YouTube Gold Daily Double: Jerry West On Basketball
A great mind reflects on the game
Jerry West, who passed away last year at the age of 86, is a rare figure. First he was an amazing basketball player who was so well regarded that his silhouette is still on the NBA logo.
And his second career, as an executive, was arguably better than his playing career. Who does that?
For all his accomplishments, West was tormented by emotions for most of his life. Losing was devastating for him and left him racked with self-doubt and self-loathing. He was truly hard on himself, which is really too bad, given his enormous accomplishments.
We’re going with two videos today. In the first one, West is asked to answer questions in lightning-round style. And second, he names his all-time NBA starting five, but he limits himself just three:
- LeBron James
- Kobe Bryant
- Michael Jordan
He picked those three because he thinks they’d have played well together and because they were all able to play multiple positions. Then he refuses to name anyone else.
He declined to name himself but he might have, and fairly, and given what he’s said in the past, he might have gone with Bill Russell in the fifth spot. Incidentally, we learned recently that Russell leaped high enough to touch the top of the backboard. Now there’s a shotblocker.