June 12, 2024 • 13 mins
Big Game James shares his fond memories of Jerry West, and talks about his impact on the NBA.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Yes, it's a sad day inLA but also a great day to celebrate
the dignity, the grace, competitivenature, and just the overall stardom of
one Jerry West, the greatest combinationplayer front office presence in the history of
sports, and joining us somebody who'sintimately friends and co workers and colleagues and
(00:27):
worked for and with Jerry West fordecades and decades. I don't think they
would have either had the same kindof success if they weren't in each other's
lives. Hall of Famer and anall time great Spectrum Sportsnet LA Emmy winner,
our dear friend, James Worthy.James, it's a tough day,
but also a great day to rememberone of the all time greats. Thank
(00:47):
you for joining us. Yeah,yeah, you're welcome. Yeah, this
is a tough day, man.You know, I just talked to Jerry
a few weeks ago about getting together, and you know, just reminiscing is
talking about Bill Burke a little bitwho's ninety five years old and still living
up in Santa Barbara. You know, so just reminiscing. You know,
(01:14):
Jerry was a good friend. Hewas very instrumental in creating my career by
you know, trusting me, youknow, over guys like Dominique Wilkins and
and and Terry Cummins. And youknow, even if Ralph Sampson had come
out, he still had faith andwhat I could do for this team,
(01:38):
you know, what my role couldbe and a team that was already you
know, superlative. But you know, if you really get the notes here
over the years, which I did, you know, all you had to
do if he calls you, allyou had to do was just say hello,
and then for the next hour hewould just pour out his home art.
(02:00):
He was a very introverted guy,but in his latter part of his
years he's very expressive and very lovingand just just cared about people. Uh.
You know, his career was amazing. I got to see a few
of the games in the latter partof in the middle of the seventies.
(02:22):
But his his uh, his impacton my life, the conversations that we
had over the years about my career. He's very honest, brutally honest,
just brutally honest and sometimes didn't knowhow to do it with ease. He
just knew how to do it.And as a as a player, I
(02:43):
you know, I hear. Hewas just an amazing guy, the only
guy that won MVP in a losingseries. He wore that, that pain
of not ever beating the Celtsic.He he wore that daily like he never
could go back to Boston. Sobut Jerry cared about people. He gave
so much of his time money,uh and he didn't want anybody to know
(03:06):
about it. He was just aspecial guy. This was this is really
tough. I was on the golfcourse playing some grateful dead, you know,
just thinking of my friend Bill Walton, you know, just thinking about
Bill Walton and some of those memories. And then someone came up to me
and had a pretty good round going. But after that, I just I
couldn't finish. I just splashed theballs everywhere. And but uh yeah,
(03:30):
it's this is a special one.It's a special guy if you really got
to know him. And uh yeah, he'll he'll be missed, James.
You mentioned it there at the draft, you know, and we've heard the
stories and you know whether or notthey've been confirmed, but you know,
you hear them enough. And andthen there was you know, did some
people in the organization want Dominique becauseof the flash and Jerry insisted on James
(03:53):
Worthy, and then there was,you know, a story about it,
potential trade, and I mean itreally felt like the two of you were
really connected. He was a Ican't imagine what that must have been like
to have someone of his stature,of his excellence, you know, believe
that much in you that he waswilling to really just kind of draw a
line in the sand and say no, it's it's James Worthy, that's who's
(04:15):
sticking around here. Yeah. Wehad the same initials. Yeah, j
A W j A W. Wehad the same initials. And you know,
he knew I was coming. Youknow, he had told my college
coach, look, James Worth isavailable, we're going to take him.
