.jpg) Lynam in 2022 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1941-09-15)September 15, 1941 (age 84) |
| Listed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Listed weight | 185 lb (84 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | West Catholic (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) |
| College | Saint Joseph's (1960–1963) |
| NBA draft | 1963:undrafted |
| Coaching career | 1968–2010 |
| Career history | |
Coaching | |
| 1968–1970 | Fairfield |
| 1973–1978 | American |
| 1978–1981 | Saint Joseph's |
| 1981–1984 | Portland Trail Blazers (assistant) |
| 1983–1985 | San Diego / Los Angeles Clippers |
| 1985–1988 | Philadelphia 76ers (assistant) |
| 1988–1992 | Philadelphia 76ers |
| 1994–1997 | Washington Bullets |
| 1998–2000 | New Jersey Nets (assistant) |
| 2001–2005 | Portland Trail Blazers (assistant) |
| 2005–2010 | Philadelphia 76ers (assistant) |
| Career highlights | |
As player:
As coach:
| |
| Career coaching record | |
| NBA | 328–392 (.456) |
| NCAA | 158–118 (.572) |
Record atBasketball Reference  | |
James Francis Lynam (born September 15, 1941) is an American former college and professionalbasketball coach. He coached at the college level forFairfield University from 1968 to 1970,American University from 1973 to 1978, andSt. Joseph's University from 1978 to 1981. In theNational Basketball Association (NBA), Lynam coached theSan Diego / Los Angeles Clippers from 1983 to 1985, thePhiladelphia 76ers from 1987 to 1992, and theWashington Bullets from 1995 to 1997. Lynam compiled a 158–118 record at the college level, and 328–392 in the NBA. He was also Philadelphia'sgeneral manager from 1992 to 1994.
After graduating fromWest Catholic High School, he went toSaint Joseph's University. With theHawks, he was a three-year starter. In 1961, Lynam was a key player on a Hawks team that advanced to the1961 Final Four. The Hawks defeatedUtah in a four-overtime game for third place. Lynam won the team MVP award afterJack Egan was expelled for his participation in the1961 point shaving scandal.[1]
Lynam played with the Hawks until 1963. That year, he was named the MVP of theBig 5 in his senior year.[2]
He began his coaching career atLansdale Catholic High School in Lansdale, Pa where he was the head boys' basketball coach for the 1964–65 season. He then coached theFairfield Stags men's basketball in 1968 where he coached for two years. In 1973, he took the reins atAmerican University in 1973, where he coached for five years. He coached the Eagles to a finals appearance in theEast Coast Conference tournament in 1975.
In 1978, he returned to his alma mater St. Joseph's. In 1980–81, he coached the Hawks to an ECC Tournament championship, to receive a bid to theNCAA tournament. As a #9 seed, the Hawks defeatedCreighton in the first round and upset the #1 seeded and #1 rankedDePaul to reach the Sweet Sixteen. The Hawks then defeatedBoston College to advance to the Elite Eight, where their Cinderella run would end by losing to eventual national championIndiana.
On May 18, 1981, Lynam accepted an offer to be an assistant coach for thePortland Trail Blazers.[3] Portland's coachJack Ramsay previously coached Lynam at St. Joseph's.[4] In his second year in Portland, the Blazers won their first playoff series since their championship season of1976–77, though they would lose in the second round to theLos Angeles Lakers.
After two years with Portland, Lynam was named head coach of theSan Diego Clippers.[5][6] San Diego native and franchise cornerstoneBill Walton was largely unavailable due to injury and generally frustrated with new Clippers OwnerDonald Sterling[7] (Sterling controversially moved the Clippers to Los Angeles overnight, despite not getting approval from the league).[8]Manute Bol, who Lynam scouted and drafted, was later ruled ineligible for the NBA draft, essentially wasting the draft pick.[9] After a tumultuous year and a half with the Clippers, which saw him as their last coach in San Diego, first coach in Los Angeles and first coaching hire by Sterling, he was fired as coach midway through his second season.[10]
Retiring 76ers coachBilly Cunningham was critical of the Clippers for firing Lynam,[11] and was instrumental in Philadelphia hiring him as an assistant coach prior to the 1985–86 season.[12] Sixers All Star point guardMaurice Cheeks said he had "never seen a better communicator than Jim Lynam."[13] Lynam's popularity with Sixers players would eventually help him become head coach of the team midway through the 1987–88.
The season he took over was Philadelphia's first withoutJulius Erving orMoses Malone since 1975. In his first full season as coach, he brought the Sixers back to the playoffs. In his second season, Philadelphia won the Atlantic Division title with a 53–29 record, earning the second seed in the conference. Though finally surpassing theLarry Bird Celtics for the first time in theCharles Barkley-era in Philadelphia, they fell toMichael Jordan's Bulls in back-to-back playoffs.
