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Al Attles, former Warriors player, coach, GM, dies at 87
Al Attles, a Hall of Famer who coached the 1975 NBA champion Warriors and spent more than six decades with the organization as a player, general manager and, most recently, team ambassador, has died. He was 87. Nicknamed "The Destroyer" for his physical style of play, the Warriors were his love and his only team after the team, then in Philadelphia, selected him in the fifth round of the 1960 draft. It marks the longest stint with a single franchise for one person in league history. The 6-foot guard averaged 8.9 points, 3.5 assists and 3.5 rebounds in 711 games with the Warriors over 11 seasons, and his No. 16 jersey was retired by the franchise. Attles, one of the first Black head coaches in the NBA, was witness to some of the greatest games in different eras. He played in Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game for the Philadelphia Warriors in Hershey, Pennsylvania, on March 2, 1962, when Attles made all eight of his field goal tries for 17 points. He also coached Hall of Famer Rick Barry the day he scored 64 against Portland on March 26, 1974, and watched Klay Thompson drop 60 points over three quarters in December 2016. Attles coached the Warriors from 1970 to 1983, leading them to the 1975 NBA championship with a four-game sweep of the Washington Bullets. His 557 coaching wins are most in franchise history. He later served as general manager for three seasons and held roles in the front office as vice president and consultant. He was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2019. Attles was previously honored by the Hall of Fame with the John R. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. Born on Nov. 7, 1936, in Newark, New Jersey, Attles was a co-recipient of the 2017 National Basketball Coaches Association's Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award. He joined the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.Click Here For Full Story