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NBA FINALS: MAVERICKS v HEAT

June 5, 2011

DALLAS, TEXAS: Game Three

THE MODERATOR: Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the 2011 Coaches Association Chuck Daly Award presentation. On my far right is Executive Director Michael Goldberg from the Coaches Association Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens and Rick Carlisle, president of the Coaches Association to my left. Michael Goldberg?
MICHAEL GOLDBERG: Thank you for coming. My name is Michael Goldberg executive director of the NBA Coaches Association. We have about 230 members between our head coaches, assistant coaches and our alumni group. Thrilled this year to be here as part of the presentation to Lenny Wilkens for the third annual NBA Coaches Association Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award.
Lenny has been a very, very important member of our group, a great, great coach, Hall of Famer, so forth, and was part of the Coaches Association for a very long time. Did a lot of great work.
At this point I'm going to turn the floor over to association president Rick Carlisle, who filled Lenny's big shoes and has done a great job on his own.
RICK CARLISLE: Thank you, Michael. On behalf of all NBA coaches and the Daly family, Terry Daly and Chuck's daughter Cydney, it's a privilege to be here with Lenny. Our former winners first year was Tom Heinsohn. Last year we had co-winners Jack Ramsay and Tex Winter. And this year Lenny is going to be our recipient.
We have a committee that we put together that votes on this award. It's a group of people that we felt Chuck Daly would deem as the right guys to do it. And it's a distinguished group, Gregg Popovich, Phil Jackson, Bernie Bickerstaff, Donnie Walsh, Pat Riley, who is here, Mike Heisley, owner of the Grizzlies who Chuck worked with as a consultant for several years, and Billy Cunningham, who is also a championship coach, who Chuck was an assistant for in Philadelphia.
As Michael mentioned, the award recognizes someone that not only has made a special contribution to the game, but has done things that have left a lasting, positive impact on the NBA coaching profession. There's only three guys in history that have been inducted into Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach. Lenny is one, Bill Sharman is the second and the third is John Wooden. This is a special guy. Lenny is the only guy that's been inducted a third time as a member of the original Dream Team in 1992.
So what he's done as a player, a coach and with USA Basketball and international basketball is second to none. As Michael mentioned, he's a 17-year president and has served the coaches extremely well during that period of time. I was fortunate or unfortunate to take over for him. It was huge shoes to fill, because he had accomplished so much and was so well thought of. He has been a great resource for me.
And I also want to mention his son Randy is here. Randy is the one that oversees the Wilkins Family Foundation. Their big charity is the Odessa Brown Children's Clinic In Seattle. They've do great work and have raised millions and millions of dollars to help children with medical situations.
This is one of the really special well-rounded guys that we have in our game. We're extremely fortunate to have him here today. And Lenny, it's my pleasure to present you with the 2011 Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award. Congratulations.
[ APPLAUSE ].
LENNY WILKENS: First of all, thanks, Rick, thank you, Michael Goldberg, for this really prestigious award. Chuck Daly not only was a great coach, but he was a good friend. We had a lot of laughs together. Certainly, I think the NBA is richer because of people like Chuck and all the other people who marched through the NBA. But certainly it's an honor for me to receive this award. Chuck and I worked a lot of times on a lot of situations. So to receive the award in his name, that has been named for him, is truly an honor. And I feel very blessed by that.
So I just want to say to the Coaches Association thank you, I certainly appreciate it, and it's something that I will treasure.
THE MODERATOR: Open it up to questions.

Q. Lenny, congratulations on the honor. You're one of the winningest basketball coaches in NBA history, but Mr. Carlisle mentioned something about the impact that you made, kind of like underneath the wins and losses. Can you break down what you are proud of accomplishing throughout your career?
LENNY WILKENS: Well, you know, certainly I feel very honored in a lot of areas. I think I've been very blessed. I've been able to achieve a lot of things. You know, it's the associations that you make in the NBA.
I can remember Pat (Riley) and I sitting down one time with our wives and talking about, what are we doing here? Is this worth it? But it was to both of us. And to the young coaches to encourage them to go ahead and be fearless and not be afraid to make decisions, things like that, to encourage them at their meetings, to see what has happened in the NBA. So those are things I'm very proud of to have been a player and to make that transition into coaching, I think that, you know, it's a huge accomplishment, and it's something I treasure.
RICK CARLISLE: If I could add one thing, for 17 years Lenny was the president of the Coaches Association. During that period of time built up a great relationship with Commissioner Stern in the league. During that period of time, he helped us make strides in terms of our benefits and a lot of things behind the scenes that are going to help a lot of coaches that have devoted their lives to this game. And a lot of these guys aren't necessarily household names. But they're assistant coaches, guys that are the keepers of the game and the teachers of the game and not necessarily the big names of the game.
Also, a guy like Lenny helps sort of pave the way for people to come after him. And this is one of the reasons the Coaches Association has a very good relationship and a very good working relationship with the League.
He's done so, so much behind the scenes and things that would never be reported, things that, quite frankly, he would probably want mentioned.

Q. Is it inherently tougher for guys who were elite players to become elite coaches for some reason? It seems like there's a lot of coaches that, you know, they were NBA players, but weren't necessarily up at the forefront like Rick said. Is it just tougher or are there things that make it tougher?
COACH RICK CARLISLE: It may be tougher, but those of us who have done it, Pat was a good player in the NBA. He made the transition. Bill Russell, of course when you have Bill Russell to coach, that makes it a little easier. I think it's understanding the game. I think guards innately have an advantage, because we see the floor all the time, and we know who wants the ball, who doesn't want it, who should have it, things like that.
When I was a young player, the guy that I really looked up to was Red Auerbach because I thought he utilized his personnel as well as anybody I had seen. Then I started talking to college coaches and just getting their opinions, their feelings about the game, what we should be looking for, things like that. I think a point guard naturally has an advantage, because he's the guy that is running the show all the time.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.
[ APPLAUSE ].

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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