RIP Jerry West

West and Coleman dissect this in the book. West and Bob Bass had an intense phone conversation, apparently.

 

Wow so sad to hear of this today. Yes I remember those Ws v. Lakers games and only remembered the Lakers stomping us all the time from 1970-2014, except for the '75-76 years (then Wilkes went to LA and the W's somehow collapsed). West was Mr. Clutch to me growing up and his J was the standard that everyone else was measured against, plus he was so damn unflappable. No he didn't move like the modern guys, but for his era, he was the perfect shooting guard, better than Frazier.

He knew basketball inside and out and I was blessed that during his W's tenure, I got to hear him on local radio and podcasts from those local personalities. May he RIP.

 

I watched Ep. 3 of "Clipped" last night and noted that Doc Rivers was pissed that Don Sterling's statement about his racist comments was released on a Clippers letterhead. Then today, the announcement of Jerry West's death was made by the Clippers.
Jerry West was, is and will always be a Laker.

 

I was fortunate enough to have a brother in law who was a basketball star at his HS in New Westminster, BC and in ‘63 our family went from Calgary to have Christmas with him and my sister. He was a boxla star with the NewWest Salmonbellies junior team in the late 1950’s and he took my dad and me to a couple of ‘Bellies senior games at the classic New west Arena, a famous old barn in the B.C. lower mainland, in metro Vancouver. Later the Estevan Bruins moved there in the Western Canada Junior League and became the NW Bruins, a tough bunch of hockey players.
My BIL had an Admiral portable tv, and it sat in the living room with its aerials pointed out the big picture window toward the South, best reception I guess. He started talking about basketball and he flipped on a Lakers game and kept going on about Jerry West, I’d never heard of him, I don’t even know how he picked up the tv signal but he did. So for about 2 hours we sat about 3 feet from this tv with darkening around the edges of the screen and pretty poor reception but you could definitely see West weaving around the court. My BIL was getting all excited and kept saying “ did you see that!” , and there it was, right in front of me. Jerry West being great. He became my basketball hero. Always my fave BB player.
I can’t think of any other all star athlete who also excelled as an all star executive. First Class all the way.
RIP

 

Ozzie Newsome comes to mind.

 

Bird has gotten lots of kudos for his executive role with the Pacers, but no rings.

He certainly did better than Magic and Isiah.

 

Bill Sharman took a similar path as Jerry West with success as an executive after his playing career.

 

I guess Steve Yzerman is in that conversation, too.

 

Yzerman's aura of executive brilliance has dimmed considerably with the Red Wings. It's arguable they're not in much better shape than when he took over. He'd be on a blistering hot seat except that Chris Ilitch doesn't appear to give much of a damn.

 

MJ???????
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JK

 

Coupled in the wagering with Chris Mullin?

 

Also coached that 1972 team with West to the title. Somehow convinced night-owl Wilt to attend his unheard-of 11 o'clock morning shootarounds the day of games. And destroyed his vocal cords in the process.