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NBA 15/06/2015, 11.21

Lenny Wilkens to Sportando: LeBron is exhausted and needs help

The legendary player and coach of Cleveland Cavaliers speaks with Sportando about NBA Finals.

NBA

Lenny Wilkens played for Cleveland Cavaliers in 1972-1974 and coached the team the period 1986-1993.

He has been inducted three times into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, first in 1989 as a player, as a coach in 1998, and as part of the 1992 United States Olympic "Dream Team", for which he was an assistant coach.

From the 1994–95 season until the 2009–10 season, Wilkens was the winningest coach in NBA history and retired still holding the record at 1,332 victories.

What have you seen until now in the NBA Finals, from the eye of a coach?
"Golden State had a great start by winning the first games, but certainly Cavaliers were in each game for a while. They just didn't have the depth that Golden State has. With Kyrie Irving out hurt and Kevin Love out hurt, I think that Cavaliers lack depth and what happens is that LeBron James has to do too much. He is pretty exhausted. It is really hard to have people be around and watch him. I don't think their offense is diverse enough to take pressure off him and that's what they need".

You were in Cleveland as a player but more years as a coach. Do you see the psychology of a winner in all players of Cavaliers or only in LeBron?
“I was there as a player and a coach and saw how great fans they have there. LeBron wanted to come back to Cleveland, where he comes from and wanted to have a winning team there. When he left to Miami it was a great decision because he went not for money but to win and with Miami won a couple championships. He brought back that experience but you got to have people around you that can help and with Kevin Love out hurt and Kyrie Irving out hurt it makes it very difficult”.

What is your prediction about what will happen next?
“The next games are crucial for Warriors, more for the Cavaliers. The Warriors have the home court advantage and they are a little bit more relaxed. They are going to feel more comfortable out there. They are not going to feel freaked out how to win. They (Cleveland) actually did. Maybe LeBron a little bit more. They need more help on him which means he has to find other people to help him. Without Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving it is going to be very difficult because their offense is not geared to take advantage of other people. I don’t see them running things when JR (Smith) comes off a screen. He gives shots when he is wide open from double teams when the ball is moving. But I don’t see any offense from sets to come off double screen or a single screen to get a wide open shot. If he is not scoring, he is not helping the team. So, I just think it is going to be more difficult for Cleveland”.

You were for many years the coach of Cleveland Cavaliers. How would you rate the current coach, David Blatt, in his rookie season in the NBA after the success he had in Europe?
“It is definitely easy for a coach. I don’t know if he had the experience but he has done a pretty good job this year. I mean any time that you can get to the finals the coach must be doing something right. But I think that it is too early to be grading him as we would have graded other coaches such as Phil Jackson or Greg Popovich. I don’t think you can grade him at that level in this point of time”.

Why do you think that Cavaliers have never had the chance to win a title in the NBA?
”Well, a lot of circumstances. Sometimes you need to have the right people, the right players, the right coaches. When I was there, they traded Ron Harper. I was against that trade. I didn’t like that trade. I thought it hurt us. I think if we had kept Ron in that team in that time we really have had the chance to win. I was unhappy about that. This is the first opportunity we have had in a lot of time. The chance of a championship”.

Which moment with Cleveland Cavaliers you will never forget and you recall very often even nowadays?
“I had some great moments with Cleveland. We had a very young team. Those guys were rookies. Those were young guys. But I watched them grow and develop. I remember when we played for the conference championship and I thought that was great”.

You have coached only NBA teams. Did you ever have a proposal from a team overseas?
“A couple of years ago I did some consulting for the Korean national team. That time they had finished 7th in the Asian championship. After my consulting they played in the gold medal game and had the chance to win it. That’s the only team that I coached overseas. I have done clinics but I never coached a team over there.”

However, did you ever have an interesting proposal from Europe?
“No. I had an interest one time from China but I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want to stay for a whole year because I coached for so long in the States. I did some consulting. If I had to live the state for a short time I would do it but I didn’t want to stay there a year”.

After having a remarkable career as a player and a coach in the NBA and you had to choose between one of the two, which one would you choose?
“I don’t know if I can choose between the two. I enjoyed my time as a player. I wanted to compete. I enjoyed competing. I thought I made my teammates better being a point guard. I knew who want the ball and once you had it what you are going to do with it. Things like that. Then, when I went to coaching that was fun because it is all about preparation, getting your team ready to play, make the proper substitutions, things like that. So, each career was good. I don’t know if I can choose one over the other”.

What do you do now? What are your plans for the future?
“Right now I do speaking engagements, I do speakings for the NBA and USA Basketball. I do TV. Also I have a foundation. We raise funds. I raise funds for a children clinic in Seattle. It provides health care and education. I do that. So I stay busy.”

Interview via Maria Karvouni

Sportando

Sportando

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