Atlanta Hawks: Top 5 Head Coaches

Not only is Lenny Wilkens one of the greatest coaches in Atlanta Hawks history, he is one of the greatest coaches in NBA history.  Until getting passed by Don Nelson, no head coach had won more games in the NBA than Lenny Wilkens.  Lenny won an astounding 1,332 games as a head coach including an NBA Championship in 1979 with the Seattle SuperSonics.

Lenny was also a Hall of Famer player in his younger days, most notably with the St. Louis Hawks.  It’s a rarity to earn the highest honors as both a player and a coach.  It’s a testament to the phenomenal basketball life of Lenny Wilkens.

While coaching the Atlanta Hawks for most of the 1990’s, Lenny led the team to the playoffs six times including a top-seed in the Eastern Conference in 1994 as the Central Division Champs.  In Atlanta, Wilkens won 310 games and achieved a .572 winning percentage in seven seasons.  He won Coach of the Year in 1994, leading the Hawks to a then-franchise record 57 regular season wins.  In 1996-97, Lenny earned the designation as a Top 10 Coach in NBA history for its 50 year celebration.

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To me, I loved the Lenny Wilkens coached Atlanta Hawks teams.  I remember playing NBA Hangtime as the Hawks with my three guys being Mookie Blaylock, Christian Laettner, and Steve Smith, occasionally throwing Stacey Augmon into the mix.  What I liked the most about that era of Atlanta Hawks basketball was that Lenny got the most out of his free agent acquisitions.  Players like Laettner and Dikembe Mutombo had All-Star seasons in Atlanta.

While the playoffs were a challenge in the East (.362 Playoff Winning Percentage while in Atlanta) during Lenny Wilkens reign as head coach, I believe that his 7 seasons as Hawks HC put him over the top and into the Basketball Hall of Fame.  His teams were always fun to watch as a little kid.

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