Remembering Jerry West: Legacy, Lessons, and Life-Changing Moments

[00:00:11] Today, I am your humble host, Vincent. Today's show is going to be a show of celebration.

[00:00:27] We're going to talk about the life of Jerry West and what he's meant to me. And also we'll get into who I think is also not being looked upon as a true head coaching hire.

[00:00:44] But before we get to all that, we must get to the socials and then we'll get on with this podcast. First and foremost, I'm sorry. I'm a little, little disconvivalent, but you guys will understand once we get into the podcast.

[00:01:02] But the socials it's been remarkable. Thank you for all the support on X are our numbers have increased so much over like the last month or so.

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[00:01:32] That's my guy right there. Get with him. And so he is at B, French F, R, K, C.

[00:01:41] Also, make sure that you are hitting up the YouTube A Front Runner podcast collective. That is we got new stuff up on there with our stuff up on there about Dan Hurley rejecting the lakeers where do they go from here.

[00:02:00] Who's to blame and what might actually have been the straw that broke the camels back on Hurley rejecting the lakeers. So go check that out as well.

[00:02:11] And then the last thing and I know I didn't hear every single time now, but it's not a broken record to me. It's just more appreciation for you guys on numbers on the downloads for this podcast are so great.

[00:02:34] We're we're going to definitely be our previous high mark. Thank you guys for doing what we've asked you to do. Be a friend and tell a friend, right?

[00:02:47] Tell a friend about the podcast, tell them that we talk hoops here, tell them that you know yeah today we're going to go old school. We're going to talk about Jerry West and hopefully you'll spark you guys to go back and and look at some YouTube footage and read a couple books and and and get to know this man who is a absolute giant for this sport.

[00:03:13] Again, we have such a strong contingency in Hong Kong Ghana like the top five or six places that are downloading a podcast. They're three in the United States. We were in Ghana. So shout out to Ghana and one is in Hong Kong of all places.

[00:03:41] So I appreciate the audience, I appreciate you digging the pod, I appreciate you guys going on this journey with us with me and func. I'm going to ask a rhea. She's our she's our Sally silent assassin over there.

[00:03:58] But we are so pleased that you guys are digging it. So continue to tell people about it, continue to share it with your friends and you know, share it with complete strangers at a bar, you know, whatever. Right. Okay.

[00:04:21] Now that we've gotten a whole the kind of fun fun things to talk about out of the way. Jerry West, a consultant with the clippers.

[00:04:36] Most recently has passed away at the age of 86 and I'm going to give you some background on them and then we're going to go for there. He was known as the Z from cabin Creek Mr West grew up in West Virginia.

[00:04:57] He had a really harsh childhood. He speaks of a really abusive father and it connected us. Reading reading upon that I as you can see,

[00:05:15] I'm a also a survivor of abuse. If you have, I'm going to just upload this podcast to YouTube. So you guys aren't we're just going to give you the full raw feed of what we're doing because Jerry West meant that much to me.

[00:05:33] But as you see, I have a parallelization on the right side of my face and that was thanks to my dad and I spoke about it on this podcast before. And, you know, that was our first connection.

[00:05:53] So Jerry West literally has been part of my life ever since I was little. What sparked my interest in doing this is the team that he put together with Maddy Johnson and Korean out doujie bar and at the time,

[00:06:11] Nixon in Jamal Wilkes, Michael Cooper, Spencer Haywood was on that team and then it changed to James Worthy, and Byron Scott and of course, Korean and magic in AC Green.

[00:06:28] But this man shaped my early childhood and the impact of me in such a way because we have civic pride out here. Los Angeles was winning championships and we were down for the Lakers and Jerry West was the architect of that.

[00:06:53] And we'll get further into this, but I don't want to skip steps here. We talked about Jerry being from West Virginia, his harsh childhood bring up.

[00:07:07] Also, I want to talk about what really impacted him at the age of 13, he lost his brother, David, who served in the Korean War. Jerry finally talks about his brother being one of the best people he's ever known.

[00:07:25] Also, in interview you could find it on YouTube. I believe I also think you could find it on ESPN archives. Jerry West talking about two of the most difficult times in his life was losing his brother at the age of 13 and obviously the tragic loss of Kobe Bryant.

