Chapter One
On my desk, there's a picture of my father.
He's a man I never really knew, yet a man who feels very much a part of me
today. The man staring at me is always about thirty-five, always in the prime of
life, dark-skinned, strong, healthy. He's the father I wished was there when my
team in Seattle won the 1979 NBA title, the father I wanted with me when I was
inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame. When I puffed that cigar to celebrate
breaking Red Auerbach's record for the most career victories by any NBA coach, I
wanted my father there. He's the father I wished could see my children and meet
my wife, Marilyn.
He will always be my father, and he will always live in my head because he died
when I was only five years old.
His name was Leonard. I'm really Leonard R. Wilkens, Jr. Few people know that
about me. Few people know very much about me, even though I've been in the
public eye seemingly forever, as an NBA player and/or coach since 1960. That's a
long time, forty years in pro basketball. No one has survived the NBA storm
longer. No one has appeared in more games when you combine all the years that
I've played and coa ... read full excerpt from Unguarded: My Forty Years Surviving in the NBA ebook
