HOF-worthy career as BOTH a player and coach. Don't forget about this guy in NBA history.
I remember him as being quiet and under-stated. RIP, Lenny.
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HOF-worthy career as BOTH a player and coach. Don't forget about this guy in NBA history.
I remember him as being quiet and under-stated. RIP, Lenny.Where's the fuckin power box, Carol? -
That stinks! I live close to Seattle. Wanted them to get a new team before he passed.
RIPComment -
After a season as Portland's fulltime coach, Wilkens returned to Seattle as coach in 1977-78, replacing Bob Hopkins, who started the season 5-17. Wilkens led the Sonics to the NBA Finals that season, where they lost to the Washington Bullets in seven games. He brought the Sonics back to the Finals in 1979, where they beat Bullets for Seattle's first and only NBA title.
Asked to explain how he related so well to players, Wilkens once told Newsday, "I know what young players are going through. I understand their backgrounds. I didn't come from anything either, so I've been there."
Where's the fuckin power box, Carol?Comment -
Salud, sunshine. The organization asked him to become a player-coach. He was respected.Originally posted by sunshine11That stinks! I live close to Seattle. Wanted them to get a new team before he passed.
RIP
He had the attributes as both a player and coach. So, it was pretty seamless.
Sonics were a young team in the 1977-78 season. Made the Finals. And then won the title next year.Where's the fuckin power box, Carol?Comment -
He was a great man Chucky. I had Bullets season tickets back then. The respect that the league had for him was top tier. Players throughout the league had nothing but great respect for him.Originally posted by ChuckyTheGoat
He was a legend Chucky.Comment -
Salud, str. Yes, he was really good. Have a few Lenny Wilkens cards in my collection.Originally posted by str
Gonna go back and watch some of those Final appearances from 1978 and 1979. Bullets were the more veteran team, won it in 1978. Sonics were emerging, flipped the script in 1979.
Where's the fuckin power box, Carol?Comment -
I studied up on the 1978 Finals. Weird scheduling quirk. Game 4 was held in the Seattle Kingdome because the Seattle Center Coliseum was tied up with a mobile-home show. As a result, the Bullets had to contend with a then-record playoff crowd of over 39,000 fans.
The sequence of Home-Away games was not standard. I guess the Sonics didn't reserve the court after starting 5-17 and switching Coaches (to Wilkens).Where's the fuckin power box, Carol?Comment -
Professional career: When he first joined the St. Louis Hawks in 1960, he experienced the full sting of Jim Crow discrimination, including being denied service at restaurants where his picture was in the window.Where's the fuckin power box, Carol?Comment -
Yeah I was at numerous games in the Kingdome. Good times back than. People were nice to each other than. And less crime.Comment -
A really good guy, coach and player. RIP LENNY.Comment -
That Jim Crow discrimination was just awful. I grew up in it as a lot of us did so as a kid and until it all came to light, I didn’t recognize it.Originally posted by ChuckyTheGoat
In Wash. DC , and I’m sure other places, for instance, when the ground beef at the grocery stores like Safeway, in the white sections of town, started to turn brown, they would replace it with newer beef. What I did not realize was, they took that older ground beef and stocked the shelves with it in the poorer sections of DC.
Think about that. I did, and it made me sick.
The class through adversity that people like Lenny Wilkins displayed was incredible. And , the dude could hoop ! Rest in peace sir.Comment -
Hey, str. I'm with you. The racism from that time is a smudge on American history.
I don't want to pontificate on this too much. But I viewed guys like Lenny, Hank Aaron and Sammy Davis Jr as pioneers. They endured a lot of racial abuse.Where's the fuckin power box, Carol?Comment
