RIP Jerry West: A Tribute To Clips Executive, Consultant, & NBA Legend

RIP Jerry West: A Tribute To Clips Executive, Consultant, & NBA Legend

on today’s show the basketball world has lost one of its most important ever members and we have lost one of our own Clipper Nation trusted Confidant consultant and executive Jerry West has passed away at the age of 86 Jerry leav this is one of the greatest to ever play the game greatest people we’ve known in the game I’m going to be talking about him and what this means on today’s lock on Clippers you are locked on Clippers your daily Los Angeles Clippers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day yes sir you are locking in with the clips thank you for making lock on Clippers the first listen of your day your team every day I’m your host Daran vizeri born and raised in LA and finished my 19th season as a Clipper fan not too long ago you can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Dime dropper pod And subscribe to my own YouTube channel dime dropper where I’m still talking about the NBA Finals after every game you can find even more LA Clipper and LA Sports content on there and locked on Clippers is free and available wherever you get your podcast let me know any that you felt about Jerry West and his unfortunate passing his sudden passing uh what do you think it might mean for the Clippers given that he did have a role in our organization and of course if you have any Jerry West stories to talk about go ahead in the comments um let’s just get some 44s in the chat for Jerry so many different organizations that he touched and we’ll be talking about some of his you know moves for the Clippers and what it’s looked like for him also just talking about Jerry West as the player of the person uh that we got to know and just how special it was to have him as a member of the Clippers and how sudden this feels and before we do that this episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NBA for $20 $20 off your first purchase it’s the best place to get great deals on last minute tickets so yeah game time check it out create an account and redeem code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase let’s talk about it though man I mean this this news came out of no on Wednesday from I don’t know if it was W or Shams who tweeted it first but said that NBA legend Jerry West died at the age of 86 Clippers have announced you know it is absolutely crazy the Clippers are the team to announce not not crazy but it’s just if you if you said 20 30 years ago the Clippers would be the team that announced Jerry West passing away that would be insane but he did work for us and that bothered a lot of Laker fans weirdly I had so many arguments over the last couple of years about Jerry West and working for the lake working for the Clippers and how it shouldn’t make Laker fans dislike him at all after everything that he did for them uh one of the greatest Lakers of all time before we even get into the stuff he did as an executive that everybody talks about just one of the great Laker players of all time spent all 14 years of his incredible NBA career with the Lakers and was drafted the year that they moved here to Los Angeles so I mean there’s no one that few people really bled purple and gold like Jerry West but he just so happened to have a falling out with the buzz family particularly jeie he and Phil never saw eye to eye Jeanie and Phil were dating and he went to different franchises Memphis Golden State obviously helped them a lot and he said that when he left Golden State it was one of his the saddest days of his life to leave Golden State but comes here to the Clippers and let let’s just say what we already know we talked about it a lot in the last episode talking about the show clipped Donald Sterling does Jerry West so I just want to say before we get into even more about Jerry like just that was so sudden because we still saw him at the games he was an active member of our organization you know you don’t usually hear these players dying or passing away when they’re actively part of an organization and I did have a tweet I want to say it was a little over a year ago March or April where I said that Jerry looks like he’s aged five years since the last time I saw him and it’s was on TV and that’s when I knew something had to be up but the I stopped worrying about it because this past season he had been at games I saw him from my season ticket seat across the way my camera is really good as you people see on the Vlogs I see him so this just really came out of nowhere um he probably you know he had to have been sick for the last year I I definitely was on to something but it’s awful man it’s really awful such an LA Legend you know just always been prevalent in in the LA Sports LA basketball scene since I’ve been a kid and yeah I did go up and help the Warriors but you always hear so much you know as as a as someone who grew up in the Kobe era Jerry West being the guy that found Kobe discovered Kobe stuck his neck out for Kobe that was something that everybody in my generation really appreciated him for but let’s not unell what Jerry West was as a basketball player you know for those that know what I do I’m really big on the