‘He’s irreplaceable’: Jerry West, an all-time NBA legend, was a teacher to the very end

Another seminal figure, another pillar of institutional knowledge, has passed away with the death of NBA legend Jerry West Wednesday morning.

Bill Walton passed away May 27, and a couple years ago Bill Russell died. Each had their own mark on NBA history, unique players and characters. West might very well be the most decorated figure in the league’s history, because winning seemed to follow him — even if he’s most associated with those painful losses to the Boston Celtics during his playing days.

But that was in his mind, not in the minds of the people who revered him, who constantly sought his counsel. Perhaps losing in those NBA Finals to the Celtics, even winning the first Finals MVP in a losing effort, defined the way he built teams and shaped his thinking as an executive.

After he moved into the front office, he never hesitated to pass along knowledge, even letting players from opposing teams sit and watch during intimate times.

Jerry West was an NBA champion on every level. (Photo by Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)

When West’s Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Celtics in the 1984 Finals, a classic seven-game series, he let Isiah Thomas sit in during Pat Riley’s exit meeting with his team.

“Pat’s giving his speech. Magic, Kareem, Coop, Byron Scott are there, all of them,” Thomas told Yahoo Sports. “I’ll never forget after that meeting, Magic and I riding back to his house, listening to [James Ingram’s song] ‘Just Once,’ can we figure out what we’ve been doing wrong?”

That fueled Magic Johnson’s comeback in 1985 after critical mistakes, and the Lakers’ series win over the Celtics in ’85 was the first time the Lakers had ever beaten the Celtics in a Finals series — vindication in some ways for West himself. Thomas remembers attending those Finals series between the Celtics and Lakers, getting an up-close education as his Detroit Pistons were years away from being at that level.

“Just to show you how Jerry West and [former Celtics coach and executive] Red Auerbach treated me, it was beyond any education that I received, being under those two, and…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/hes-irreplaceable-jerry-west-an-all-time-nba-legend-was-a-teacher-to-the-very-end-195017458.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-06-12 19:50:17

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