[00:07:46] He held a copper crash. Jerry was devastated by those two things and losing his brother shaped him. In the name of more, but introvert, another thing that happened to Jerry is he was kind of scrawny.

[00:08:04] He was for all when he was little and he had to take vitamin injections to kind of boost up his immune system, but it made him a solitary person.

[00:08:15] And in that solitary mold that he was in, Jerry refined his skills because he was like, I don't have anything to do with just to get better.

[00:08:28] And Jerry shot the wall. Jerry shot from different angles. He shot it from different distances. He shot it from the left side, the right side. He shot that thing. That's what I'm trying to tell you. He shot that thing.

[00:08:45] Obviously, Mr. West, which he hated me, he hated when I called him that. He hated when I called him Mr. West.

[00:08:56] But Mr. West went on to start at the University of West Virginia where he was a two-time old American and then he became the second overall pick in the 1960 draft to the Lakers, which they were in Minneapolis at the time.

[00:09:13] He had a story career, right? Let's get into it. Fourteen-time off-store. He was a, he was a 1972 NBA finals in VP. He also was the only player to ever win a finals in VP from a losing team and that was in 1969.

[00:09:39] Do you research guys? The other thing is that he's a 10-time first team all NBA player. He's also a four-time defensive player, all defensive player. Jerry West was all around player. We don't have to go into how great he was on the court.

[00:09:58] But it's all leading to a lot of things here. But I wanted to give you background what the man meant to lead. This is a guy who, when we talk about the Boston Lakers rivalry, he was in the middle that Russell Kuzzi had a legic error.

[00:10:16] He had to deal with all that and he talks about how devastating all those losses were because when he finally got to the mountain in 72 when they finally did when the championship, he talks about that.

[00:10:31] He felt joy for the fan base and would lead for himself because he felt that with all other points that that man scored, with all the great moments that that man gave Los Angeles.

[00:10:45] He felt he let Los Angeles down, getting them to the finals all those times with less superior teams by the way. He felt he let them down but he was really overjoyed for the fan base and also for his teammates at the moment.

[00:11:11] Winning the title for him was like just checking the box moment on the NBA series. He retired from basketball because of the fact that he talks about this specifically. Jerry West is a stand-up guy.

[00:11:35] He's probably as most stand-up as you can get and if you ask Jerry a question, he's going to give you a very honest answer now. I don't know if the young people of today are built for that but that's what Jerry West was.

[00:11:54] And if you lie to Jerry that was it. Could you imagine a day and age now Jerry West walking around with people how they act and whatever the case may be, but he retired because he was told something.

[00:12:14] Contractually mind you, I listed all the athletes of this man to you. Also he was a scoring champion in 1970 and an NBA assist leader in 1972. So he used all around guy as far as basketball talent. So the Laker organization, so in 1972 he was a assist leader.

[00:12:52] So at tores in his career he toys growing. He was going to come back. They promised him a certain amount of money they didn't get it to him. And Jerry West was going to be the first million dollar player ever in the NBA he turned it down.

[00:13:10] He turned it down because when you lie to him on the contract in 73 that was pretty much the end of your relationship. Jerry West at that point in time. He was a man of principle.

[00:13:26] So whatever you think of that, you can say yeah he left the bag and all this other thing. But you know, this is what he decided to do.

[00:13:42] But the West part about it is it didn't stop him from rejoining in the Lakers and becoming their GM which would now be your president of player personnel. Type of person they didn't have that title back then. Obviously organizations have gotten bigger.

[00:14:03] They've gotten more advanced as far as this concern. You need more people to really truly run an organization. But at the time he became a GM and he became a eight time executive of the year.

[00:14:20] He got so bad in the 80s that if you got a call from the 213 area code because this was we didn't have three to we didn't have 310 we didn't have 562 at that point.

[00:14:34] But if you got a call from the 213 area code and you were in the NBA and you were in a front office, you just didn't want to take that call. Because it was Jerry West on the other line. And Jerry West found ways to get players.

