When Lenny Wilkens split his time between the military and the NBA

Died at the age of 88, Lenny Wilkens he was the “Godfather of Basketball” in Seattle, leading the SuperSonics to their only title in 1979. The last player/coach in NBA history, he changed the fate of the Seattle franchise.

Before the 1972/73 season, the Emerald City franchise asked Lenny Wilkens, player/coach since 1969, to choose between his two appearances. At the age of 35, he decided to continue playing and Tom Nisalke arrived on the team’s bench. Wanting to establish his authority, the latter demands the transfer of Lenny Wilkens. Head to the Cavs.

The transfer was a disaster, both sporting and popular, and Tom Nisalke left during the season. Bill Russell arrived the following season, leading the team to the conference semi-finals twice, but the start of the 1977/78 season, now with Bob Hopkins on the bench, was completely absent. On November 29, the Supersonics lost their 17th match in 22 outings, and the club management called Lenny Wilkens for help.

The change is radical. Seattle won 18 of the next 21 games, then 42 of the last 60 games of the season. Better, the team of Marvin Webster and Dennis Johnson reached the finals, although they lost to the Bullets. But finally won the title the next season, against these same Bullets!

“The military taught us that we have to work together to succeed”

Like John Wooden, Tommy Heinsohn, Bill Sharman and Bill Russell, he is part of a very limited circle of men who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame twice: first as a player (1989), then as a coach (1998). He would even be honored a third time for his role as an assistant in the legendary 1992 Dream Team.

That’s because Lenny Wilkens has experienced just about everything in his career, either as a coach or as a player.

It is somewhat forgotten, but he was one of two NBA players, with Elgin Baylorwho was called into active service by the US Army after the Berlin Crisis in 1961. Faced with the threat of direct conflict with the USSR, President John F. Kennedy filled the military bases, and Lenny Wilkens, then in his second season with the Hawks, found himself at Fort Lee, Virginia. He can only play in the big leagues when he is cleared, and therefore only played 20 games during his sophomore season.

Enough for a team that had played in two straight finals and didn’t even qualify for the playoffs to fire two coaches before Bob Pettit managed the final games…

A strange year that he will not regret. “The military was good for people at that time because it taught discipline and taught us that we had to work together to succeed. It also taught me how to organize. That helped me. All the organizational skills I possessed were strengthened through my time in the military.”, he explained about this strange arrangement.

Photo: Providence University