There are few people in this world with the talent to be NBA basketball players. Even fewer have what it takes to be a coach. So note the rare talent of Lenny Wilkens, who for three seasons with the Sonics did both at the same time.

Wilkens, a first round selection of the St. Louis Hawks in the 1960 NBA Draft, spent eight seasons in St. Louis before joining Seattle in 1968-69, the Sonics second season in the league. He averaged a career-best 22.4 points that season and was named the Sonics player/head coach prior to the 1969-70 season.

Lenny Wilkens helped put the Sonics on the map as the team's first superstar.

As a player, Wilkens assaulted the Sonics' record books, despite playing only four years in Seattle. He still ranks fifth on the Sonics all-time roster in free throws made and attempted, seventh in scoring average (19.5) and fifth in assists (2,777). In 1971, he was named the All-Star Game MVP after scoring a game-high 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting.

As a coach, he led the Sonics to their first winning season in 1971-72, in only their fifth year of existence. After that season, he finished out his playing career with two seasons in Cleveland and one in Portland before returning to coach the Sonics in 1977-78.

That season, he accomplished what may be one of the greatest feats in coaching history. In November 1977, he took over a 5-17 team and led them to a 42-18 finish and to a seventh game of the NBA Finals against Washington.

The next season, he led the Sonics back to the Finals, and Seattle came away with its only World Championship.

A testament to Wilkens' ability on the bench is his longevity. He compiled a 478-402 record with the Sonics, before being promoted to Vice President/General Manager of the Sonics in 1985. Wilkens has since coached the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Atlanta Hawks and the Toronto Raptors, and remains on the sideline with the New York Knicks. On Jan. 6, 1995, Wilkens passed Red Auerbach to became the NBA's all-time winningest coach, and he is one of just three coaches in NBA history with more than 1,000 wins.

Wilkens is one of only three individuals to be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach (along with Bill Sharman and legendary UCLA Coach John Wooden).

Wilkens was the only Sonics player to wear No. 19, and the number was retired in a ceremony on Oct. 19, 1979, during a win over San Diego.