RateItAll: The Opinion Network

How can't you give him a five star?

Favotie player of all times!
Until MJ came along West WAS the best two guard ever.
West was a tremendous scorer and a tenacious defender.
Some of Jerry West playoff exploits are legendary.
As A Player ,Coach,& General Manager there has been none better in the history of the NBA.
No wonder why Jerry is the NBA Logo.

West, along with teammate Elgin Baylor, was one of the best players in NBA history pre-1980. If he played today, Jerry West would still have that killer jump shot, (although many of his shots would now be worth three points instead of two) he would still have those quick hands on defense, and he would still be the guy that you threw the ball to with the game on the line. Here in Los Angeles, (Although I was a transplanted Celtics fan) we were fortunate enough to have had the great Chick Hearn (the best announcer in the history of the game) giving the play by play for every Lakers game since they moved to L.A. from Minneapolis (Until his death a few years ago) and when Chick gave something or someone a nickname, you can bet that it was an appropriate one. It was Hearn who coined the phrase, "slam dunk." A player dribbling was, "yo-yoing up and down." A shot that circled the rim and came out was a, "heartbreaker." A player who took the pump-fake and came down as the shooter went up was, "put in the popcorn machine." And Jerry West was, "Mr. Clutch." When he finished his career player (After scoring over 27,000 points and playing in 14 Allstar games), he started building. Every championship ever won by the Los Angeles Lakers has Jerry West's fingerprints on it. His number hung up in the rafters of Fabulous Forum (It now hangs in the Staples Center) along with Baylor, Wilt, Kareem, Magic, James Worthy, and former backcourt teammate Gail Goodrich. As mentioned in earlier reviews, it is his silhouette that appears as the NBA logo. I hope that they never change it.

It's too bad they didn't keep steals and blocks when he played, because he would have had years where he had at least 5 steals and 2 blocks per game (no joke, the man was 6'3 but he had a great virtical and arms like a gorrila. He'd block Yao's shot.)

Should be much higher on the list!!! Mr. Clutch himself is the man on the logo, and the most amazing, famous, and desirable basketball player of the time.

The best shooting guard the Lakers ever had, better than Kobe even, at least for now. When you have a picture of yourself in the NBA logo, you are one of the best players of all time.

Jerry West was flat out the greatest clutch player of all time, with all due respect to MJ. There has never been a deadlier player taking the last shot of a game. Despite a career average of 27 points per game, being the first guard to ever score over 60 in a game; being the first player to record a triple double in the NBA finals, Bill Russell referred to him as a far better DEFENSIVE player than offensive. Limping through his last year in the league, steals were kept as a statistic for the first time in history, and West became the first player to ever record ten steals in one game. Connie Hawkins biography makes a reference to a Suns/Lakers playoff game in which West had FOURTEEN steals before it was a stat.

He was on losing contending teams so many times (except for '72). I'll always remember him from that 65-footer he hit in the last second to tie up a game in the '70 finals.

Today's fan knows him primarily as the guy in charge with the Lakers, but it was a great player in his day. In fact, the NBA logo is from a picture of him.