ATLANTA -- When Lenny Wilkens was named coach of the Atlanta Hawks Tuesday, it was more of a case of the coach picking the team instead of the club picking its coach.
Wilkens, one of the winningest coaches in NBA history, said he talked to the Indiana Pacers and Los Angeles Clippers about their coaching vacancies before taking the Hawks job. Wilkens stepped down as Cleveland Cavaliers' coach after last season.
Wilkens said one of the reasons he took the Hawks job was he has known Atlanta General Manager Pete Babcock and president Stan Kasten for a long time.
'And I did listen to everybody, but I felt very comfortable talking with Pete and Stan,' Wilkens siad. 'It's a first class organization, not that the others aren't, because they all are. But the challenge here is what excited me, the people, the organization and I'm looking forward to it.'
Wilkens agreed to a multi-year contract with the Hawks, replacing fired Bob Weiss. Atlanta finished 43-39 last season and was swept by Chicago in the first round of the playoffs.
'We're certainly excited about taking on the challenge and to developing this team and seeing if we can get it back to where it should be,' Wilkens said. 'I'm looking forward to being here and I know I can promise you a couple of things. One is that we will be a team that will hussle at all times. We'll be a team that will be exciting and we will win some games while we're doing it.
'What we're going to do is sit down with Pete and his staff, my staff, and we're going to evaluate the team. Evaluate it from all aspects to see how we can help, how we can make this a better team.'
Wilkens was head coach of the Cavaliers for the last seven seasons, which had been the longest current tenure with one team of any head coach. He resigned one week after the Cavaliers were swept by Chicago in the second round of the playoffs. The Cavaliers were 316-258 in seven seasons under Wilkens.
Wilkens has coached 15 seasons in the NBA with Seattle, Portland and Cleveland and also was a player-coach for five seasons. His career coaching record is 869-749. The 869 wins is second among all-time NBA coaches behind Red Auerbach, who tops the list with 938.
Wilkens has led six teams to 50 or more wins in a season and his Seattle team won the NBA Championship in 1979. Wilkens has coached three NBA All-Star teams and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1990. Wilkens had a 15-year playing career in the NBA with the St. Louis Hawks, Seattle, Cleveland and Portland.
Babcock said he almost fired Weiss last December and January when the Hawks were struggling, but gave him more time when the team started playing better.
'Stan and I had a meeting at that time and felt that the most appropriate action for us to take was for me to meet with Bobby and let Bobby know that we were going to have conversations behind closed doors about the direction of our team and whether or not this was going to work,' Kasten said.
Weiss compiled a 124-122 record in three seasons with Atlanta after being named to replace Mike Fratello as head coach in May of 1990. He previously served as head coach of the San Antonio Spurs and had a 59- 105 record in two seasons.