history of the game I study every single era uh I started with Bill Russell’s rookie season and study every single season and just know the ins and outs of it uh and try to watch every single game that exists from those seasons and mind you there’s very few there’s not even 20 full games of Jerry West career on YouTube and on the internet not that exist not that I’ve been released to the public no more I don’t even know if there’s 15 full games there might not even be 10 but I watched all the footage that there is in the first 11 years of his career and I mean what an amazing player got one of the best pullup jump shots going to his right pull up jump shots in general but especially going to his right just insane the release timing of a Steph Curry with the elevation of a Kobe Bryant and that’s not an exaggeration go check the film uh great elevation on a dime if there’s ever been a guy that pulls on a dime Jerry West is one of those guys bigger than people realize you know I I was I saw him fairly up close when we did that meet the player event thing when Jerry West was speaking to us before the 2022 23 season started that was the closest I’d ever been to Jerry and I think you know one of the things that hurt so bad was that I never got to meet him you know as somebody who really admires Jerry W you know to me Jerry was the player you know more than anything the player the competitor you know the reason why think Jerry West still was involved in basketball is cuz he couldn’t stop competing you know he he won his championship after losing all those finals to Boston in the 60s he won his championship in 1972 after having the greatest record the NBA had ever seen at the time 69 and 13 with that 72 Laker team and it didn’t feel he didn’t feel accomplished because it wasn’t against the Celtics so he just kept on being around the game and I feel like he just did that to try to feel fulfilled but I don’t think he fully ever did and it’s just it’s it’s exactly the way I knew that Jerry West would leave us was still working in the game of basketball he would go till his last breath he would want to compete till his last breath and you know the fact that Jerry West chose to join the Clipper organization that would have never happened with Steve Balmer I’m sorry with Donald Sterling and when we got Jerry West the I remember the difference in the way people started talking about us you know the haters always going to hate but like The credibility of the franchise to get Jerry West who’s just a born winner you know for people that say he was won and whatever in the finals how many guys couldn’t even make the finals you know the great Oscar Robertson one of the best players that we’ve ever seen that the league has ever known he and Jerry West are very intertwined they were both drafted in 1960 and they retired in 1974 two of the best guards in the league for all those years there were some years that Oscars Royals didn’t make the playoffs in the East it was a very competitive East and only four teams made it Jerry West still make the made the finals and he gets penalized for it and they both ended with one ring but it feels like Oscar Robertson gets talked about as a player better than Jerry West and I think it’s a very debatable conversation I think they’re both incredible take your pick um again if people are wondering where do you get this footage please DM me on Twitter or Instagram I can help you with that um you can dim dropper pot on everything but Jerry West man it was just special to have him alongside the Clipper organization just added seriousness added a level of man we can get that guy now a guy associated with that many rings I mean I think what nine championships if you combine his career with what he’s done as an exec it’s just it was amazing to have him around man it’s just I can’t believe it this is one of those things that you’re just not it’s not going to be fathomable for a while like just so sudden I just it’s really painful man it really hurts me I never got to meet him because I wanted to just even though he didn’t love talking about his career I thought maybe a young person talking about how great he was as a player would would uh cheer him up a little bit I don’t know that was kind of my goal is I would hoping to make Jerry West feel a little better about himself because he’d always beat himself up we’re gonna miss you Jerry man he’s just such a such an integral part you can hate the Lakers all you want but it’s just such an integral part of the Los Angeles basketball Fabric and coming up we’re going to talk about some of the things that Jerry did as a Clipper oh man I love you Jerry I got to tell you a little something about game time game time is the best place to get great deals on last minute 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sports streaming Channel programmed for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all the screaming lock on sports today brings you can’t miss analysis opinions and news streaming 247 on YouTube with a free Amazon Fire TV channels app part of the locked on podcast Network your team Team every day so talking about the great Jerry West joined the Clippers organization about two weeks before we traded CP3 and I remember