BY KATHI STEARNS

Staff Writer

ATLANTA--It would be any coach's dream to have NBA All-Stars Shaquille O'Neal, Hakeem Olajuwan, Scottie Pippen, Reggie Miller and Charles Barkley on one basketball team.

For USA Olympic basketball coach Lenny Wilkens, a parishioner at Atlanta's Cathedral of Christ the King, this dream team is a reality and his biggest problem is teamwork.

Wilkens takes his 12-member NBA All-Star team, nicknamed "The Dream Team III," to the 1996 Olympic Games publicly cautious about predictions that his team will certainly capture the gold medal.

"I don't get preoccupied with other people's expectations," Wilkens said in a pre-Olympic interview with The Georgia Bulletin. "I don't spend my time thinking about those things. What I think about is what I have to do to put the best team that I can on the floor every night. If we come out prepared and play as well as we can and have some fun doing it, everything else will take care of itself."

After surviving a 96-90 scare from a college All-Star squad during their first exhibition game, the U.S. Olympic basketball team soundly defeated Brazil, China, Australia and Greece as they prepared for the 1996 Games in Atlanta. Teams from Yugoslavia, Lithuania and Croatia are predicted to be the toughest competition for the U.S. Two pools of six teams each will compete in round robin play beginning July 20, with the top four teams advancing to the medal rounds.

Wilkens said that his biggest challenge is getting a group of NBA All-Stars to work together as a unit, especially since they will have been together for only three weeks when the Olympics begin.

"Everyone on this team is the 'go-to' person on their respective NBA team," said Wilkens, who was the assistant coach of the 1992 Olympic team that won the gold in Barcelona.

"I faced this before when I was an All-Star coach for the NBA, as well as when I worked with the 1992 team. It's not a bad problem for a coach to have," said Wilkens, coach of the Atlanta Hawks and the winningest coach in NBA history.

"The players realize that this is a special time for them and their country. In the past they have checked their egos at the door and focused on accomplishing team goals. These men know what is involved with getting the job done and will do whatever is necessary to accomplish the team objectives. My job is to make sure that they don't come out overconfident, and to see that all of the players get sufficient playing time."

Wilkens says that the NBA players are truly delighted to have the opportunity to compete in the Olympic Games. "It is a chance to represent your country on a world stage," Wilkens said. "Even though these athletes make a lot of money during the regular season, they have a tremendous amount of pride. In addition, they have a strong desire to represent their country and to show the world that they are the best. That's something people saw in 1992, and that they'll see again in Atlanta."

In a 1994 interview with The Georgia Bulletin, Wilkens said he places his career behind the two greater priorities in his life.

"My belief in God is number one, then the needs of my family, and finally my work," Wilkens said. "That must be the priority because I know everything is possible through him."

"My faith has reinforced everything that I've ever done," Wilkens said. "Faith makes everything else possible. I'm not here to convince the world or to force my beliefs on anyone else, but it works for me."

Even though his schedule makes it difficult to be an active parishioner, Wilkens attends Mass two or three times a week and is involved in several community organizations. "With the amount of time that I travel it is difficult to become an active member of a community. But I try to do what I can whether it's making an appearance going somewhere or encouraging young people. I just have to do my part."

Since coming to Atlanta in 1993, Wilkens has been a keynote speaker to teens at the Cathedral of Christ the King, to athletes at St. Pius X Catholic High School and to clergy at the annual dinner hosted by archdiocesan Serra Clubs.

Born Oct. 28, 1937 in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, Wilkens was five when his father died, leaving his mother, Henrietta, with five children to raise.

Henrietta Wilkens, an Irish Catholic, worked at a candy factory and did odd jobs to support the family after her husband's death. Wilkens explained that because of their financial situation, material items were not important. Paying the rent and making sure that his sister's tuition was paid to a Catholic high school were the family priorities.

Wilkens describes his mother as a devout Catholic. "I never saw anyone pray as much as she did; she went to Mass everyday. I'm sure some of her prayers have been answered because God certainly has been good to me."

While a student and altar boy at Holy Rosary Elementary School in Brooklyn, Wilkens met Father Thomas Mannion who encouraged his interest in basketball. The priest would line up chairs on the court and have Wilkens repeatedly dribble around them to improve his ball-handling skills.

"He was like a big brother to me...he had a huge influence on me," Wilkens said. "If I went 10 blocks one way or 10 blocks the other way I could run into some gangs...My mom would ask Father Mannion to look out for me because she was afraid I might get hooked up with one of them. One time he saw me with some guys he didn't think I should be with and let me know it."

As a freshman Wilkens tried out for the Boys High team in Brooklyn. The coach kept 15 players, but Wilkens, realizing that he was the 15th, decided that he didn't want to ride the bench. He left the team to play basketball with the Catholic Youth Organization.

During his senior year Father Mannion and a classmate encouraged Wilkens to try out for the Boys High team one more time. Wilkens tried out and became a starter for the varsity team. However, he graduated early in January and played only one-half season of basketball. "I needed a job, not another semester of school," he said.

Knowing the family's financial situation, Father Mannion wrote Providence College in Rhode Island and asked basketball coach Joe Mullaney if a scholarship might be available for Wilkens. Wilkens received the last available scholarship.

While in college the 6-foot-1 point guard averaged 14.9 points a game. Wilkens was named the Most Valuable Player in the 1960 National Invitation Tournament when he led Providence to a second-place finish.

Wilkens was astounded when the Providence athletic department notified him that he was a first round draft pick of the St. Louis Hawks in 1960. Wilkens accepted an $8,000 salary offer, with a $1,000 signing bonus, to play with the Hawks.

Wilkens played a total of 15 years in the NBA and ranked among the all-time leaders in assists, games played, minutes played and free throws. He was named the Most Valuable Player in the 1971 All-Star Game. In 1990 he was entered in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

Wilkens has served as the head coach for the Seattle Supersonics, where his team won the NBA championship in 1979. He was also head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers and the Cleveland Cavaliers before coming to Atlanta.