Just sayin,’ but my brother said West called him up at Pat Riley’s camp (maybe 1972) because he said Mike had good rotation on foul shots. Known as a premier evaluator of talent, I’ll cut Mr. West a break on that. Fact he couldn’t stop the Clippers from choking, not a factor in Legendary status.
I’m sure 1,006 coaches at all levels of women’s hoops will have to rework young girls desire to shoot Js from WAY downtown after seeing Caitlin Clark the last two NCAA tournaments. Hoopsters like me (67) had a love affair with Jerry West’s undeniable Quality and desire to win, and trying to replicate that ‘last hard dribble into the jump shot’ we read about, yep! Its impossible for me to hear and agree with anyone’s ‘Best 5 Ever’ if it lacks his name.
West notably stopped a Shaquille O’Neal rant about being tired of not winning by acknowledging he had *seven* losses to the Celtics before breaking through for his only championship as a player (1972). Apparently Shaq didn’t know that, thought West was ALWAYS a winner. As an NBA executive he might not have an equal – if your team gave him enough reasons to help them, positive results were around the corner.
He put together Kobe and Shaq, (almost?) rescued the Clippers from douche-bag hell, drafted Draymond Green and Klay Thompson for Golden State, two titles while there (they now have four), and had no qualms about getting in a reporter’s ear if their verbiage needed correcting.
Stats and Attitudes
‘Mr. Clutch’ was his handle for fourteen seasons, 27 ppg, 6.7 assists, 5.8 rebounds and 47% shooting is the official line, but on two occasions – the 1959 NCAA Finals 71-70 loss to California, and Lakers 1969 loss to Celtics in Finals – he was given the MVP trophy even though his teams lost. The idea if he’d scored ten more points at specific times in his career he could have an NCAA title and six NBA championships as a player (he had eight as an executive) inspired the efforts of a generation. How could you not hate the Celtics when they kept denying West his fair share of rings?
The blockbuster trade of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar from Milwaukee Bucks to the Lakers for four players (Elmore Smith was no great loss, Brian Winters was a good second‐string shooting guard, and two blue‐chip selections from the first round of that years draft (Dave Meyers, Junior Bridgeman) seemed crazy at the time – why would Bucks give up such a player? Building a team means fixing your shortcomings, and having the presence of an unstoppable center was West’s mission. When the local Charlotte Hornets (1996) got a pretty decent and necessary center, Vlade Divac, for swapping their rights to Kobe Bryant, you have to say West knew what he was getting.
NY Times writer Tom Kawakami opined in a long ago column that phone calls with West ‘felt like you were tapping into the NBA mainframe,’ and often left recipients thanking him for the extra knowledge imparted. Current Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, who was a West Virginia Mountaineer like West, recalls getting a blistering phone call junior year from The Logo about wasting his talent.
If anyone with West’s no BS cred gives you such a call, by ALL means, ‘straighten up and fly right’ would be be advice to work on.
GOAT-ing with West
Both West and Olympic teammate Oscar Robertson (Cincinnati Royals) lost out to the massive enterprise that the NBA became, where TV, the Today-ness and huge $$$ thrown at stars overwhelms any appreciation of what has come before. All the plaudits given West before and since his passing are Truth (he was a terror to play cards with when he wasn’t getting good hands). Stories of his broken noses, because he backed down from no one, and gave the 110% effort that gets lost in dunk-fests, or isn’t recognized as an absolute necessity by talented newbies and flex-skilled European transplants, is the antithesis of a teammate you can truly count on to get a necessary (CLUTCH!) bucket.
I always smile about Jimmy Caan (in ‘The Gambler’) in a bathtub, kicking a radio because West misses three FTs that costs him the spread for like $40k. Who else I’d accept a negative like that from and bet on again, I don’t know. Frankly, if West had a broken leg, I might want odds…
Celtics great Bill Russell was often asked why he had years of 25+ rebounds a game, and now 13 will get someone (almost) all the $$$ they’ll ever be able to spend. “If you had a 40% shooter on your team then, that was great. Now, entire teams are shooting 40%, there are less rebounds, and lots more 7-footers.”
Unsaid is fact you did NOT want the ball in West’s hands with the game on the line if possible.
Players didn’t have opportunity to jump around in free agency then – would he have left LA just for money? Doubtful – he felt he owed the franchise and his teammates his best effort, and that meant a championship.
Ja Morant and Steph Curry (together) *might* be able to carry West’s golden jockstrap, although Morant doesn’t seem to have the necessary focus, Curry’s incredible shooting and four NBA titles is an acceptable way to gain credibility. Luka Doncic, with almost unlimited shooting range and the ability to manuever his (often whiny, doughy-looking) 6’7″ body for unreal baskets in close, is a solid player, and many will agree that you’ll earn your paycheck any night he’s your guy to guard.
LeMelo Ball? A 6’7″ hot-diggity guy (career 20 ppg, 6.2 reb, 7.4 asst) when on the court vs. bench? Nah, you have to stay on the court and contribute to be Great, but he IS on a big money deal now, and Hornets only won 21 games this year.
West said basketball was the best -easiest sport to practice , because you didn’t need anyone else to improve shooting or FTs.
I don’t know how many guards would follow Shaquille O’Neal’s humbler-than-most analysis about Best Ever Center, but he puts himself no higher than 4th (Russell, Chamberlain, Jabbar) in NBA hierarchy, and Michael Jordan won’t take anything away from those who came before him (or LeBron debate), preferring to go with ‘different people and times affects everything.’
Pretty much everyone, over a long period of time, knew Jerry West was the best baller they had to deal with. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_West#College_career
MISTER Jerry West will always have a spot on my Best 5 teams. Say Magic, can you stand over there a little more till I get this picture?
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