He's you know, James could seesomething in you that you couldn't have seen
in yourself. You know, hehad that foresight and then if you were
(04:39):
around him, he would make surethat you've got to where you should beget
to. He knew I was cominginto a tough situation with magic in Kareem
in La knowing that if I hadgone to someone else, you know,
I could have been more of astar, maybe score more points. I
don't know, but he's he sawthe same thing in me that you know
he saw an ac green that hesaw in Michael Thompson. He just sees
(05:02):
something in you. And I remembermy second and third year, I was
starting to jail with the team.I was getting used to magic and you
know, Riley was starting to giveme more playing time. I was really
I was really, you know,really yelling well with the team, and
Jerry would pull me to the sideand say, you know, you don't
(05:23):
have two more years on your contract, and you know you need to get
to a place where you you know, you're your best. And he recommended
that I go to Pete Knowles bigMan camp. He never he never would
let you relapse, you know,he always was pushing for that maximum and
he got it out of me.And I'd give him all the credit,
(05:44):
you know of you know, theywere going to portray for Mark Orguire and
and Roy Tarpley and he said,I'll I'll quit, you know, to
hear GM say I quit my youknow, that's you know, it's it
always stuck with me. He wasHe was extremely honest, sometimes misunderstood,
but extremely honest and just he wasa man's man. You know, you
look at him he kind of likethen, I wish I could could kind
(06:06):
of you know, carry myself likethat. And he didn't get to that
until later on. You know,he lost his brother in the Korean War
and I really had a tough childhoodafter that, and he just he carried
that for a long time, youknow, depression, and he finally wrote
his book about it, and Ithink he was still you know, unveiling
(06:29):
some of that. You know,he had a lot more to say.
But unfortunately in eighty six, sameagents kick her and I believe, but
we lost a dear friend. Notto mention the best GM I mean I've
ever seen and the impact he's hadon the game since you know, sixties,
James, you mentioned him as aplayer, I guess he would be
(06:53):
the NCAA Most Outstanding Player from alosing team in fifty nine at West Virginia
and the finals MVP with the Celticsin sixty nine, but he was scarcely
proud of that nineteen sixty Olympic goldmedal in Rome. Yeah. Can you
speak to his mentality as a playerwith what he was like how he kind
(07:15):
of reflected on his playing career withguys who were his peers like you,
well, you know, he justyou know, we all knew he was
great as a player, but youknow, he used to always tell a
story about you know, a youngkid from West Virginia. I mean I
could totally relate when he was tellingthe story who didn't have much exposure.
(07:39):
You know, it was you know, it was wasn't that integrated. And
he's just telling me about the earlycareer, the black players that had an
impact on him and it changed hislife, Guys like Elgem Baylor who took
him in, and Happy Harrison,you know guys that he played with.
(07:59):
He really I was the same way. I had no exposure, you know,
I was just an introverted, kindof a quiet guy and I did
all my my my talking on thecourt. That was where I could verbalize
in action. And Jerry used totell those stories and how he grew up,
you know, uh in the NBAin those early years, and how
(08:20):
he became more aware of you know, his his surroundings and people uh in
Los Angeles getting exposed and he wasyou know, he he could talk basketball
toll you were blue in the face, but when you really wanted to almost
get him teary eyed, it's oneof you. I started talking about life
and his his his brother that helost in the career and wore his up
(08:43):
and his upbringing and you know thethings he had to overcome and and how
he was you know, always hadtime to talk to you about you and
whatever marriage or mistakes that you weremaking. You know, he was just
very honest if you wanted to geta very short paragraph of one thousand percent
(09:05):
honesty. Uh. And also youknow how to how to you know,
how to come out of it,how to change your life, whether it
was basketball or life. He wasjust one of those guys that took in
a lot and he shared a lot, and uh, you know that's what
he'll be remembered for. Last thing, James just you know, and you
(09:28):
know we we had the great fortuneto talk to him a handful of times,
and you know, the humility wasridiculous for his accomplishments. He'd get
uncomfortable if you wanted to talk abouthim. He wanted to talk about everybody
else and celebrate everybody else. Butif you could, you know, we're
I think everyone's going to try toto sort of put a number on it.
(09:48):
But you can make a case thathe's the most impactful person in the
history of the NBA, certainly inthe conversation with with Bill Russell and David
Stern, and just in terms ofgrowing the game, you know, the
Lakers arriving in Los Ange with heand Elgin Baylor as their stars, to
expand the NBA to the West Coast, and then helping to build Showtime,
you know, the Showtime Lakers,just as you have been around this league
(10:11):
as long as you have. Imean, that's kind of what we're talking
about right this This is someone thatvery well could be the most impactful person
that's ever been associated with this game. And I think that's why he's the
logo because obviously they are players thathave scored more points and you know,
broken records and things like that.But you said it right, the impact
(10:33):
that he had, you know,mister clutch, he still holds records for
finals, you know, the mostthirty point game, most forty points game,
more fifty points games, and he'stied with somebody else. So you
know, he was kind of beforehis time. And when people say that
guys at that era couldn't play,Jarry would he would. He would bust
(10:58):
a lot of ads you know,just with his just with his mentality,
you know. And then when hefinished playing, you know, he could
have coached, he realized that wasn'tfor him. And then navigating and like
if you will, like threading sewinga teen's together. You know, over
(11:18):
time, I mean even before Kobe, you know, you know, just
the players that he bought in.Of course Magic and I were number one
picks due to a coin flip,but they wanted sittingey Montcrief over Magic.
