One-on-One with Jerry West

Published in SBJ April 28, 2005

Jerry West turned 82 yesterday (May 28). It seems as good a reason as any to revisit my interview with him from 2005. 

When West retired from play with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1974, he had scored more than 25,000 points, only the third player at the time in NBA history to have done so. Known as Mr. Clutch for his consistent ability to make the pressure shot, West became the literal symbol of the league. (His silhouette is the NBA logo.)

A two-time All-America player at West Virginia and co-captain of the U.S. Olympic gold-medal team in 1960, West became an all-star in each of his 14 seasons in Los Angeles and a 10-time all-NBA first-team selection. Elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980 and named one of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players, West coached the Lakers for three seasons before moving to their front office.

In 2002, he ended a 40-year association with the Lakers and joined the Memphis Grizzlies as president of basketball operations. Under West’s direction, the team has reversed its fortunes, improving from 28 victories in his first season to 50 in his second.

Update: West joined the front office of the Golden State Warriors in 2011. Four years later, the team won its first NBA championship since 1975. It earned another in 2017 (the eighth for West), after which West left to join the Los Angeles Clippers as a consultant.

Q. After so many successful years with the Lakers, you walked away from the game. Now you are closer to your West Virginia home. What led you to go to Memphis?

West: I retired. The stress and pressure are something I feel. I had just given about all I could give to [the Lakers] franchise. I needed to get away for a while. And within about a year and a half, I started to feel not as stressed and harried as you would feel when you’re working for these franchises. 

Q. How are things now?

West: When the season starts, there’s no in-between. You’re happy if you win; you’re miserable when you lose. [In L.A.], winning was always expected. You didn’t worry about winning games; you worried about winning championships. The Lakers have been such a dominant part of the Los Angeles sports scene. I believe that added even more pressure to all of us, but particularly for me. I was there so darn long, as a player, coach and executive, and it just got to the point where it didn’t feel good. Winning was not fun and losing was even worse. 

Q. Do you have a basic business philosophy?

West: I’ve always felt that players should not be underpaid. Nor do I think that they should be overpaid. I just think that in today’s world, with the agents playing such a prominent [role] and free agency being so important, all of us would tend to overpay if we want a free agent. And paying money to players does not make you win. It’s been pretty evident in all sports. Does it give you a better chance? You would think it would. But you look out around the league today and some of the teams with the biggest payrolls have not accomplished very much. I think it’s almost a testament to the agents: They can get people to buy into how great their players are when they might be average players, wanting these average players to make enormous salaries, which a lot of them do.  

Q. What’s the best business call you have made?  

West: It’s really hard to say. I live my life almost by my instincts in terms of players that we might try to acquire and players that are available to us. There might be some players on the free-agent market who want $10 million-plus that I don’t like at all as players, and there might be some that I think are really undervalued. Depending on the market you are in and the resources you have available to spend, I think you have to judge accordingly to what those players might be and what they may not be. 

Q. Roger Staubach said that running a business can be tougher than running an offense, and Joe Dumars said that running a team is far more satisfying than playing. What do you say?

West: It’s probably a combination of both. I think it’s so much easier to play, particularly if you have the ability to play in the league at a high level. For the people who are fortunate enough to be able to work for franchises, our work behind the scenes allows us—if we do a good job and the owners think we do a good job—to have some life expectancy other than just as a player. 

Q. What about the personal satisfaction of building a team?

West: There’s a tremendous amount of gratification in helping to build a team. It’s a challenge every day because the talent pool is not as high as people think. There are 30 people competing on, hopefully, a level playing field, trying to attract and draft the same kind of players. That, to me, is very interesting, and also the challenge of the different markets that are in the league. 

Q. For example?

West: The big markets certainly have an enormous advantage because of the revenues involved. We have to try to spend our money a little more wisely if we can, but, more importantly, to have the fiscal responsibility to put these teams in a position to have value other than just having a huge dollar loss every year. That’s a challenge here in Memphis as opposed to Los Angeles and something that we are really going to concentrate on this year: How do we get to the point where we can become a profitable franchise.

Q. Attendance through January at the Grizzlies’ home games was up nearly 13 percent. Has it been a tough sell in Memphis?

