Milwaukee Bucks: Former coach Del Harris receives Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement award

On Friday afternoon, former Milwaukee Bucks head coach Del Harris received the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement award for his storied coaching career.

One of the great head coaches in the history of the Milwaukee Bucks received quite the honor Friday morning.

The NBA announced yesterday that longtime NBA head coach, Del Harris, was honored with this year’s Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement award for his coaching career that spanned six decades, including five decades in the NBA as both an assistant and head coach.

More from Bucks News

• Bucks 2023-24 player profile: Can MarJon Beauchamp take a leap?
• Piecing together the Milwaukee Bucks’ dream starting 5 in 5 years
• Predicting Thanasis Antetokounmpo’s 2023-24 stats for the Bucks
• Grade the trade: Bucks land reputable backup guard in swap with Pacers
• New workout video should have Milwaukee Bucks fans excited

Of course, among the many stops that Harris made throughout his time in the NBA came with the Bucks. Harris first came to Milwaukee as an assistant coach under head coach Don Nelson for the 1986-87 season.

When Nelson left the Bucks after 11 years due to a very public spat with owner Herb Kohl, Harris took the reins and became the franchise’s third head coach in their history and was eventually being named Vice President of Basketball Operations.

Over Harris’ four-plus years at the helm in Milwaukee, the Bucks went 191-154 amid a time of great transition at their core. That certainly applied to a pillar like Sidney Moncrief who went into physical decline as injuries eroded his availability and effectiveness in what remained in his Hall of Fame career while in Milwaukee.

Still, Bucks greats such as Terry Cummings, Ricky Pierce, Paul Pressey, Alvin Robertson and Jack Sikma all shined under Harris’ watch and as the Bucks’ run during the 1980s and into the early 1990s eventually reached their end point. On that note, the 1988-89 Bucks team that went 49-33 in Harris’ second season long stood as the last Bucks squad to win a playoff series before the ‘Big 3′ Bucks broke that drought 12 years later.

Even for the success and the Bucks’ fight to remain competitive, time eventually caught up to the Bucks and eventually Harris. 17 games into the 1991-92 season and with the Bucks 8-9 on the year at that point, Harris abruptly resigned as the team’s head coach while he still hung on to his title within the front office for the remainder of the year.

Throughout his time with the Bucks, along with the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers, Harris went 556-457 as a head coach, logged an NBA Finals appearance in 1981 with Houston and was named NBA Coach of the Year for the 1994-95 season with the Lakers.

Along with that, Harris logged numerous stints as an assistant all over the league and even reunited with Nelson during their shared time with the Dallas Mavericks midway through the 2000s. After officially calling it a day as a coach following a one-year stint with the Texas Legends of now the NBA G League, Harris remains with the Mavericks organization as the Legends’ vice president.

Harris’ imprint on the Bucks even went beyond his coaching stint as his son, Larry, worked within the organization for many years before being named the team’s general manager, a title he held from 2003 to 2008.

For winning this achievement, Harris included a statement which was included in the aforementioned press release:

"“It is truly a special honor to be recognized by fellow Coaches and to be added to the list of outstanding Coaches and men who have had the privilege of being recognized along with the great Chuck Daly,” said Del Harris. “Chuck was a master Coach who combined style with technical command, but beyond that was his ability to lead with a firm but soft hand, it seemed to me. He was a tough opponent, but a friend—we even lost money on an oil deal. Wasn’t funny at the time.“Being honored by my peers is particularly meaningful to me because I coached in an era that many regard to be one with the highest level of the art. Most are in the Hall of Fame and/or have been honored similarly by the Coaches that coached in the 1970s and 1980s with a smaller number of teams. You had to go against a veteran, well-prepared team every game. There were no nights off against inexperienced Coaches; you could never expect to outsmart anyone. Players tended to stay on teams longer; divisional teams played one another many more times and that made up for less film availability as players and Coaches knew tendencies and strategized around it. Several great ones have gone on before, but the committee is full of those from that time that remain. Thanks to you all.”"

For all the contributions he’s given to the Bucks and the game of basketball over the years, it’s an incredibly deserving honor for Harris to receive and a hearty congratulations goes out to the coach.