After a 7–3 start to the 1991–92 season, injuries decimated the team and they stumbled to a 35–47 record, missing the playoffs. Barkley was unhappy with team ownerHarold Katz over his controversial team decisions,[14] such as tradingMoses Malone toWashington, trading the first overall pick in the1986 NBA draft toCleveland, and lettingRick Mahorn leave as a free agent among other moves, which were viewed as reasons Philadelphia unraveled from a perennial contender in the 1980s to missing the playoffs in 1992.[15][16][17][18][19]
Katz agreed to step away from the operational side of the team and hand the team decision making to Lynam, moving him from coach to general manager.[20] As general manager, Lynam hiredDoug Moe to be his replacement as Sixers coach.[21]
Lynam spent two years as Sixers general manager, before accepting an offer to become coach of theWashington Bullets prior the 1994–95 season.[22][23] On February 6, 1997, Lynam was fired as coach.[24][25] Following his dismissal from Washington, Lynam joinedJohn Calipari's staff with the New Jersey Nets.
When his former point guard with the SixersMaurice Cheeks was hired by the Trail Blazers in 2001, he hired Lynam to his coaching staff.[26] When Cheeks was hired as Philadelphia's coach for the2005–06 season, Lynam was named an assistant. During the preseason, however, he was forced to leave the team due to an undisclosed medical condition. However, on September 29, 2006, it was announced that Lynam, along with NBA hall of famerMoses Malone would be rejoining the 76ers as an assistant coach.[27]In July 2010,The Oregonian reported that Lynam was among candidates for an assistant coaching job in Portland.[28] He remained in this role until 2010.
TheMinnesota Timberwolves brought in Lynam as a part-time basketball operations consultant, evaluating pro personnel on the Wolves roster and throughout the NBA for part of the 2010–11 season.[29] He retired from coaching and basketball operations in 2011 and moved to a broadcasting career. Since the start of the 2011–12 season, Lynam served as a pre-game and post-game analyst for thePhiladelphia 76ers onNBC Sports Philadelphia.[30]
Lynam's daughter, Dei, is a former anchor/reporter for NBC Sports Philadelphia for the Sixers. She once served as a sideline reporter for 76ers telecasts. She also worked as a Sideline Reporter for TNT's coverage of the NBA Playoffs from 2010 to 2015.Now she helps call the 76ers G-League team, theDelaware Blue Coats games. He is also a grandfather to ten grandchildren. Lynam is known for his distinctPhiladelphia accent.[31]
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairfield Stags(Independent)(1968–1970) | |||||||||
| 1968–69 | Fairfield | 10–16 | |||||||
| 1969–70 | Fairfield | 13–13 | – | ||||||
| Fairfield: | 23–29 | – | |||||||
| American Eagles(East Coast Conference)(1973–1978) | |||||||||
| 1973–74 | American | 16–10 | – | ||||||
| 1974–75 | American | 16–10 | – | ||||||
| 1975–76 | American | 9–16 | – | ||||||
| 1976–77 | American | 13–13 | – | ||||||
| 1977–78 | American | 16–12 | – | ||||||
| American: | 70–61 | – | |||||||
| Saint Joseph's Hawks(East Coast Conference)(1978–1981) | |||||||||
| 1978–79 | Saint Joseph's | 19–11 | 11–3 | 2nd | NIT First Round | ||||
| 1979–80 | Saint Joseph's | 21–9 | 10–1 | 1st | NIT First Round | ||||
| 1980–81 | Saint Joseph's | 25–8 | 9–2 | T–2nd | NCAA Division I Elite Eight | ||||
| Saint Joseph's: | 65–28 | 30–6 | |||||||
| Total: | 158–118 | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||
| Regular season | G | Games coached | W | Games won | L | Games lost | W–L % | Win–loss % |
| Playoffs | PG | Playoff games | PW | Playoff wins | PL | Playoff losses | PW–L % | Playoff win–loss % |
| Team | Year | G | W | L | W–L% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | PW–L% | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego | 1983–84 | 82 | 30 | 52 | .366 | 6th in Pacific | — | — | — | — | Missed Playoffs |
| LA Clippers | 1984–85 | 61 | 22 | 39 | .361 | (fired) | — | — | — | — | — |
| Philadelphia | 1987–88 | 39 | 16 | 23 | .410 | 4th in Atlantic | — | — | — | — | Missed Playoffs |
| Philadelphia | 1988–89 | 82 | 46 | 36 | .561 | 2nd in Atlantic | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | Lost infirst round |
| Philadelphia | 1989–90 | 82 | 53 | 29 | .646 | 1st in Atlantic | 10 | 4 | 6 | .400 | Lost inConf. Semifinals |
| Philadelphia | 1990–91 | 82 | 44 | 38 | .537 | 2nd in Atlantic | 8 | 4 | 4 | .500 | Lost inConf. Semifinals |
| Philadelphia | 1991–92 | 82 | 35 | 47 | .427 | 5th in Atlantic | — | — | — | — | Missed Playoffs |
| Washington | 1994–95 | 82 | 21 | 61 | .256 | 7th in Atlantic | — | — | — | — | Missed Playoffs |
| Washington | 1995–96 | 82 | 39 | 43 | .476 | 4th in Atlantic | — | — | — | — | Missed Playoffs |
| Washington | 1996–97 | 46 | 22 | 24 | .478 | (fired) | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | 720 | 328 | 392 | .456 | 21 | 8 | 13 | .381 |