West: I work pretty much on the basketball side, but certainly I’m very aware of the business side here, and it is a tough sell. This is a very, very small market. Our revenues have increased greatly here. We have a new building. We had some success last year. We’re playing pretty well under the circumstances, with the most injuries I’ve ever been associated with on one team. We’re still hanging in. But for the most part, I have seen some growth here. 

Q. What’s next?

West: We need to continue to build this team to make it better so that we attract more people. And if we attract more people, then the ancillary income from some of the local industries will be greater than it is today. We’re still really limited, compared to the major markets, in what we can try to go out and sell to: potential customers and, more importantly, potential businesses that want to get involved with the Grizzlies and be associated with the Grizzlies.

Q. The business of the game has changed since your playing days, hasn’t it?

West: Oh, it was like the stone age when I played. The Lakers are now wearing five different uniforms. It’s mind-boggling to me that somebody would even want to make that many uniforms, but it tells you the marketing of the league is obviously important. It brings great community pride to see people from the community that you’re in wear player shirts that identify them with the local product.

Q. Does the fact that you competed at such a high level give you an advantage in dealing with your players?

West: I would never say that. I would like to say that I’m very candid and straightforward with players. I have my own feelings, and just as we get criticized for what we do in the newspapers, we certainly want to protect our players. But I think internally you have a right to say [to the players], “You’re letting us down in this area here and we need to pick it up.” And I think most of our players would tell you that I’m very candid about stuff like that.

Q. Dumars said the most difficult thing for him in the transition from player to front-office executive is having to trade a player.

West: To me, the worst thing is when you have to say goodbye to a player that you don’t feel is good enough to play in the league. That is a cold feeling because these dreams have been there since they were kids. They get drafted and you have them on your squad and you decide that maybe somebody else is better. You feel like judge, jury, and executioner. 

Q. What about trading a player?

West: Trading players that you know is very difficult because there are always mixed emotions. Some players want to be traded and some players don’t want to be traded. Those emotions are very difficult to deal with. And more importantly, when you go home at night, I think we get the reputation of being cold and callous because that’s part of your job—just a horrible part of the job. 

But I think saying goodbye to a player that maybe has played a long time in the league and doesn’t have much left, or you feel he doesn’t have anything left, and you say, “Congratulations. You had a great career, but we’re going to move in another direction now.” When you tell another player, “We’re going to cut you or waive you,” that is a difficult thing. You are probably waiving or cutting a player at a very early age in his life. It affects a lot of people. That, to me, is the worst.

Q. You have had a good eye for talent evaluation, especially with the Lakers, who didn’t always have a high pick in the draft. Is there something in particular you look for in a player?

West: I think we all look for different things. The one thing to me that is very evident is obviously skill, and physical capabilities are vitally important. But I think the skill that is sometimes overlooked is the ability to work hard. To me, hard work is a skill. Some players just don’t have the same energy levels as other players; they don’t bounce back as quickly from playing so many games in so many days. And some players seem to play well for 60 games and 22 games they take off. 

Q. They take off?

West: I don’t mean take off from not being able to play. They just can’t get anything accomplished. They don’t seem to have the energy. But yet we pay them for 82 games. It really is a players’ league. They have an enormous advantage today because of all the rights and things that have been negotiated with the advent of the players association.

Q. Who or what has had the biggest influence in your professional life?

West: Oh, boy. You know, I’ve always been a person who tried to learn something every day. I have some friends who have been very successful away from the basketball arena. And I marvel at the differences in personalities and the incredible instincts that they seem to have for making financial deals and acquiring companies and stuff like that. I had a pretty good education working for Jerry Buss for the Lakers when the league was not as prosperous as it is today. 

Q. About the NBA, you said, “We expanded very fast and we’re getting younger and younger players in the game.” Is that a good thing? How do you assess the state of the league today?

West: We’re a league that has started to kind of reinvent itself. What has driven this league in the past has been our personalities and our stars. And we certainly have those. But they just don’t come along every day, and those types of players are few and far between. 

Now, all of a sudden, we have a wealth of young talent. We’re hopeful that they‘ll grow into the kind of citizens that represent the league the way that I think the people who care about the league would like to see it: to see it presented not only publicly but particularly in print and also when people get in front of news cameras. I think some of these kids have done a nice job in that. I think they’re getting better. In some ways, we are bringing along the next group of stars. The league does a great job in promoting those players. 