[00:14:55] I mean, some of the trades that he made. How he got magic Johnson was crazy Utah will always understand. The worthy situation three years later. We got Bob Macadoo for a song.

[00:15:19] Byron Scott which was a high pick we traded Norm Nixon for Byron Scott that led to more titles. Oh, you say well, he looks like he got kind of fortunate. Well then he started to draft late.

[00:15:33] And then there were people like AC green who were getting drafted like with the 2627 pick overall. And then there were guys like Michael Cooper and there were trades for Michael Thompson. And then after you say, hey, he built one right and he had a generational talent.

[00:16:04] Could he do it again? We went through some years with Nick Van Xil and whatever and then came Kobe. Jerry West talks about how it was one the easiest. Scouting situations he's ever done because Jerry West believes in a couple things here. He believes in compete level.

[00:16:31] He believes in your your basketball IQ, you know, obviously you have to have athletic traits and things of that nature. But what drew him the companies that he spoke three languages already. He was a accomplished young man.

[00:16:52] And Jerry felt a kinship to Kobe Grant because he knew the solitary life that Kobe lived in Italy before he got to the states. But he also saw just the drive to be excellent and he shaped Kobe and helped Kobe along his way.

[00:17:21] Obviously Kobe did a lot on his all but they talked a lot. Hell, there was a point where Kobe was thinking about going to Memphis when Jerry went to Memphis and we're going to get into all the places he went to.

[00:17:41] Because his career was so vast because he went to the lake as he built them and then once he left the lake or it's he went to Memphis. Right, they had only one 23 games before Jerry West got there and he brought in Hughie Rale.

[00:18:04] And the grit and ground the grit and grind legacy was born. Okay, he went all to be of consultant for Golden State and he was absolutely significant in the drafting of Clay Thompson because he had a relationship with Michael Thompson.

[00:18:31] And then also he was the pitch man for Kevin Durant to come to Golden State. And he talked to on the outside. Talk to on about legacy and it changed the direction of the NBA landscape for a period of time where Golden State was absolutely dominant.

[00:18:55] And then he came to the clippers and brought his consultant ship to the clippers and he talks about Steve Palmer in a way where I honestly did not know but getting to know him and we're about to get to the part where this gets personal for me.

[00:19:20] But before I finish it up also keep in mind Jerry West was excellent everything he did he had a small green coaching stand which he took. He says that was the stupid thing I ever done his coaching because he can stand it.

[00:19:37] 145 and 101 was his record he had a winning percentage of 58.9%. There wasn't anything this man could do that's why he's a three time hall of favor so as a player.

[00:19:56] And then he was a senior in ambassador for the lead as for ambassador league but also for executive and also for collegiate sports as well the US.

[00:20:09] Mr. West also talks about how the true most things that he's proud of as for his legacies concerned is winning the 1960 gold medal. where everything was going on in our country with social justice and cold wars and things of that nature.

[00:20:35] And he said that he in Oscar Robinson, because it didn't put the gold medals on everybody at that point. So he in Oscar Robinson stood on the gold medal podium together. And he said, a change is life. Then he's called Mr. Clutch and he's the logo.

[00:21:10] And he hates it. He hates that everybody knows that he's the logo. He's so differential to it. Like it almost you can see it just sends it like a tinkled up his spine.

[00:21:26] If it's ever brought up. So what his kids like it and they want to keep it so he's like okay whatever. And then that gets me to me, right? I've lived a lot of lives. I've done a lot of stuff and I had the fortunate

[00:21:50] in this act we're running into Mr. West. We're going to have a previous spot and just got to sit and talk with him for a second and just explain how indelible of a mark he's left on me as a person who enjoys doing this, right?

