PLAYA VISTA – Seventeen years after he left Los Angeles basketball behind, Jerry West returned#xa0;on Monday.
Sporting a Clippers blue suit, the architect of some of the greatest teams in NBA history officially embarked on what he called “the last adventure of my life.”
In his six decades in the NBA, the 79-year-old West has never been especially conventional. He retired as a player when the Lakers had already made him the highest-paid player in the NBA. He retired from the Lakers’ front office in 2000 after the first of three championships. When the Golden State Warriors were on their way to their second championship in three years, West figured he would go out on top one final time.
Then the Clippers called.
“I never thought I would work anywhere else again,” West said#xa0;Monday. “I think sometimes you look in the mirror and you have to say to yourself, ‘My goodness, what more is there to do?'”
The competitive fire still burns, however, and West was blown away by owner Steve Ballmer, whose “presence,” West said, is “the thing that will allow (the Clippers) to get to the next level.”
West also praised Coach Doc Rivers and Lawrence Frank, the Clippers executive vice president of basketball operations.
“I love challenges,” West said. “I love to be behind the scenes. I love to be involved in people that love to win and I know what these two guys (Rivers and Frank) are about.”
West officially joined the Clippers as a consultant, but made it clear that he is coming to assist Rivers, who is also the team’s president of basketball operations, not to take over his duties.
“I am not going to be someone who is going to be someone second-guessing anything you do,” West said at his introductory news conference. “I am going to give you my opinion if they ask. I know the pecking order here.”
West, however, is a man of many opinions, and his voice will be critically important in the coming weeks as All-Stars Blake Griffin and Chris Paul are expected to opt out of their contracts and become free agents.
The Clippers must decide whether they want to re-sign those two, and keep intact the “big three” that includes center DeAndre Jordan, or if they want to go a different direction.
“I think they (Rivers and Frank) know what they need to do,” West said. “I think they have a very clear idea.”
What that idea is remained unclear. But West has never been shy about being bold when it comes to restructuring a roster. If the Clippers go another direction, it might have been foretold with one comment.
“Change is terrible,” West said. “It is absolutely terrible. Sometimes it is necessary, but it’s terrible. I like continuity of people I work with, I do know that.”
Rivers said West’s opinion will be “another piece of the puzzle, but it’s a great piece.”
“Lawrence and Jerry will be the two strongest voices in my ear for sure,” he said, “and that’s what I need.”
Rivers said he had tried to get West to join the Clippers well before this spring. The two are members at the same country club and frequently run into each other on the golf course.
The reason for that pursuit, Rivers said, was simple.
“I wanted to have a group that every night I know we have the best group and we’re searching for the best,” Rivers said. “Jerry and I are very similar in the fact that we just want to win. I don’t have another reason for doing my job, I’m not looking to have a ‘day.’ I’ve had my day, I’m looking to win.”
For a man who spent most of his adult life affiliated with the Lakers, it was no doubt strange to hold a microphone branded with the Clippers logo; to sit in front of a Clippers backdrop; to get in the car to drive to work and wind up in Playa Vista.
At times, West has recently acknowledged, he thought about ending his career with the Lakers. It would have been fitting: Help build one more championship team. That went out the window when owner Jeanie Buss hired Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka in February.
“I’ve always said I’m really proud of my time with the Lakers,” West said. “Really proud. Obviously it’s a different time and place. I wish them well. When they are playing the Clippers, no. I don’t wish them well.”
How bad does he want to beat the Lakers?
“Just every game we play them,” he said.
Other than that, 57 years after he began his career with the Lakers, it was clear#xa0;Monday#xa0;he had tired of talking about the team across town and what could have been.
“Honestly, I think the fans have just put it to rest,” he said. “Enough is enough, OK?”
On Monday, he was a Clipper. That meant familiarizing himself with the players and helping to develop an offseason strategy.
“I promise you,” West said, “behind the scenes they’ll get my undivided attention trying to help make a difference.”
via NAIJA Society
http://ift.tt/2huhMvk
No comments:
Post a Comment