For forty years, he has been the Quiet Man of the NBA. As a rookie,
he was overshadowed by two pretty fair guards who entered the
league
at the same time: Jerry West and Oscar Robertson. As a veteran,
he was -- both figuratively and literally -- a coach on the floor,
but he had the misfortune to play for several struggling teams. As
a general manager, he won a championship and made back-to-back
Finals appearances -- but he did it without superstars, a year
before Magic Johnson and Larry Bird revitalized the league. And as
a coach, he has won more games than anyone in NBA history -- but
spent his best years locked in the same division as Michael
Jordan's Chicago Bulls.
Basketball connoisseurs have long appreciated the style and
intelligence with which Lenny Wilkens played and the unflappability
and class he's brought to coaching. The respect he has earned
resulted in his joining the legendary John Wooden as the only men
to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame "twice" -- first as
a player, and then as a coach.
Now, in "Unguarded, " Lenny Wilkens steps out from behind his
placid demeanor to speak plainly and unequivocally on the enormous
social and athletic changes he's seen in his career.
Wilkens sounds off about the challenges he had to overcome in
the course of his journey: the racism that left him off the 1960
Olympic basketball team and kept him from being chosen as head
coach of the first Dream Team; the fatal miscalculation that kept
his Cleveland Cavaliers from getting past Michael Jordan to the NBA
Finals; the painful, frustrating task of coaching a troubled and
troublesome J.R. Rider, a player who contributed to his departure
from Atlanta. And he credits those who went out of their way to
help him: the priests and nuns who taught him the value of
discipline and reinforced his faith; the coaches who pushed him to
develop his talents to the fullest; the selfless players such as
John Johnson, Hot Rod Williams, Larry Nance, Steve Smith, and many
others who sacrificed individual glory for the good of their teams;
his mother, Henrietta, and his wife, Marilyn, who stood beside him
in many trying times.
"Unguarded "reveals the Lenny Wilkens we have never seen before,
the tough, strong, thoughtful, and analytical man who has spent a
life in basketball making his teammates and players better than
they knew they could be. Thought-provoking, candid, always honest,
Wilkens shares all the secrets he's learned in his four decades
surviving in the NBA storm.
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