In 1979, the Lakers hired Jack McKinney for his first NBA head-coaching job. He made 6-foot-9 rookie Magic Johnson the point guard, shifted established point guard Norm Nixon to shooting guard and demanded Kareem Abdul-Jabbar adjust to an up-tempo style.
It was remarkable. Take it from the man who literally wrote the book on the Showtime Lakers.
Unfortunately, Pearlman also has sad news:
Truly saddened to announce the passing of Jack McKinney, former @SJU_Basketball and @trailblazers @Lakers, @pacers @SacramentoKings coach whose career was cut short by a life-altering bicycle accident. RIP to a great coach and even better father, husband, man pic.twitter.com/yynvdRlhmk
— Jeff Pearlman (@jeffpearlman) September 25, 2018
McKinney was 83.
So, why wasn’t his NBA legacy more known? He suffered a serious head injury while riding his bike early in his first season. After guiding the Lakers to a 10-4 start, he never coached them again – giving him the best record in a season by a non-interim coach who didn’t finish the year until the Cavaliers fired David Blatt. Assistant coach Paul Westhead took over, guided the Lakers to the 1980 title then ceded the way to Pat Riley, who became the coach most synonymous with the Showtime Lakers.
McKinney went to the Pacers and won Coach of the Year in 1981. He spent a few more losing seasons in Indiana.
Then, he coached the Kansas City Kings – but his tenure was even shorter than with the Lakers. After 1-9 start to the 1984-85 season, a stressed-out McKinney resigned.
Maybe, without the bike accident, we’d recognize McKinney as one of the greatest coaches of all-time. He had a bold plan and plenty of talented players.
But we’ll also remember McKinney as the only coach with two appearances on the list of shortest coaching tenures.
