R.I.P. Jerry West

[MarkInAustin]

I was fortunate enough to see him play in college when I was in HS.  My dad was a friend of Joe Lapchick, then the St. John's coach.  He got us tix for the WVa game in Madison Square Garden.

St. John's had a prospective All American wing named Tony Jackson, who was eaten alive by West. After the game, Lapchick told us that two college seniors, West and Oscar Robertson, were going to change the game at guard the way Russ, Wilt, and Pettit had changed it up front.  Great athletes were indeed taking over hoops.

W.Va had a 6-10 Center named Lloyd Sharrar, but West jumped center.  West averaged 13 rebounds a game.  West was an octopus on D.  In fact, he was 6-3 barefoot; 6-4.5 by modern NBA measurement in shoes.  He had 40" sleeves and could jump over the moon.  There is a clip on YouTube of him more than a foot over the rim in an NBA game at the age of 35.

Aside from pure athleticism what West and Oscar brought to guard play was distance shooting.  They averaged around 50% from the floor in the NBA when no guards had ever shot 44% previously.  Had there been a three point shot then West would have been the first Steph Curry.  Again, you can find a clip of him shooting a 40' shot over Walt Frazier as a buzzer beater, in perfect form.

Magic Johnson tells a story about West hitting 25 straight shots from the top of the circle while giving a talk to the assembled Lakers - when West was the Laker GM.

I would have played him next to Michael on my imaginary all time team because he was an insane defender as well as a fine lead passer and a very high percentage shooter.

The only knock on him?  As a first year NBA player he only drove right.  But then, after that, he easily went either way. Apparently worked his whole off season on it. 

He had a rep as the best executive and talent evaluator and as a great guy, as well.

I will be 81 in August, and losing West, for me, is like one more reminder of my own mortality.  So, again, RIP, Logo.