I just noted today that Jerry West passed away on 6/12/24. He was my favorite player throughout my teens and early 20s. He was known as Mr. Clutch. He was a complete player leading the NBA in scoring and assists at different times. He also
was on the NBA all defensive team annually once the league started picking all defensive teams. He was first team all NBA something like 10 times and all NBA 2nd team a few times. He was one of the five best players of the sixties with Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, and his teammate Elgin Baylor. He remained a great player into the early 70s. He was a league MVP and I believe the only player to be a playoff MVP on a losing team. The NBA logo used his profile and maybe still does, but I don’t watch the NBA anymore so I am not sure if the logo is still the same.
A lot of people are too young to remember how good he was. He is up there with Kareem, Magic, Baylor, Kobe, Wilt, and Shack as one of the all time great Lakers and is one of the greatest NBA players ever considering the impact he made during the era in which he played.
People don’t give Elgin Baylor the credit he deserves too. He was doing Jordan moves way before Jordan came on the scene.
The 71-72 Lakers were still the greatest of all time. 33 game win streak that may never be broken. Wilt and West were on that team.
Wilt, West, and Gail Goodrich.Three Hall of Famers. Too bad Baylor retired early that season and wasn’t a part of that championship. He never won one. He came up a few years before West and they were a fantastic pair but they could never get past Bill Russell and the Celtics.
I’m with you Aro. He was my favorite player as a kid and my favorite NBA person my entire life.
I don’t know if any player in the history of the league will be inducted into the hall of fame 3 times like West was. Not only that but he was a great human being and the knid of person you don’t see a lot of these days.
I got to see him play in person on several occasions because my dad got tickets from the company he worked for back in the early 70’s. We sat underneath the basket a few rows back, basically courtside and I think the tickets were less than $10 a seat. How crazy is that?
My memories of him are vivid and fond. He is still the “logo” for the NBA and will always be the greatest player of all time in my mind.
I will have to admit to breaking the mission rules a few times when I served in Orange, Ca in 1972 when a member invited us over to his house to watch Laker playoff games. Jerry finally got an NBA title that year after a bunch of disappointing losses to the Celtics in the 60s. That 72 team was right up there among the best ever like the hopper said. The 33 game winning streak was incredible.