Jerry West: The Logo Left Behind a Lasting Legacy
Jerry West passed away Wednesday morning at the age of 86. Younger fans may not understand why West's silhouette has been embedded in the NBA's official logo for over 50 years, but even a brief review of West's accomplishments makes it clear that West is not only one of the greatest basketball players ever but one of the most important people in basketball history.
West earned induction in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in three separate roles: as a player (1980), as a member of the Team USA squad that won the gold medal in the 1960 Olympics (2010), and as a contributor (2024, in what will now be a posthumous honor). He was one of 11 players selected to the NBA's 35th Anniversary Team (1980). West was also selected to the NBA's 50 Greatest Players List (1996), and the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team (2021).
West made the All-Star team in each of his 14 seasons, he earned 10 All-NBA First Team selections (tied for fourth all-time behind only LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Karl Malone), he won the 1970 scoring title, he won the 1972 assist title, and he made the All-Defensive Team in each of the first five seasons that honor was presented at the end of his career (1969-73). West was the third player to surpass the 25,000 point plateau, and he retired with the third highest regular season scoring average (27.0 ppg), trailing only Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor. West finished second in regular season MVP voting four times in an era when only one non-center (Oscar Robertson, 1964) won an MVP between 1957 and 1981.
West finished his playing career with a 1-8 NBA Finals record, but he earned the nickname "Mr. Clutch" because of his tremendous performances in the biggest games. West declared, "If it comes down to one shot, I like to shoot the ball. I don't worry about it. If it doesn't go in, it doesn't go in." West holds the career NBA Finals scoring record (1679 points), ahead of LeBron James (1562), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1317), and Michael Jordan (1176). West has the third highest career NBA Finals scoring average (30.5 ppg), trailing only Rick Barry (36.3 ppg) and Michael Jordan (33.6 ppg). West won the inaugural NBA Finals MVP award in 1969, and he remains the only player to earn that honor as a member of the losing team.
Robertson and West ranked 1-2 (in whatever order you prefer) all-time among guards until well into the 1980s when Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan made their marks.
Baylor and West were known as "Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside," and they are still one of the greatest duos in NBA history. West was a big-time scorer while playing alongside Baylor, but when Baylor missed all but five minutes of the 1965 playoffs West took his game to a record-setting level, averaging 46.3 ppg on .453 field goal shooting as the Lakers won 4-2 versus the Baltimore Bullets in the Western Division Finals. West then scored 33.8 ppg versus the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals, but Bill Russell and a lineup filled with other Hall of Famers crew beat the Lakers, 4-1. Russell's Celtics were West's greatest nemesis, defeating West's Lakers six times in the NBA Finals.
Chamberlain joined Baylor and West for the 1968-69 season, but by that stage of their careers those three players were rarely fully healthy at the same time. The otherwise incredibly durable Chamberlain missed 70 games during the 1969-70 season because of a knee injury, and during the trio's four seasons together with the Lakers, Baylor played in 76, 54, two, and nine games before retiring early in that fourth season. Without Baylor, but alongside Chamberlain and Gail Goodrich, West finally won an NBA title in 1972 as a key member of one of the NBA's greatest single season teams; the Lakers won a still-record 33 straight regular season games before storming through the postseason with a 12-3 mark, including a 4-1 rout of a New York Knicks team that won NBA titles in 1970 and 1973.
West is a member of my basketball Pantheon, and is without question one of the top five guards of all-time, along with fellow Pantheon members (listed chronologically) Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant. West, Johnson, and Hakeem Olajuwon are the only players to win an NBA Finals MVP, an NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player award, and an Olympic gold medal.
How great was West? Picture Stephen Curry with an excellent vertical leap and elite defensive skills--or, as West put it, "A wolf who ate dogs":
I described West's 2011 book West by West as "a unique contribution to sports literature: it is not an autobiography or even an 'as told to' story; West writes (p. XII), 'the approach that I have taken, in collaboration with Jonathan Coleman, is one that is built on deep reportage...nothing less than a full-scale attempt to bring forth the truth, to rely not just on my recollection of things, but to do something more ambitious: investigate myself, speak with others, and come to grips with what I find.'" I encourage anyone who is not familiar with West's life and career to read my review--and then to read West's book.
West was an important basketball figure from the late 1950s when he was a collegiate star at West Virginia through 2024 when he served as an executive with the L.A. Clippers until his death. After his playing career ended, he posted a 145-101 record in three seasons as the Lakers coach, including the best record in the league (53-29) in the 1976-77 season. West then moved to the Lakers front office and played a major role in building two of the greatest dynasties of the past 40 years: the Showtime Lakers won five NBA titles in the 1980s, and the Shaq/Kobe Lakers of the early 2000s won three straight championships. West felt disrespected by Lakers Coach Phil Jackson, and West moved on to Memphis, where he built the Grizzlies into a 50 win team in 2004 after the franchise had never won more than 28 games in each of its first eight years of existence. He then worked in the Golden State Warriors front office during that team's 2015 and 2017 championship seasons. West only won the Executive of the Year award twice (1995 with the Lakers, 2004 with the Grizzlies), and I agree with former Utah executive Scott Layden, who declared that the award should be named after West; a strong case could be made that West is the greatest executive in NBA history, if not North American team sports history.
It is a cliche to call a person "unique": few people have qualities
that are unusual or rare, and even fewer people fit the literal
definition of "unique" by being truly "one of a kind."
Jerry West's combined record as a player, coach, and executive is unique: no one else has ever played at an elite level in the NBA, then coached a team to the best record in the NBA, and then built multiple NBA championship teams as an executive.
Jerry West will be deeply missed, but never forgotten.
Labels: Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, Wilt Chamberlain
posted by David Friedman @ 12:58 AM
4 Comments:
One of the most depressing pictures ever is of Jerry West walking off the court right after the Celtics won game seven in Los Angeles. West probably couldn’t have cared less about winning the inaugural Finals MVP and he looks like he never wants to touch a basketball ever again. I can’t even imagine how painful that loss was especially considering how close the previous game sevens against the Celtics were.
David,
Thanks for this great summary of Jerry West's remarkable life and career, and for the link to your article about his book. I wasn't even aware he had written an autobiography. It was a very interesting read, and I think it is a shame that a man who achieved so much as a player and executive was so haunted by his failures.
West's playing career ended before I was even born, though I have heard from others who had watched him that he would have been a star in any era. I am curious though, do you believe he is as good of a shooter as Steph Curry? It seems difficult to make an apples-to-apples comparison given how different the eras they played in were.
Michael:
Yes, it is not an exaggeration to say that those Finals losses--particularly the ones to the Celtics--tormented West.
Charles:
You're welcome!
It is difficult to make an apples to apples comparison, but based on the available footage, the statistical data, and the anecdotal evidence, I believe that West was one of the greatest jump shooters of all-time; he had picture-perfect form, he could create his own shot off of the dribble, and he had a career .474 field goal percentage during an era featuring much more physical play than the current era. If West had played during the three point shot era then he would have extended his range to that distance. West was not as good of a free throw shooter as Curry, but West ranked in the top 10 in free throw percentage eight times. Curry might beat West in a shooting contest with no defense, but under game conditions West's superior athletic ability would make it easier for him to create his own shot and to elevate over bigger defenders.
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