Houston Rockets: Former Coach Bill Fitch Awarded Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award

Jun 11, 2013; San Antonio, TX, USA; NBA former coach Bill Fitch is presented with the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement award during a press conference prior to game three of the 2013 NBA Finals at the AT

Former Houston Rockets head coach Bill Fitch was awarded the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award at halftime of game 3 Tuesday night.  Fitch coached the Rockets for 5 seasons(1983-’88), and was instrumental in helping lead the team to the 1986 NBA finals, a team that had Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson.

Fitch won 944 games and lost 1,106, but he spent a majority of his career taking over either expansion teams (Cleveland Cavaliers) or teams trying to reverse losing seasons (Rockets, New Jersey Nets). Fitch was a fixer and a teacher. Almost all of his teams improved after he took over.  In 1996, he was named one of the NBA’s Greatest Coaches of All-Time.