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Sharman averaged 20.4 ppg the following season, his ninth in the league, and
he reclaimed his spot as the best free-throw shooter in the league. He was
an All-NBA First Team selection for the fourth and final time in his
illustrious career, and he was once again an NBA All-Star. More
importantly, the Celtics were once again world champions, sweeping the
Minneapolis Lakers 4-0 and capturing the league crown for the second time in
three years.
Sharman’s final two seasons in Boston ended with championship rings and
crowded parades, as the Celtics dispatched the Hawks on both occasions. It
was also a time of change, as both Cousy and Sharman began to share playing
time with two other future Hall of Famers, Sam Jones and KC Jones. The
fabled Celtic Dynasty was in full bloom.
Sharman’s 1961 retirement allowed him to return to California, where he was
hired to serve as player-coach of the Los Angeles Jets of the American
Basketball League. Sharman appeared in 19 games for the Jets, but retired
as a player when the franchise folded at midseason. He chose to remain in
the ABL that year, accepting an offer to coach the Cleveland Pipers.
Ironically, the Pipers were owned by George Steinbrenner, who would later go
on to fame as the owner of baseball’s New York Yankees. Under Sharman's
direction, the Pipers won the ABL Championship. He was named the league’s
Coach of the Year.
The
ABL folded shortly after that 1961-62 championship season, but Sharman was
clearly hooked on coaching. He had played for the fiery Auerbach, one of
the best coaches in history, and he had spent much of his time learning what
had made Auerbach successful. So it came as little surprise that, in the
summer of 1962, Sharman jumped at the opportunity to become the head coach
at Cal State-Los Angeles. He enjoyed modest success, guiding the team to a
27-20 record over two seasons, before leaving to become a broadcaster. Two
seasons later, Sharman found himself being courted by the San Francisco
Warriors. The timing was perfect. He felt reinvigorated by the prospect of
guiding an NBA franchise, and immediately signed on as the team’s head
coach. The NBA, however, had become a vastly different place than the one
he joined in 1950. He found the modern NBA player difficult to motivate,
and unwilling to embrace his regimented approach to conditioning and
planning.
While
Sharman’s two years at San Francisco did not produce a championship, they
were highly successful nonetheless. The Warriors finished 44-37 that first
season, and the team finished first in the Western Conference. Spurred by
the play of young stars Rick Barry and Nate Thurmond, San Francisco
dispatched both the Lakers and the Hawks to reach the 1967 NBA Finals. Huge
underdogs against the juggernaut Philadelphia 76ers, Sharman nonetheless
matched wits with head coach Alex Hannum and stretched the series to six
games. The Sixers, winners of 68 regular season games and loaded with
talent such as Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer, Chet Walker and Billy
Cunningham, closed out the series 125-122 on San Francisco’s home court.
The Warriors would reach the Western Finals a year later, where they would
suffer an 0-4 sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers.
After
compiling an 87-76 record in San Francisco, Sharman accepted a lucrative
offer to become head coach of the Los Angeles Stars of the American
Basketball Association. He led the Stars to a 43-41 record in 1969-70 and
was named ABA co-Coach of the Year. (Along with Denver's Joe Belmont.) The
franchise relocated to Utah a year later, where Sharman guided the team to
the 1971 ABA Championship.
The
following year, Sharman signed on to become head coach of the Los Angeles
Lakers. It was a move that didn’t sit well with Boston Celtic patriarch Red
Auerbach, who had defined his coaching career by beating the Lakers on the
NBA’s biggest stage. Sharman also had the audacity to enlist another Celtic
legend, KC Jones, to work as his assistant coach. Auerbach grudgingly came
to accept the moves, which he viewed as treason, in part because Sharman and
Jones had played such big roles in building the Celtic Dynasty.
It
was during this period in his coaching career that Sharman introduced a
revolutionary new approach to game-day preparation. The morning
shoot-around, now a universally accepted practice by basketball programs
everywhere, was the product of Sharman’s desire to have his players primed
to excel at tipoff. Within three years, nearly every NBA franchise had
adopted the practice
Losers of seven NBA Finals since moving to Los Angeles in 1960, the Lakers
appeared poised to finally end the drought. The enigmatic Chamberlain was
still a dominating presence in the paint, and sharp-shooting Jerry West was
in the best shape of his career. With Gail Goodrich, Happy Hairston and Jim
McMillan also in the mix, Sharman sensed that this team might have
ingredients needed to win a championship. His players would prove his
intuition right; from November 5th, 1971 until January 7th, 1972, the Lakers
would win an NBA-record 33 consecutive games. Finishing the season at 69-13
– then the best regular-season record in NBA history – Los Angeles stormed
through the playoffs and crushed the New York Knicks in the 1972 NBA
Finals. Sharman was recognized for his efforts by being named the 1972 NBA
Coach of the Year.
New
York gained a certain measure of revenge, beating Sharman and the Lakers 4-1
in the 1973 NBA Finals. Los Angeles’ aging roster continued the team on its
slow, downward spiral, and Sharman resigned as head coach following the
1975-76 regular season. He then moved into the post of general manager,
drafting Magic Johnson and presiding over two additional NBA titles. (1980
and 1982.) In 1982, Sharman moved into the role of club president. The
Lakers would win three more titles during that span (’85, ’87, and ’88),
becoming the first team to repeat as NBA champions since the 1969 Boston
Celtics.
Sharman retired from the daily grind of management following that 1988 NBA
title, staying on as a special consultant to the team. By then his legacy
was secure. The sweet-shooting perfectionist had engineered a Hall of Fame
career as a player for the most decorated franchise in NBA history, and he
had followed that act by turning the Lakers into champions six times over.
Celtic Nation is honored to bring you this interview.
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