Q. Would you favor an age minimum for the NBA?

West: I think all of us feel that there’s a lot more work in having younger kids, but that’s not for me to say. I think that’s something that has to be discussed behind closed doors. We’ve had some wonderful young kids come in and play extremely well and be a viable part of the league. 

Q. Do the colleges serve as the minor leagues for the NBA?

West: At one time, very definitely yes. But now, because so many kids bypass the college system, it’s certainly not that way anymore. At one time, players used to be able to brand themselves with a college team. That meant that the league inherited a bunch of players that were kind of household names already throughout the country, particularly among basketball fans. It’s a little bit different job for the league now, I believe. 

Q. How is it different?

West: We have to help brand those kids ourselves. The system seems to work best when you have an attractive college team and you inherit those players who are proven and who established tremendous records and have identified themselves as being the best players in America. We don’t do that quite often anymore. If you look at the last four years, I believe the No. 1 player in the draft, three of them have been high school kids and the other one has been from China. 

Q. Players today slap hands with a teammate after he misses a foul shot. You once said you’d be embarrassed if anyone did that to you.

West: I also think it’s distracting. I don’t think anything needs to be said. But again, it’s just part of today’s game. If I were a coach, I wouldn’t want it to happen. I would discourage that. It has nothing to do with the game. I think every player feels bad enough about missing shots, but I don’t think you have to acknowledge a miss.

Q. You were not a demonstrative player, but in today’s game the culture is a little different. Players celebrate dunks, scores, blocks and so forth. Is showtime an inextricable part of the game now? 

West: I suppose it is. You see it all the time. You see some guy go do something and you watch his man kick his ass the whole game, and you start to say, “Hey, that guy after the game is probably laughing at you.” But we do have excitable and emotional players and, again, that’s part of the game today. We’re seeing the changing culture of the game a little bit. 

Q. Seeing yourself on SportsCenter.

West: If you watch ESPN, which is kind of the sports junkie quick review of a game—always showing you dunks or spectacular plays—they don’t show the nuts and bolts of the game, and I think that’s created the other side of the game, glorifying the spectacular but ignoring the substance of the game.

Q. You said, “I like substance over style, always, and I think that wins for you in this league.” 

West: I still say it wins. In many cases I think style darn sure gets publicized a lot more than substance. If you look at the teams at the end, they might have players that play the game with some style, but they also have a lot of substance, and at the end of the year the champion pretty much represents that.

Q. The game requires so much individual skill, and yet the team can’t succeed unless everyone plays as a unit. What is the key?

West: If you watch a well-drilled, well-schooled team, it looks like all the players are thinking alike, playing with one mind. If you watch teams where a bunch of individuals are out there, or inexperienced players or poor teams, you’ll never see that. The real good teams make the extra pass. Everyone helps each other defensively, everyone is running back defensively, everyone is playing smart basketball. The good teams do that; the poor teams don’t, and the young teams don’t. And I think that’s the essence of the game. It’s like one mind playing the game, and when you can get that, you’ve got something special. 

Q. It can’t be easy trying to predict how young players will turn out.

West: It’s getting more and more difficult. I don’t think there’s any question. We’re drafting on talent, and talent is sometimes not good enough. You see a kid who’s really gifted physically, and I think everyone gets enamored with dunking. Unfortunately, there are not many dunks made in a game. I think we’re all victims of that because we understand the fans want to be entertained. They want to see something spectacular, which often happens in the flow of a game.

Q. Any college seniors you particularly like?

West: You know, I would say no. The NCAA will probably whet the appetite of more NBA people, but I would say that probably the players who are the most attractive will be the underclassmen, as they have been for the last few years.

Q. Does the game need any changes?

West: I wouldn’t think so. The advent of the three-point shot has put the game out of doubt, but sometimes it’s a license to shoot shots that players shouldn’t be shooting. One big change I see in players today, in almost all players of all sizes, is that they can all handle the ball pretty well. But I think the biggest difference is the way the game is taught today. The positive part of it is that we seem to be getting back to where we’re scoring more points. We’re in the entertainment business. I would much rather see a game where there are some points scored as compared to the games where there are not many points scored.

