Homage to Jerry West (merged)

Kingster

Kingster

Hall of Famer
I've got to give West his due. He knows what he's doing. Let's review the record.

When West became the GM of the Lakers, he inherited the then Lew Alcindor, who had been the #1 pick in the entire draft. Then West chose Worthy, the #1 pick in the entire draft, then West chose Magic, the #1 pick in the entire draft, then West traded for Shaq, who had been the #1 pick in the entire draft. It didn't hurt when West traded up to steal Kobe out of the mits of Petrie -Kobe should have been the #1 pick in the entire draft. Do you see a pattern here?

So last year West correctly deduced that his team was in no-man's land, not bad enough to get a high draft pick - dare I say the #1 pick in the entire draft? - not good enough to ever do damage in the playoffs. Mediocrity was their insignia. So what does he do? He trades Shane Battier, arguably the second-best player on the team, to Houston in order to trade up in the draft to get Gay, who he (and others) believes is going to be a special talent in this league. He knew the Grizzlies were going to be worse this year because of the absence of Battier, but he made the deal to go young and to potentially get somebody special. And maybe he made the deal because he knew he had to get worse in order to get another special talent in this year's draft.

So, the year starts off with Gasol getting injured. Is luck the residue of design? The team sputters and West cans Frattelo, known to be a good coach, for a guy who probably doesn't have the experience of the Kings' fourth assistant. Not suprisingly, the team still sputters. Gasol comes back. The team is winning no more than they did without him. Their record for the year is .250, the worst in the league. Jerry West now has a core of Gasol, Warrick, and Gay, all young and talented. And the odds are in his favor that he's going to get the #1 pick in the entire NBA draft.
 
Heuge said:
I thought it was pretty obvious. West is doing what Petrie doesn't have the guts to do.
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I think the key difference is that the Grizzlies have never been a contender, and they aren't facing an arena crisis.

It's still the route Petrie should take, but it's a little more complicated in Sacramento right now than it is in Memphis.
 
Superman said:
I think the key difference is that the Grizzlies have never been a contender, and they aren't facing an arena crisis.

It's still the route Petrie should take, but it's a little more complicated in Sacramento right now than it is in Memphis.
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Completely agreed, but the connection inst all that obscure.
 
Jerry West

Please put the West post on the Kings board. (It's now in the NBA section). It's connection to the Kings is pretty obvious. But if you need me to spell it out, here it is:

The Kings are rebuilding. Memphis is rebuilding. The Kings are doing it one way. Memphis is doing it another. West has one philosophy. The Kings have another. West has actively pursued the demolition of his team; the Kings have passively waited for the team to slowly fall apart. The odds are with Memphis in getting the first or second pick relative to the Kings. Memphis has more core players than the Kings, even though their record is far worse. Memphis is ahead of the curve. The Kings are behind the curve.
 
Kingster said:
Please put the West post on the Kings board. (It's now in the NBA section). It's connection to the Kings is pretty obvious. But if you need me to spell it out, here it is:

The Kings are rebuilding. Memphis is rebuilding. The Kings are doing it one way. Memphis is doing it another. West has one philosophy. The Kings have another. West has actively pursued the demolition of his team; the Kings have passively waited for the team to slowly fall apart. The odds are with Memphis in getting the first or second pick relative to the Kings. Memphis has more core players than the Kings, even though their record is far worse. Memphis is ahead of the curve. The Kings are behind the curve.
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I'm glad I needed you to spell something out for me :rolleyes:

Memphis traded Battier for Gay simply because they think he will be a better player in the long run and they took back Swift in the process. Memphis' issue was 1/2 their team was out with injuries including Gasol(for about 25 games) who is supposed to be their superstar. Let us not also forget that Jerry West is the one that gave 36 million $$'s to Brian Cardinal and also traded the draft rights to Troy Bell and Kendrick Perkins for Dahntay Jones and Troy Bell(what a waste of everyone's time although Perkins may turn out okay).
 
Kingster said:
I've got to give West his due. He knows what he's doing. Let's review the record.

When West became the GM of the Lakers, he inherited the then Lew Alcindor, who had been the #1 pick in the entire draft. Then West chose Worthy, the #1 pick in the entire draft, then West chose Magic, the #1 pick in the entire draft, then West traded for Shaq, who had been the #1 pick in the entire draft. It didn't hurt when West traded up to steal Kobe out of the mits of Petrie -Kobe should have been the #1 pick in the entire draft. Do you see a pattern here?
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Actually Bill Sharman was responsible for those early Showtime Laker team. He drafted Magic (MSU). West, an assistant at the time, wanted to draft Sidney Moncrief (Arkansas) in 1979. Rumor also had it that West wanted to draft Terry Cummings (DePaul) or Dominique Wilkins (U of Georgia) in the 1982 draft. Sharman took J Dub (UNC).

West took over from 1983 on. Just wanted to give credit where credit is due. Sharman should have his name up there in the rafters as well.
 
Kingster said:
Please put the West post on the Kings board. (It's now in the NBA section). It's connection to the Kings is pretty obvious. But if you need me to spell it out, here it is:

The Kings are rebuilding. Memphis is rebuilding. The Kings are doing it one way. Memphis is doing it another. West has one philosophy. The Kings have another. West has actively pursued the demolition of his team; the Kings have passively waited for the team to slowly fall apart. The odds are with Memphis in getting the first or second pick relative to the Kings. Memphis has more core players than the Kings, even though their record is far worse. Memphis is ahead of the curve. The Kings are behind the curve.
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Your thread was moved to the appropriate forum. Your initial post said absolutely NOTHING about the Kings. You can assume that people will draw the parallels but the NBA forum is the correct location for the thread.
 