[00:22:11] And he couldn't have been more gracious with his time. He couldn't be more generous with his time. And it led to every once in a while picking up the phone and and talking to one another as the clippers were going through these situations with Paul George and

[00:22:31] and quite a minute being hurt. And how frustrating was for him because all he wanted to do was to win it to help win a title for Mr. Palmer. Because he called Mr. He called Steve Palmer one of the most

[00:22:44] generous men that he's ever met, not just with his money but also with his time. And it, it means a lot to him when because he loves people for somebody so reserved in somebody so

[00:23:04] revered in this industry, he loves people and he loves talking to the game where he loves talk about life. He told me that once he got into the league, he only wanted to room with black

[00:23:24] players because he wanted to learn from them. He wanted to learn what they went through and he also wanted to see what the similarities were and what he found out is that we're all really similar and if at 22 years old, 23 years old West Virginia, born Jerry West,

[00:23:59] can figure out that it's not the color of your skin but it's the content of your character. And we should all take, we should all take a... Hey, Vince, just take your time here, man.

[00:24:20] No, cool, thanks, man. We should all take a page out of his book. We should all take a page out of his book. For that. But he befriended me. There were conversations and I learned a lot about the game. I learned a lot about how things work and

[00:24:45] I try to share as much as I possibly can with you guys. But he was generous to an independent podcaster who did he didn't know from Adam and all I did was say Mr. West and he said,

[00:24:59] could you just call me Jerry? Just call me Jerry. He was extremely fiery when he came to talking about basketball and wanting to win. But talking about books and talking about history

[00:25:21] and talking about Korean and talking about his love for Korean as a person. And how Korean was a person that broke the mold and pushed boundaries when it wasn't cool for black people to

[00:25:45] push boundaries and how he wanted Korean to do that. And even though they had kind of a back and forth relationship, he loved Korean. He loved Shack too. He loved Shack.

[00:26:07] But he just loved people, man. And we talked about at the end of this show all the time that you know, Sarajo Sa who people who brought in your light and don't extinguish your light. And

[00:26:27] unfortunately we had a really bright light get a extinguished today. And my condolences go out to his family, his wife, his kids. And anybody who ever came across Jerry West was left better by Jerry West.

[00:26:50] So I know I'm more important. I'm a better person because of Jerry West and I thank him for everything. He's ever said to me, ever done for me. So thank you West and peace to the logo Mr. West.

[00:27:14] All right we're going to um we're not leaving all this in two funds. All of it all of is going to be left in all of it. We're going to turn our attention to something also that's kind

[00:27:32] of erking me a little bit and I hate for this podcast to be like this, but here we are. Sam Kassell. Sam Kassell has been an assistant coach for a long time in the NBA.

[00:27:50] But before Sam Kassell was a coach, he also had a 16 year career where he was part of three chancryship teams. Two in Houston which are the uh don't underestimate the heart of a chanthian

[00:28:06] Houston rockets along with Lajuan, Drexler and the gang. He also was a part of the Boston Celtics of 2008 title and then he retired in 2009 and went right into coaching. So he's been on

[00:28:26] his grind since 2009 as an assistant coach and he's made a lot of stops along the way. Let's get into him. He was with the Washington Wizards for five years and then he joined up with Doc Rivers

[00:28:44] with the Clippers for six in Los Angeles and then three with the 76ers along with Doc Rivers there. So he was his a trusted assistant with Doc loves him and also believes that he should be a

[00:28:59] hair coach. And this season he was he's been instrumental along with Charles Lee and I want to get Charles Lee his props too because he's going to be the coach down in Charlotte and I believe that

[00:29:13] Charlotte is on the up swing with Charles Lee. I think you're going to have some accountability, you're going to see some structural changes and I think there are better days for the Charlotte Hornets

[00:29:28] but getting back to the Sam Ksell. He's been instrumental in what Boston is doing right now you know who we're now in the hunt for banner 18 which hurts from my heart but still it is what it

[00:29:44] is and then Hall of Famer and former head coach other Houston rockets of those championship team used his platform when I guess he got a lifetime achievement award a couple days ago

[00:29:58] and in his statement he says that I really wish that Sam Ksell could get a head coaching job and he can't pay him for his guy and I want to do the same because he played for 16 years.

