Jerry West Profile, Career Highs, Highlights and Pictures - Lakers Universe

Los Angeles Lakers players: Jerry West profile, career highs, highlights and pictures

Basic Data:

Jerry West ProfilePosition: Guard
Nickname: Mr. Clutch and The Logo
Born: 5/28/38 in Chelyan, W. Va.
Height: 6-2
Weight: 185 lbs.
High School: East Bank (W. Va.)
College
: West Virginia University
Career: Drafted by the Minneapolis Lakers in 1960 (second overall)... Played his entire career for the Los Angeles Lakers...
NBA Seasons: 14 (1960-61 / 1973-74)
NBA Titles: 1 in 1971-72
Olympic Gold Medals: 1 in Rome 1960

The Player:

Jerry West was one of the greatest guards in Lakers and NBA history. Although he was not blessed with great size, strength, or dribbling ability, he was an excellent shooter, a great defender and had a strong personality.

He made the NBA finals 9 times but it was an era dominated by the Celtics who were the winners in West's first 6 finals. But an obsessive of the game as West was wouldn't give up and the first L.A. championship finally was a reality.

The 1971-72 Lakers that included Wilt Chamberlain and Gail Goodrich won an still NBA record 33 consecutive games and finished the season 69-13, a season record only broken by the Bulls of Jordan. West led that historic team to the championship with 25.8 pts and 9.7 assists in the season and 22.9 pts and 8.9 assists in the playoffs.

When he retired in 1974 he was the NBA's leading playoff scorer and the Lakers all-time leader in scoring, assists, field goals made, free throws made and minutes played.

The Coach:

After his retirement the Lakers couldn't make the playoffs for 2 years. He then assumed as a coach to compile an NBA best 53-29 record during the 1976-77 season and take the team back to the postseason.

He had a 145-101 (.589) record during his three seasons as coach.

At the Front Office:

In different positions in the Lakers front office (consultant/scout/General Manager/Executive Vice President) from 1979 to 2000, he was part of many championship teams, including being responsible of getting Kobe and Shaq together.

Stats Season Playoffs
Points 27.0 29.1
Reb. 5.8 5.6
Assists 6.7 6.4
FG% .474 .469

NBA Titles:
NBA Champion 1971-721971-72 Lakers

Teams: Lakers

NBA Finals MVP (1969)

NBA All-Star MVP (1972)

Lakers second all-time scoring leader in the season (25192 pts)

Lakers all-time scoring leader in the Playoffs (4457 pts)

All-NBA 1st Team 10 times (1962-67, 1970-73)

All-NBA 2nd Team twice (1968-69)

NBA All-Defensive 1st Team 4 times (1970-73)

NBA All-Defensive 2nd Team (1969)

Fourteen-time NBA All-Star (1961-74)

NBA assists leader (1972 with 747 total assists for a 9.7 average)

NBA scoring leader (1969-70 with 31.2 average)

NBA Executive of the Year (1994-95)

One of 35 Greatest Players in NBA History (1980).

One of 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996).

Inducted into Hall of Fame as Player in 1979

another Jerry West profile...

Jerry West Career Statistics

Regular Season Stats
G FG% FT% Reb RPG Ast APG Pts PPG
932 .474 .814 5,376 5.8 6,238 6.7 25,192 27.0
Playoff Stats
G FG% FT% Reb RPG Ast APG Pts PPG
153 .469 .805 855 5.6 973 6.4 4,457 29.1

Jerry West Career Highlights

* 40 years of service *
Jerry West not only was one of the best Lakers player of all times, he also was a Laker scout, coach and General Manager. He was part in the building of two of the best groups of players the basketball world has seen: the "showtime" team that included Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar among other greats and the Kobe-Shaq of the three-peat.

* Finals MVP *
In 1969 Jerry West was the first Finals MVP and the only one selected from the losing team.

* Basketball Hall of Fame *
Jerry West was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980.

* All-Star *
Jerry West was so good that he was an All-Star 14 times in his career of... 14 years.

* 25,000 *
Jerry West was the third player in NBA history to reach 25,000 points. Before him, only Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson had done it. Currently, only 13 players are above that mark (including West)

* "Mr. Clutch" and "The Logo" *
It's easy to guess why one of his nicknames was "Mr. Clutch", Jerry West was one of the best basketball players ever to play in clutch situations. But the influence of Jerry West in the game and the league is clear when you see the official NBA logo. Any resemblance between the player silhouette in it and Jerry West is not a mere coincidence.

Official NBA Logo Jerry West or The Logo

Jerry West Pictures

We have a couple of Jerry West pictures in this gallery.

More...

Jerry West Store: with West jerseys and other merchandise
Jerry West jerseys: full list of jerseys at buyingjerseys.com
There's another Jerry West Profile at The Basketball World.com