when we did that PE there were some people that were saying like oh Jerry West here he’s like Lob City ain’t cutting it he’s going to try to take this team a different direction but the thing is it’s always been Lawrence Frank’s ship and people this is straight out of Jerry’s mouth not even just mine but people always gave Jerry a little bit too much credit just because of who he was in terms of what his role was with the Clippers his role was what I think it w what was uh listed as he was a consultant Lawrence Frank is out there doing all this stuff Lawrence Frank is making the big decisions I don’t know how much weight Jerry West’s word and his opinion had in this room but in most rooms people listen I’m not saying they didn’t listen but who knows I mean I know for a fact that Jerry West was Pro sgaa but they also missed on Jerome Robinson right that was big we drafted one of the best Star players in the NBA uh future best players in the NBA but we also drafted a guy that’s not really an NBA player and we could have gotten mpj you know for those that don’t remember those were there were injury concerns with mpj you can take that up with the Clippers medical staff but not Jerry um actually no Jerry and Lawrence I mean but the main main thing that I think Jerry West tenure as a Clipper person is going to be known for is getting 213 is getting kawi Le and Paul George and I remember when that whole thing was going on everybody was saying well the Clippers got Jerry West and we know what he’s capable of and I was just like yeah but he’s not the GM but but here’s the thing Jerry West being in the room that gives you some serious credibility that gives you some okay we know what you’ve done and I would like to think that that definitely played a part in in Kawai that to me is the the Jerry West highlight as a as a Clipper Clipper Jerry getting Kawhi Leonard and Paul George that was just having him in the room just added to our seriousness level and it really pissed Laker fans off especially when they had that uh clip that Rec that phone call leaked about him calling in what was going on over there a show I mean that was excuse my language but that was you know uh uh tough for some Laker fans to hear however I think if you ask some Laker fans now they might agree with that Genie bus might not be running them the way that they want but hey I think again it just really hurts some Laker fans the ones that hate the Clippers especially because there’s a lot of them just hate the Clippers that they just couldn’t stand the fact that Jerry West was working for us but like he’s trying to compete like that’s thing people didn’t realize about Jerry he’s trying to compete and ah man it’s tough it is really tough talk talking a little bit more about Jerry West the player 27 point per game average for his career to go along with six rebounds and seven assists one of the best defenders at the guard position that I’ve ever seen play full games great in the passing Lanes fantastic hands great size can jump um really takes Pride on the defensive end and he made the defensive team five times in the six years that he was that the award existed in his career because before the award didn’t there no such thing as all defensive team so he would have been on it those years as well spectacular player spectacular competitor and again just really honored that we got to say that he represented the Clippers and was you know went out as a as a member of the Clippers 86 years old it’s just like I know that doesn’t S that’s like man that’s a good life but I don’t know it just felt like Jerry he was one of those guys that seemed immortal like I don’t know ah it’s tough coming up though going to be talking about where we go from here front office Direction losing somebody so important what do we do what do we say about Lawrence Frank going forward I gotta tell you a little something about prize picks prize pick is the best daily fantasy sports app in America and let me tell you how it works all you got to do is pick more than or less than on prize picks on certain players projections and you can win up you can turn $10 into $1,000 in a single game watching your favorite sports you can make a prize pick lineup in as little as 60 seconds does not take that long at all if you’re looking for promotions prize picks has got you covered every week from lowering select player stat projections on Tuesdays which increases your chance of getting a win to getting your entry fees back if you have a losing lineup on Fridays 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championship so we’re going to probably have to do episode on that very soon of what the Boston Celtics winning the championship means for team building going forward for roster construction because we haven’t seen a team quite like the Celtics win a championship in the history of the game from their best two players and having it be kind of like how the Clippers have it two wings that aren’t great passers they’re good Playmakers but not great um and they handle the ball B basically the most and then a team that essentially switches one through five we saw the well we saw the Warriors switch one through five that was they switched one through five but this team