Jerry West, a basketball player so iconic his silhouette became part of the NBA logo, will be honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, made the announcement about West on Saturday:
The Great Jerry West will be receiving our Nation’s highest civilian honor, The Presidential Medal of Freedom, for his outstanding career, both on and off the court. Happy Birthday Jerry! @Sen_JoeManchin https://t.co/3kNEpteYfW
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 2, 2019
The imprint Jerry West has left on the game of basketball is enormous… and is still continuing to grow in size and scope. West is currently a consultant with the Los Angeles Clippers. His voice in the room, his presence within the organization, has helped the Clippers put themselves in position to gain supermax players in the upcoming round of NBA free agency and develop a roster which can legitimately compete for championships. If this sounds familiar, it should… because it is familiar.
Jerry West, as a consultant with the Golden State Warriors, gave the franchise instant credibility at the start of this decade after decades as an NBA laughingstock. This article by Tim Kawakami details the extent to which West influenced the course of the Warriors' roster construction plan over the course of the decade. West was on the correct side of virtually every major decision the Dubs made. This is the legacy of West as a front-office executive. He had a gift for not only identifying talent in players, but seeing how players fit together and understanding how to enable the large egos of coaches and athletes to mesh in a harmonious way.
West assembled the Shaq-Kobe-Phil Lakers. Two decades earlier, he stepped aside to allow Pat Riley to become the full-time head coach of the Lakers after owner Jerry Buss devised a weird plan to have Riley and West as co-coaches in 1981, after Paul Westhead was fired as Laker coach.
Riley turned out to be pretty good, to put it mildly. West gave him role players such as Mychal Thompson to supplement the Magic-Kareem-Worthy-Byron Scott core. The Lakers became a dynasty twice under West.
We haven't even mentioned West the player.
He made the NCAA national title game with West Virginia in 1959. “Zeke from Cabin Creek” won Olympic gold in Rome in 1960. He played in numerous NBA Finals and was the 1969 MVP even though his Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics. He finally won the NBA title in 1972.
For 60 years, Jerry West has excelled. Now he will be recognized for his towering legacy, still growing with the Clippers.
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