You know, they thought sitting inMontcreef or David Greenwood out of UCLA would
would be better picks. But youknow, Jerry, along with doctor Buss,
(11:41):
they knew, you know a lotof people looked at Kobe when he
was fifteen. They said, yeah, well he'll probably be pretty good is
by his junior year, sophomore year, And Jerry said, no, we'll
all take him right now. Tradeof Vlade got you know, made that
trade to get Kobe Jack. Thenin eighties, you know, eighty six,
(12:03):
we needed somebody to go up againstKevin McHale and you know, how
better to bring in the number onepick for seventy nine Michael Thompson, who
played with Kevin Mchal and that tome, that was a big deal.
So, you know, he's alwaysbeen a smart man and a smart GM
(12:26):
and just a blessing to have forthe NBA. His his legacy never left.
You know, a lot of timesplayers retire, you know, you
kind of you bring them up fromtime to time. Oh yeah, will
ten score one hundred, or youknow, David Busher did this, or
Bill Bradley radt for president Jerry justit was constant, constant Lakers Menphis's Golden
(12:48):
State Clippers, you know, makingmoves and making so I think you're absolutely
right, probably the most impactful playerslash contributor to the game. Well,
we could talk about the Laker coachingsituation next week. Maybe they'll have hired
somebody by then. But a wonderfultribute to a great friend of everybody in
(13:11):
the city and somebody that we wereall very very well. We admired him
so much. Thank you so much, James, and God bless you.
Thanks for doing it today. Thankyou bout it.
Yes, it's a sad day inLA but also a great day to celebrate
the dignity, the grace, competitivenature, and just the overall stardom of
one Jerry West, the greatest combinationplayer front office presence in the history of
sports, and joining us somebody who'sintimately friends and co workers and colleagues and
(00:27):
worked for and with Jerry West fordecades and decades. I don't think they
would have either had the same kindof success if they weren't in each other's
lives. Hall of Famer and anall time great Spectrum Sportsnet LA Emmy winner,
our dear friend, James Worthy.James, it's a tough day,
but also a great day to rememberone of the all time greats. Thank
(00:47):
you for joining us. Yeah,yeah, you're welcome. Yeah, this
is a tough day, man.You know, I just talked to Jerry
a few weeks ago about getting together, and you know, just reminiscing is
talking about Bill Burke a little bitwho's ninety five years old and still living
up in Santa Barbara. You know, so just reminiscing. You know,
(01:14):
Jerry was a good friend. Hewas very instrumental in creating my career by
you know, trusting me, youknow, over guys like Dominique Wilkins and
and and Terry Cummins. And youknow, even if Ralph Sampson had come
out, he still had faith andwhat I could do for this team,
(01:38):
you know, what my role couldbe and a team that was already you
know, superlative. But you know, if you really get the notes here
over the years, which I did, you know, all you had to
do if he calls you, allyou had to do was just say hello,
and then for the next hour hewould just pour out his home art.
(02:00):
He was a very introverted guy,but in his latter part of his
years he's very expressive and very lovingand just just cared about people. Uh.
You know, his career was amazing. I got to see a few
of the games in the latter partof in the middle of the seventies.