Q. What happened to the violations that used to be called “traveling” and “palming?”

West: It’s in marketing the league. We have great players who walk every time they get [the ball], and they don’t call it. We have players who get every call. It’s just part of the league—and it’s not meant to be critical. But officials know that the extraordinary skill that some of these incredible players have is greatly responsible for their team’s success. There’s no question that those things exist to some extent. It’s not done deliberately; it’s not done with people sitting around thinking. But it’s just watching the amazing skills that these people have. And they do it so cleverly. It gives you a tremendous advantage if you’re a good offensive player. 

Q. I was surprised to see palming called in a recent college game. I can’t remember the last time that was enforced.  

West: In the NBA you could start calling palming from the time they go out to warm up. But I think the thing that’s interesting about it is now they allow everyone to carry the ball, not just one person. 

Q. Is there anything is basketball you would not miss if it were eliminated?

West: There are some things that I would certainly like to see different, but if I talk about it, I’ll get fined. I wouldn’t miss the three-point shot, even though I think it adds intrigue.

Q. Too bad the three-point shot was not around when you played.

West: I wish it were around, yes. It would have won a few more games for us, that’s for sure. Oh, and I can do without the dunk shot, too, by the way. One point for a dunk.

Q. Your old backcourt teammate Gail Goodrich said that what he enjoyed most in sports was the camaraderie. What do you think is the best thing about sports?

West: The harshest lessons learned in life are probably through sports. There is no gray area. You either win or you lose. And I think it tests the character of all players. It tests the character of the people working internally. And it can lead to hastily made decisions that sometimes damage a franchise more than they would ever help because people don’t want to lose.

Q. A daunting challenge.

West: I think management has a great responsibility to the ownership, almost to the point where I believe that you should lose your job if there’s something that the owner wants to do and it’s just not the right thing to do because it is an emotional thing. I do think that we’re all at risk sometimes because we’re opinionated and we think we know what’s best for the team, and we don’t own the team. I like to think I’d never work for money in my life. I do it because I love it. Obviously, it’s important to get paid if you’re in a business like this. But I think the most important thing is, if somebody hires you, they should trust your instincts enough to let you run the team and for them to not interfere with some things that maybe they’re not very familiar with.

PERSONAL:

Date & Place of Birth: May 28, 1938 in Chelyan, West Virginia

Education: University of West Virginia

  

FAVORITES

Movie: I had a brother killed in Korea, and not a week goes by that I don’t think of him in some way. I like to read, and I like to examine historical things. There have been two or three movies regarding wars that sometimes you scratch your head [and think,] “Why does this make sense? Why does that make sense?” Movies about conflicts have always probably emotionally tuned me in. I thought Apocalypse Now was a great movie. I thought Band of Brothers was a very good series on the horrible nature of war. Seabiscuit was tremendously inspirational to me. Finding Forrester, about a young kid getting involved with someone who had this great wealth of knowledge, was a touching move. 

Athlete you most enjoy watching: Tiger Woods. Golf is the most challenging sport for me. Not only are you playing against the course, but you are also trying to control yourself. And you watch Vijay Singh and the incredible work ethic he has. There are some players in the NBA I greatly admire: Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan from the past, Bill Russell and Larry Bird. Among the current players: I’m a great fan of Tim Duncan. He’s probably the player that has what I think is most important. He has style and he has a substance. He also plays the game with class and grace. And Kevin Garnett is very much the same. Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. Lebron James—the sky is the limit for him. Those are just some of the ones I’ve most enjoyed, watching them compete and excel.

Vacation Spot:  The Greenbrier in West Virginia

Sporting Event: The Ryder Cup. We don’t have as much nationalism in this country. I think everyone wants to say we do, but we don’t. And I think that’s one thing where nationalism come to fore

Music: Growing up in West Virginia, everybody used to listen to country music. I like classical music. Now my tastes run to soft rock and some jazz. I like some of the old, traditional people. I like Elton John. I think he’s a tremendous entertainer. I listen to a lot of music from different areas.

Smartest player: Oscar Robertson

Greatest competitor: Bill Russell

Last book read: I read a lot. I just read a book on George Washington. I’m reading a book on Germany in the last part of the war. I’ve just about finished The Kite Runner, a very touching book. My reading tends to vary. I learn a lot through reading.