OAKLAND, Calif. — Before Mike D’Antoni and Steve Kerr and the break-neck current NBA pace, there was Doug Moe.

“We only had one or two guys who ever shot 3s. We had great scorers … so at that time we didn’t need quite as many 3s, but they were free to do whatever they wanted,” said Moe, who Sunday received the 2018 NBA Coaches Association Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award. “We played ‘passing game,’ which is a coach’s term to make things look good. It was basically freelance. We had no plays. It was, ‘Go out and do what you want, have a good time, just make sure we win the game.’ ”

The Brooklyn-born Moe, 79, was the NBA Coach of the Year (1988) with the Nuggets. He finished his 15-season NBA career with 628 victories, placing him 23rd all-time — directly behind Daly (638).

“He was a bit of a rebel, but he was a visionary,” said Mavericks coach and association president Rick Carlisle, who labels Moe “The Godfather of the modern NBA pace game. “Back in the mid-’70s and early ’80s, he established a high-paced style of offense. … He was decades ahead of his time because that’s where the game is today.He empowered his players to make plays instead of calling plays.”

Moe starred at the University of North Carolina — playing with future Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown, who gave him his first coaching job as an assistant with the ABA Carolina Cougars. Moe was an All-Star three times in his five ABA seasons. With Brown as a teammate, he won an ABA title with Oakland in 1969.