Gene Shue, NBA All-Star and two-time coach of the year, dies at 90

Gene Shue, a two-time coach of the year whose NBA playing and coaching career spanned four decades, died Monday at age 90.

Shue spent six years in the Detroit Pistons organization — starting in the 1956-57 season when the team was still in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The franchise moved to Detroit the following season, which was the first of Shue’s five consecutive years where he was named to the NBA All-Star team.

At 6 feet 2, 170 pounds, Shue played for four teams in his decade-long career, but his best days came in Detroit where he was twice named to the All-NBA team. Shue finished sixth in scoring (22.8 points per game) in 1959-60 while leading the NBA in minutes played.

The following season he averaged 22.6 points per game, to go with 6.8 assists and 4.3 rebounds, while shooting 42.1% and was named to the All-NBA second team. The Pistons traded Shue to the New York Knicks in 1962.

Shue, a Baltimore native, finished his career with the then-Baltimore Bullets in 1963-64 and then spent two years away from the game before returning to the Bullets as head coach from 1966-73.

Those were the first seven years of what became a 22-year coaching career; he was twice named NBA coach of the year (1969, 1982).

In 1970-71, Shue led the Bullets to an Eastern Conference championship, before the team was swept in the NBA Finals by a Milwaukee Bucks team led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson.

He also coached the 76ers and Clippers and was an executive with the 76ers. He was inducted into the University of Maryland's Hall of Fame.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Gene Shue dies at 90; was NBA All-Star, two-time coach of the year