Jerry West: Did win a championship as a player| Coach

In the latest episode of Winning Time, Jerry West (Jason Clarke) is shown winning his lone NBA championship in 1972. Today we will discuss about Jerry West: Did win a championship as a player| Coach

Jerry West: Did win a championship as a player| Coach

Jerome Allen West (born May 28, 1938)  is an American basketball executive and former player. He played professionally for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His nicknames included “Mr. Clutch”, for his ability to make a big play in clutch position, such as his famous buzzer-beating 60-foot shot that tied Game 3 of the 1970 NBA Finals against the New York Knicks; The “logo”, in reference to their silhouette being included in the NBA logo; “Mr. Outside”, in reference to his sophomore drama with the Los Angeles Lakers; and “Zeke from Cabin Creek”, to the creek near his birthplace of Chelyan, West Virginia. West played the small forward position early in his career, and he was a standout at East Bank High School and West Virginia University, where he led the Mountaineers to the 1959 NCAA championship game. He earned the honor of the NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player despite the loss. He then began a 14-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, and was co-captain of the 1960 U.S. Olympic gold medal team, a team that was inducted as a unit into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. 

championship as a player

West’s NBA career was extremely successful. While playing a guard position, he was voted into the All-NBA First and Second teams 12 times, was selected to the NBA All-Star team 14 times, and was elected as the All-Star MVP in 1972, the same year. West holds the NBA record for the highest average points per game in a playoff series with 46.3 in his only career title. He was also a member of the first five NBA All-Defensive teams (one second, followed by four firsts), introduced at age 32. After playing in nine NBA Finals, he is the only player in NBA history to be named Finals MVP despite being on the losing team (1969). In 1980, West was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and named to the NBA’s 35th Anniversary Team. [5] In 1996, West was named as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA history and In 2021, was named in the NBA’s 75th anniversary squad.

After his playing career ended, West took over as head coach of the Lakers for three years. He led Los Angeles to the playoffs every year and earned a Western Conference Final berth once. Working as a player-scout for three years, West was named general manager of the Lakers prior to the 1982–83 NBA season. Under his reign, Los Angeles won six championship rings. In 2002, West became the general manager of the Memphis Grizzlies and helped the franchise win its first playoff berth. For his contributions, West won the NBA Executive of the Year Award twice, once as Lakers manager (1995) and again as Grizzlies manager (2004). West’s son, Johnny, also played college basketball for West Virginia.

Coach

In his three years in charge between 1976–1979, he guided the Lakers to a 145–101 record and the Western Conference 1977 Finals.

However, in 1979, Jerry West decided to step down as the head coach of the Lakers.

Jerry West was followed by LA Lakers coach Pat Riley – who led the team through the ‘Showtime’ era of the 1980s – departing himself in 1990.

He instead opted to become a scout for the team, before becoming general manager of the franchise in 1982.

During his tenure, he oversaw the Johnson-era Lakers, before signing the likes of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neill in the late 1990s after Reconstruction.

In total, he won three NBA Championship rings as a Lakers GM – 1985, 1987, 1988.