(02:22):
But his his uh, his impacton my life, the conversations that we
had over the years about my career. He's very honest, brutally honest,
just brutally honest and sometimes didn't knowhow to do it with ease. He
just knew how to do it.And as a as a player, I
(02:43):
you know, I hear. Hewas just an amazing guy, the only
guy that won MVP in a losingseries. He wore that, that pain
of not ever beating the Celtsic.He he wore that daily like he never
could go back to Boston. Sobut Jerry cared about people. He gave
so much of his time money,uh and he didn't want anybody to know
(03:06):
about it. He was just aspecial guy. This was this is really
tough. I was on the golfcourse playing some grateful dead, you know,
just thinking of my friend Bill Walton, you know, just thinking about
Bill Walton and some of those memories. And then someone came up to me
and had a pretty good round going. But after that, I just I
couldn't finish. I just splashed theballs everywhere. And but uh yeah,
(03:30):
it's this is a special one.It's a special guy if you really got
to know him. And uh yeah, he'll he'll be missed, James.
You mentioned it there at the draft, you know, and we've heard the
stories and you know whether or notthey've been confirmed, but you know,
you hear them enough. And andthen there was you know, did some
people in the organization want Dominique becauseof the flash and Jerry insisted on James
(03:53):
Worthy, and then there was,you know, a story about it,
potential trade, and I mean itreally felt like the two of you were
really connected. He was a Ican't imagine what that must have been like
to have someone of his stature,of his excellence, you know, believe
that much in you that he waswilling to really just kind of draw a
line in the sand and say no, it's it's James Worthy, that's who's
(04:15):
sticking around here. Yeah. Wehad the same initials. Yeah, j
A W j A W. Wehad the same initials. And you know,
he knew I was coming. Youknow, he had told my college
coach, look, James Worth isavailable, we're going to take him.
He's you know, James could seesomething in you that you couldn't have seen
in yourself. You know, hehad that foresight and then if you were
(04:39):
around him, he would make surethat you've got to where you should beget
to. He knew I was cominginto a tough situation with magic in Kareem
in La knowing that if I hadgone to someone else, you know,
I could have been more of astar, maybe score more points. I
don't know, but he's he sawthe same thing in me that you know
he saw an ac green that hesaw in Michael Thompson. He just sees
(05:02):
something in you. And I remembermy second and third year, I was
starting to jail with the team.I was getting used to magic and you
know, Riley was starting to giveme more playing time. I was really
I was really, you know,really yelling well with the team, and
Jerry would pull me to the sideand say, you know, you don't
(05:23):
have two more years on your contract, and you know you need to get
to a place where you you know, you're your best. And he recommended
that I go to Pete Knowles bigMan camp. He never he never would
let you relapse, you know,he always was pushing for that maximum and
he got it out of me.And I'd give him all the credit,
(05:44):
you know of you know, theywere going to portray for Mark Orguire and
and Roy Tarpley and he said,I'll I'll quit, you know, to
hear GM say I quit my youknow, that's you know, it's it
always stuck with me. He wasHe was extremely honest, sometimes misunderstood,
but extremely honest and just he wasa man's man. You know, you
look at him he kind of likethen, I wish I could could kind
(06:06):
of you know, carry myself likethat. And he didn't get to that
until later on. You know,he lost his brother in the Korean War
and I really had a tough childhoodafter that, and he just he carried
that for a long time, youknow, depression, and he finally wrote
his book about it, and Ithink he was still you know, unveiling
(06:29):
some of that. You know,he had a lot more to say.
But unfortunately in eighty six, sameagents kick her and I believe, but
we lost a dear friend. Notto mention the best GM I mean I've
ever seen and the impact he's hadon the game since you know, sixties,
James, you mentioned him as aplayer, I guess he would be
(06:53):
the NCAA Most Outstanding Player from alosing team in fifty nine at West Virginia
and the finals MVP with the Celticsin sixty nine, but he was scarcely
proud of that nineteen sixty Olympic goldmedal in Rome. Yeah. Can you
speak to his mentality as a playerwith what he was like how he kind
(07:15):
of reflected on his playing career withguys who were his peers like you,
well, you know, he justyou know, we all knew he was
great as a player, but youknow, he used to always tell a
story about you know, a youngkid from West Virginia. I mean I
could totally relate when he was tellingthe story who didn't have much exposure.
(07:39):
You know, it was you know, it was wasn't that integrated. And
he's just telling me about the earlycareer, the black players that had an
impact on him and it changed hislife, Guys like Elgem Baylor who took
him in, and Happy Harrison,you know guys that he played with.