switches one through five and then offense doesn’t it’s pretty it’s aot it’s basically High pick and rle it’s basically High pick and roll mismatch hunt it’s not like the Warriors crazy motion offense but we haven’t seen a team quite like the Celtics win the championship and yeah they have two stretch bigs with porzingis and Horford um but anyway so in terms of front office I mean look I’m kind of over Lawrence Frank I think he’s had his chance he I think he did well that’s when we got Kawai and Paul George he can say he was amazing right you can say it was amazing 2022 his first questionable move for me was trading Patrick Beverly now I was pretty in support of it because we needed availability and Pat’s Health was getting very annoying I was really tired of seeing the constant stat of this is our record with Pat Bev because he was always out we got bled so the problem was tyu ended up starting bledo for too long when he really should have come off the bench and we ended up flipping that though into Norman roko so that was really a great move by Lawrence Frank so up until 2022 like I think he’ done good job I think where he screwed up first was the John Wall instead of hardenstein I think that was really naive I think that was feeding into the players need for a point guard too much um and losing just a very reliable player that wasn’t asking for too much so that was our first mistake then we the point guard Fiasco with Russell Westbrook and then getting him even though you didn’t want him you got somebody you didn’t want long term and just to shut the players up like I think that’s annoying he clearly had some dis disagreements with tyou that ended up hurting our 2022 23 team that was well not well documented but like everybody knew about it and I talked about it on here a lot I mean it’s that was rough that 2023 season that was rough in terms of the Lawrence Frank stuff we get Westbrook we don’t want to keep him longterm we try to trade him in the off season and then we go for James Harden and give up one of our only assets left which is that 2028 unprotected first round pick and more so a bunch of expiring contracts we went for something without letting the season play out a bit with Kawaii and Paul healthy and seeing how far we truly were I was very disappointed in that so they went all in and now we’ve got nothing we legitimately have nothing so they’re not going to go a different Direction they’re not going to rebuild first year in the into a dome I don’t know I think it’s it’s time for a new voice in that front office now with Jerry gone get Lawrence out of there get someone new but we’ll see we’ll see how it goes overall this episode was about giving a tribute to one of the great basketball people ever you know beyond what he did for the game every single person that I know that spoke to Jerry that came in contact with Mr West they said he was a really great guy and Jerry bar when he spoke in front of us he said that a couple things I’ll never forget one he loved meeting people and I found that kind of surprising as somebody that just you know lived and thought very you know it was kind of when you think of Jerry West and hear him talk back in the day it’s just very dark like very doesn’t seem happy ever joyful um and hearing him say I I you know I love meeting people you know I was surprised to hear that but from everything I’ve been told that was very very true he did like meeting people he’s very friendly you know I know some people that ran into him on the street and said he would talk their ear off I mean that is just awesome and it makes me feel you know so sad that I didn’t get a chance to meet the guy and just condolences to his family man seriously like H I know we didn’t know Jerry but it felt like we did so I mean best was just to the whole family all the Clipper players and the organization the people that got close to him uh it’s just a rough a rough day rough time rough week for basketball for Los Angeles for the clippers for the Lakers U and how about the Lakers just like they didn’t post really anything of significance for a guy that you could argue as a top three player in their franchise history from everything he did for the team it was crazy but rest in peace logo the literal that’s crazy I did a whole episode on him just now and I didn’t even mention that he’s a logo of the NBA I mean that’s the first thing everybody says so I’m I I guess I’m happy that I got to speak for an episode with without even saying it till the end so shout out to the great Jerry West may you rest in peace the goat the low goat you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at D oh by the way last thing Jerry West I’ll never forget he said Brandon Boston is gonna be an All-Star one day I’m G to hold him to that we love you Jerry you follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Diamond dropper pod subscribe to my own YouTube channel Diamond dropper for even more LA Sports Jerry West NBA NBA history content and lock on Clippers is free and available wherever you get your podcast including YouTube let me know what you think give your words about Jerry in the comments the ageel proverb continues go Clippers

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