Remembering Lenny Wilkens and Cleveland’s coaching greats

A few thoughts from the week in sports …

Like many longtime Cleveland sports fans, I was saddened to learn of the death of Lenny Wilkens. He passed away at age 88 in his hometown of Seattle Nov. 9.

Wilkens is the best coach in Cleveland Cavaliers history in my book. He’s the franchise’s all-time wins leader with a 316-258 mark from 1986-93.

The Cavs advanced to the playoffs five times under Wilkens, but four times they were eliminated by Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.

I was a huge fan of Wilkens and the Cavs during my high school years, when he had his best teams.

Wilkens was everything you wanted in a coach.

He was a Hall of Fame player and was named to the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players list in 1996. He was extremely smart and competitive. He insisted on “team” basketball, and his Cavs always moved the ball unselfishly.

He got the best out of his players without screaming or berating them. He was a family man and a Christian.

I heard a radio interview after his passing with former player Brad Daugherty, who said, “(Wilkens) didn’t tolerate knuckleheads. They’d be traded.”

In a nutshell Wilkens was an all-around class act.

“Show people how to have success, and then you can push their expectations up,” Wilkens once said.

The Cavaliers of the Wilkens era featured some of my all-time favorite players: Mark Price, Daugherty, Larry Nance Sr., John “Hot Rod” Williams, Steve Kerr and Craig Ehlo.

Those teams just had the misfortune of playing during the heyday of Jordan and the Bulls, just like the Browns always seemed to lose to John Elway and the Broncos. I hate watching the “Jordan shot over Ehlo” playoff clip.

Cavs fans like myself will always wonder if the Cavs could have gone to the NBA Finals and possibly won it all if they hadn’t traded Ron Harper in 1989 in the ill-fated Danny Ferry deal with the Clippers.

Could Harper have possibly slowed down “Air” Jordan in the playoffs? We’ll never know.

Wilkens is just one of four men who are in the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach and player. Bill Russell, Tommy Heinsohn and Bill Sharman are the others.

Best Cleveland coaches/managers since 1970

One could argue the modern sports era for Cleveland pro sports started in 1970, when the Cavaliers franchise began play.

Cleveland only has one title in one of the three major sports since then: the 2016 Cavaliers, led by LeBron James.

Wilkens’ passing got me thinking about other great Cleveland coaches and managers since 1970. Here’s my list of the top five:

1. Terry “Tito” Francona, Indians/Guardians: Tito managed the Cleveland baseball team from 2012-23 and is the franchise leader in wins with an overall record of 921-757. He led Cleveland to the playoffs six times, falling short in the 2016 World Series against the Cubs. Francona dealt with a small payroll but always seemed to produce a winner. (On a side note, I loved Tito’s postgame interviews and hearing his humor and insight.)

2. Mike Hargrove, Indians: Grover helped turn the fantasy of the 1989 movie “Major League” into reality for Cleveland fans in the 1990s. The Tribe fell short in the 1995 and 1997 World Series, but Hargrove’s 721 wins are second on the all-time franchise list. He’s the only Cleveland skipper to win two AL pennants.

The Jacobs Field revival with players like Albert Belle, Jim Thome, Carlos Baerga, Omar Vizquel and Charles Nagy was my favorite time as a Cleveland fan.

3. Marty Schottenheimer, Browns — famous for his “There’s a gleam, men” speech: Schottenheimer led the best Browns era of my lifetime from 1984-88. He compiled a 44-27 mark leading the Browns but lost in the AFC title games in the 1986 (The Drive, Jan. 11, 1987) and 1987 (The Fumble, Jan. 17, 1988) seasons.

Bernie Kosar, Ernest Byner, Webster Slaughter, Ozzie Newsome, Clay Matthews, Bob Golic, Hanford Dixon and Frank Minnifield were some of the many stars from that era.

I truly wish today’s younger fans could experience what it’s like to be a Browns fan when the team is consistently good. I’d like to experience it again too.

4. Lenny Wilkens: I’ll put Lenny at No. 4 on my list. He didn’t get to the NBA Finals but had a great run leading the Cavs and did it the right way.

5. Tyron Lue, Cavaliers: As the only coach to lead the Cavaliers to an NBA championship, Lue deserves recognition. He didn’t have a long tenure in Cleveland, and LeBron James commanded most of the spotlight, but Lue had a 211-128 record from 2016-18.

Parting shots

It’s simply incomprehensible how the Browns can continue to play so badly. The Browns (2-7) became the first team since 1950 to allow under 150 yards of offense, have zero turnovers and lose a game in a 27-20 setback against the Jets.

—The Wayne County Athletic League showed how strong it is again this year, with three teams advancing to the regional semifinals: Smithville, Dalton and Hillsdale.

—The Ohio Cardinal Conference didn’t get any teams that far.

Ohio State coach Ryan Day’s son R.J. Day led Columbus St. Francis DeSales to a 33-29 win over Ashland with 482 yards passing Nov. 7. It will be interesting to see how DeSales and the younger Day perform against Massillon in the regional semis.

Aaron Dorksen can be emailed at aarondorksen24@gmail.com.