(07:59):
He really I was the same way. I had no exposure, you know,
I was just an introverted, kindof a quiet guy and I did
all my my my talking on thecourt. That was where I could verbalize
in action. And Jerry used totell those stories and how he grew up,
you know, uh in the NBAin those early years, and how
(08:20):
he became more aware of you know, his his surroundings and people uh in
Los Angeles getting exposed and he wasyou know, he he could talk basketball
toll you were blue in the face, but when you really wanted to almost
get him teary eyed, it's oneof you. I started talking about life
and his his his brother that helost in the career and wore his up
(08:43):
and his upbringing and you know thethings he had to overcome and and how
he was you know, always hadtime to talk to you about you and
whatever marriage or mistakes that you weremaking. You know, he was just
very honest if you wanted to geta very short paragraph of one thousand percent
(09:05):
honesty. Uh. And also youknow how to how to you know,
how to come out of it,how to change your life, whether it
was basketball or life. He wasjust one of those guys that took in
a lot and he shared a lot, and uh, you know that's what
he'll be remembered for. Last thing, James just you know, and you
(09:28):
know we we had the great fortuneto talk to him a handful of times,
and you know, the humility wasridiculous for his accomplishments. He'd get
uncomfortable if you wanted to talk abouthim. He wanted to talk about everybody
else and celebrate everybody else. Butif you could, you know, we're
I think everyone's going to try toto sort of put a number on it.
(09:48):
But you can make a case thathe's the most impactful person in the
history of the NBA, certainly inthe conversation with with Bill Russell and David
Stern, and just in terms ofgrowing the game, you know, the
Lakers arriving in Los Ange with heand Elgin Baylor as their stars, to
expand the NBA to the West Coast, and then helping to build Showtime,
you know, the Showtime Lakers,just as you have been around this league
(10:11):
as long as you have. Imean, that's kind of what we're talking
about right this This is someone thatvery well could be the most impactful person
that's ever been associated with this game. And I think that's why he's the
logo because obviously they are players thathave scored more points and you know,
broken records and things like that.But you said it right, the impact
(10:33):
that he had, you know,mister clutch, he still holds records for
finals, you know, the mostthirty point game, most forty points game,
more fifty points games, and he'stied with somebody else. So you
know, he was kind of beforehis time. And when people say that
guys at that era couldn't play,Jarry would he would. He would bust
(10:58):
a lot of ads you know,just with his just with his mentality,
you know. And then when hefinished playing, you know, he could
have coached, he realized that wasn'tfor him. And then navigating and like
if you will, like threading sewinga teen's together. You know, over
(11:18):
time, I mean even before Kobe, you know, you know, just
the players that he bought in.Of course Magic and I were number one
picks due to a coin flip,but they wanted sittingey Montcrief over Magic.
You know, they thought sitting inMontcreef or David Greenwood out of UCLA would
would be better picks. But youknow, Jerry, along with doctor Buss,
(11:41):
they knew, you know a lotof people looked at Kobe when he
was fifteen. They said, yeah, well he'll probably be pretty good is
by his junior year, sophomore year, And Jerry said, no, we'll
all take him right now. Tradeof Vlade got you know, made that
trade to get Kobe Jack. Thenin eighties, you know, eighty six,
(12:03):
we needed somebody to go up againstKevin McHale and you know, how
better to bring in the number onepick for seventy nine Michael Thompson, who
played with Kevin Mchal and that tome, that was a big deal.
So, you know, he's alwaysbeen a smart man and a smart GM
(12:26):
and just a blessing to have forthe NBA. His his legacy never left.
You know, a lot of timesplayers retire, you know, you
kind of you bring them up fromtime to time. Oh yeah, will
ten score one hundred, or youknow, David Busher did this, or
Bill Bradley radt for president Jerry justit was constant, constant Lakers Menphis's Golden
(12:48):
State Clippers, you know, makingmoves and making so I think you're absolutely
right, probably the most impactful playerslash contributor to the game. Well,
we could talk about the Laker coachingsituation next week. Maybe they'll have hired
somebody by then. But a wonderfultribute to a great friend of everybody in
(13:11):
the city and somebody that we wereall very very well. We admired him
so much. Thank you so much, James, and God bless you.
Thanks for doing it today. Thankyou bout it.
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