – | 14.2 |
| 1963 | St. Louis | 11 | – | 36.4 | .370 | – | .755 | 6.3 | 6.3 | – | – | 13.7 |
| 1964 | St. Louis | 12 | – | 34.4 | .448 | – | .759 | 5.0 | 5.3 | – | – | 14.3 |
| 1965 | St. Louis | 4 | – | 36.8 | .351 | – | .828 | 3.0 | 3.8 | – | – | 16.0 |
| 1966 | St. Louis | 10 | – | 39.1 | .399 | – | .687 | 5.4 | 7.0 | – | – | 17.1 |
| 1967 | St. Louis | 9 | – | 42.0 | .400 | – | .856 | 7.6 | 7.2 | – | – | 21.4 |
| 1968 | St. Louis | 6 | – | 39.5 | .440 | – | .750 | 6.3 | 7.8 | – | – | 16.1 |
| Career | 64 | – | 37.5 | .399 | – | .769 | 5.8 | 5.8 | – | – | 16.1 | |