Lenny Wilkens, NBA legend as player and coach, died at 88

Lenny Wilkens, a true NBA legend both as a player and a coach, has died at the age of 88: he is one of five to be inducted into the Hall of Fame for both roles, the others being Tom Heinsohn, Bill Russell, Bill Sharman and John Wooden. He was born Oct. 28, 1937, in Brooklyn.

As a player, playing point guard, he played for the St. Louis Hawks (1960-1968), Seattle Supersonics (1968-1972), Cleveland Cavaliers (1972-1974) and Portland Trail Blazers (1974-1975), being called up nine times for the All-Star Game, being elected MVP once (1971).

He then became the coach with the most appearances on an NBA regular season bench: 2487. He led Seattle Supersonics (1969-1972 when he was still playing and 1977-1985), Portland Trail Blazers (1974-1975 as a player and 1975-1976), Cleveland Cavaliers (1986-1993), Atlanta Hawks (1993-2000), Toronto Raptors (2001-2003) and finally New York Knicks (2003-2005).

He won an NBA coaching title in 1979 with Seattle, losing the previous year’s finals to the Washington Bullets. He was named coach of the year in 1994, coached four times at the All-Star Game and, icing on the cake, led the second U.S. Dream Team to a gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.