[00:30:14] He did he wasn't all star. He played on championship teams. He was a vital piece in in those championship runs as far as that's concerned. I'm not saying he was like the star where he was amongst stars. He played a role when he played for the Celtics and

[00:30:33] he was just going to he was a steady point guard in the lead wherever he went. He played a long time because you could trust him right? You could trust in Sam Ksell and then I think the one thing

[00:30:45] that is holding Sam Ksell back or what I have heard out there which is kind of funny to me and we're going to get into this real quick. Some organizations might be reluctant

[00:30:56] to bring in Sam Ksell as a head coach because of his upfront and honest approach. Okay, so was it last year? Who was it last year? Did Renag gets right? Mike and Malong. Okay, Eric Spostra, coast tibs, shit the the Lakers tried to give

[00:31:29] down her least six years and 70 million dollars of the other day. What do all of these coaches have in common? Oh yeah they're all upfront and they're all truthful to their players. So

[00:31:47] I'm not asked this in the most I guess I don't know what you want to call it. What way possible shots out to my guy Sam Ksell and also again, resting piece to Jerry West when I'm going to tie all this together. Shoot straight with me.

[00:32:13] At age 53 and what all this man has seen and all this knowledge that just guy has gained over his years of being a basketball basically since 1993 he hasn't left the score at all not one year. Can this man get a little gentleman look at head coach now?

[00:32:32] What more doves does he have to pay to get a real legitimate shot at a head coaching get? The Lakers still do not have head coach. I think the wizards still they have head coach.

[00:32:51] I think they took the inner attack of Brian Keith. The Cleveland Cavaliers are still looking for coaches. Can somebody please give Sam Ksell a private jet fly him out,

[00:33:10] allow him to look at yo facilities? You sit down and talk philosophy with this man and see if he is not up to snuff for a head coaching candidacy because I really like to see it. Play your swear by him, collide loves him, others love them.

[00:33:36] Think he has a really good relationship with Jalen Brown just kind of wonder ring out loud why this is to Sam. Before we get out of here we're not going to do too much on the

[00:33:56] NBA finals because they've had a break. We had a podcast after game two. We talked about some of the adjustments that Boston and the fabrics can make so please go listen to the archive pods last

[00:34:11] pod was on Monday and you'll get all that information there. I will say this there are two pieces of information that we do know at this moment. Luca is taking and a pain killing injection to the

[00:34:27] rib cage for that thoracic and codusion that he has. And I'm not going to even try to attempt the name of the injury that Christa porzing his ass. What is an ankle injury? And it's a weird ankle

[00:34:44] injury because what it looks like it's it's the tendon that kind of holds the like the the top of the ankle going down to the foot so it's the backside of your ankle and that's the

[00:35:00] thing that is hurt and it's not the leg that the calf strength was on. So we're talking about left leg instead of right leg so there's the issue there we don't know if he's going to play

[00:35:17] that is a game time decision. I think this helps Dallas I don't think this necessarily changes the balance of the series and like I said we got into it in last pod so we don't need to get into

[00:35:31] it there. The last piece of I guess information that I want to give out today is that we are going to start doing draft stuff more next week. So you guys can look forward to NBA draft stuff

[00:35:52] coming up. I'm going to begin on that we are not a one man showing you more and that right fun. Yes we have draft stuff coming and a couple of segments that I can't wait for.

[00:36:06] Correct. So we do this together and so we'll have NBA draft coverage coming out we'll we talk about prospects and get into it next week so keep it locked here on front or on our podcast

[00:36:21] collective and it's a short pod today I didn't have too much to say because we didn't have games and I thought it was very important to talk about Mr West give him his flowers even though

[00:36:40] he would never want them. He was such a reluctant guy but he definitely deserved them and we lost a great one today and what that being said I want everybody to know this again I appreciate you guys so much thank you for going on this journey with us.

[00:37:04] Fonts, is there anything you want to say since you this is your maiden voyage? Vince this was great. I was glad to actually be on the podcast instead of pre and post

[00:37:16] productions meetings. The first of many and I am really pumped for a couple new segments that we are fine tuning and I hope the listeners enjoy it. Echo those segments exactly and I will go ahead

[00:37:30] and say this. Best part of you is you do not let anybody extinguish your light only surround people only surround yourself with people who are going to brighten your light. Do good news

[00:37:49] world we'll see you back on this feed our Friday we'll have a game to discuss and also set an up game for Friday right again thank you guys again for joining us and we'll see you back on this feed on Friday. Doose.