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midnightlove1998 said:
Actually Bill Sharman was responsible for those early Showtime Laker team. He drafted Magic (MSU). West, an assistant at the time, wanted to draft Sidney Moncrief (Arkansas) in 1979. Rumor also had it that West wanted to draft Terry Cummings (DePaul) or Dominique Wilkins (U of Georgia) in the 1982 draft. Sharman took J Dub (UNC).

West took over from 1983 on. Just wanted to give credit where credit is due. Sharman should have his name up there in the rafters as well.
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No, West took Magic. It wasn't Sharman. But West did get a big push from Buss, the owner, to take Magic over Moncrief.
 
VF21 said:
Your thread was moved to the appropriate forum. Your initial post said absolutely NOTHING about the Kings. You can assume that people will draw the parallels but the NBA forum is the correct location for the thread.
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I guess sometimes you have to look a little deeper...
 
Kingster said:
No, West took Magic. It wasn't Sharman. But West did get a big push from Buss, the owner, to take Magic over Moncrief.
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Nope. Jerry West was the Lakers head coach one year before Magic got drafted by Sharman. Then he became a scout/assistant gm and really didn't start making move until he became GM in 1982. Magic already was a two time champion and Finals MVP before West was general manager.

Sharman built the foundation of those 80 Lakers squads.

http://www.hoopsanalyst.com/gmlakers.htm


Now site is mostly accurate except for his Byron Scott draft pick. Scott was selected by the Clipps and traded to the Lakers for Norm Nixon, which is stated later in the article. It's one thing to draft a player but certain moves must be made in order to get very high draft picks and Bill Sharman conned many teams to get a number one pick in 1979 and one in 1982.

Still doesn't get enough credit.
 
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Kingster said:
I've got to give West his due. He knows what he's doing. Let's review the record.

When West became the GM of the Lakers, he inherited the then Lew Alcindor, who had been the #1 pick in the entire draft. Then West chose Worthy, the #1 pick in the entire draft, then West chose Magic, the #1 pick in the entire draft, then West traded for Shaq, who had been the #1 pick in the entire draft. It didn't hurt when West traded up to steal Kobe out of the mits of Petrie -Kobe should have been the #1 pick in the entire draft. Do you see a pattern here?
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Pete Newell was the Lakers' GM when Kareem was acquired. West had come out of retirement to coach that season after Bill Sharman lost his voice. West was incidentally suing then-owner Jack Kent Cooke for breach of contract at the time. Sharman took over for Newell as GM in 76. West became his assistant after retiring from coaching in 79, which also means that Magic wasn't his draft pick either. West actually wanted to select Sidney Moncrief -- he admits that he had no clue Magic would become what he did. Worthy was Jerry's pick, however, although the lucky trade that eventually gave LA one of the top two picks in 82 was made by Sharman.

Btw, West's most astute move prior to getting Shaq and Kobe within 10 days of each other was trading Frank Brickowski to the Spurs for Mychal Thompson (#1 pick) in 1987. Thompson served as the first competent obstacle for guarding Kevin McHale in the Finals that year. When that trade was made, Larry Bird questioned why SA would do such a thing.
 
Kingster said:
then West traded for Shaq
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Shaq signed as a FA. What West did manage to do was gradually free up a 100 million slot after Magic retired (while constructing a decent team at the same time). That was not an easy task because Buss gave Magic an extension after he retired (w/ a $15 mill balloon in 95) and also because Worthy had $7 & $5 million balloons after retirement.

From 1983, West traded Nixon for Scott (success), drafted Green low in 85, got Thompson in 87 for nothing, drafted Divac low in 89, signed Perkins in 90, drafted Campbell low in 90, traded three 2nd rounders for Threatt in 91 (steal), drafted Peeler in 92, took Van Exel w/ the 37th pick in 93, traded a first rounder for Ceballos in 94 (All-Star that year), hired Harris in 94 (COY), drafted Jones w/ the 10th pick in 94 (weak draft).

During this time, salaries were kept manageable. In 96, he cut 6 salaries including sending George Lynch and Peeler to Vancouver for 2nd rounders. Before that, he consummated the Kobe deal. Getting rid of Divac's salary actually helped the Shaq deal along.

Later on he traded Ceballos for Horry after he threw the towel at Ainge. That was a steal. He also signed Fox for a cut rate amount when the Cavs were offering 20 mill over 4 yrs.
 
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midnightlove1998 said:
Bill Sharman conned many teams to get a number one pick in 1979 and one in 1982.

Still doesn't get enough credit.
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I agree, but both Magic and Worthy were blind luck. Magic was the result of Gail Goodrich signing as a vet FA w/ NO in 1976. Per the rules, the Jazz had to send LA compensation. They gave them future first rounders, one of them eventually becoming the top pick in 79. Worthy was the result of an average trade in 79 w/ Cleveland where LA got the Cavs' top pick in 82. Both the Jazz and Cavs wound up w/ the worst records the previous years, putting LA into those coin tosses. I don't think there was such a thing as protected picks back then.

PS: The Celtics had similar stories surrounding their acquisitions of both Bird and McHale (getting the picks). They are extremely convoluted tho. Bird was acquired in a shuffle of ownerships and players between Boston's and the Buffalo Braves' owners. Buffalo was moved to Cali and Boston retained an optional pick from the deal that eventually became Bird. Boston got McHale by trading w/ the Pistons where they got their first pick in 80 (same as LA got Worthy). They traded that pick and the 5th to GS for Parish and the 4th pick (McHale).

Blind luck is what shaped the 80s NBA.

Kareem to LA was largely luck too. He told the Bucks it was LA or NY or he was gone. The Bucks wanted a decent C and draft picks. NY had neither. LA had both. NY scrambled to make up for it w/ millions in cash. Didn't work.
 
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