Nelson gets welcome from Wilkens into the 1,200 Club First meeting

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Dec 11, 2006 | by Geoff LepperSTAFF

SEATTLE -- It was a meeting for the ages between two of basketball's most aged.

In a KeyArena hallway Sunday night, 69-year-old Lenny Wilkens, the NBA's all-time leader in coaching victories with 1,332, officially welcomed 66-year-old Warriors coach Don Nelson into the

1,200 Club.

The get-together represented a quorum of all two qualifying club members, in fact. And even though Nelson has steadfastly maintained his veneer of indifference with regard to the milestone, Wilkens shared no such nonchalance.

"Hey, listen, it's huge," said Wilkens, who spent 32 seasons coaching in Seattle, Portland, Cleveland, Atlanta, Toronto and New York and was recently installed as the SuperSonics' vice chairman. "No.1, it's longevity. You've got to have that, and how do you get longevity? You've got to win, you've got to be able to relate to athletes, got to be able to help them maximize their abilities, and Don has done all of that. So to me, it's a great achievement."

For Nelson, it was gratifying to receive thanks from a man he called "a mentor."

"He was president of our association for so many years, and just a great wonderful guy. You could always talk to him if you wanted to," Nelson said. "He was just a gracious guy, I've always tried to be like him. I failed miserably, by the way, because I'm too big a prick, actually, to be like him."

Wilkens added his autograph to the game ball from Nelson's 1,200th win but didn't leave any additional comments: "I just signed it. When he gets a little further along, I'll send him a note."

NOTES: There was one more addition to the Warriors' injury list; Nelson said he was suffering from a touch of gout, referring to it jokingly as a "major injury." Asked if he would be listed as "questionable" for the game, Nelson quipped: "Always questionable, never doubtful." ... Warriors forward Mickael Pietrus was forced from the game in the first quarter after SuperSonics guard Luke Ridnour took a swipe at the ball and caught Pietrus' left ring finger along with it. Pietrus returned a few minutes later and finished with 13 points and six rebounds. ... The Warriors reached a milestone of sorts Saturday, when they passed up the New Orleans/ Oklahoma City Hornets in terms of team free-throw percentage, moving out of last place in the NBA and into 29th. Befitting their newly improved status, the Warriors hit their first 13 foul shots Sunday. Baron Davis broke the streak with a miss at the 1:00 mark of the second quarter. For the game, they went 24 of 28 at the line.