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Jerry West



Position: Guard
Full Name: Jerry Alan West
Nickname: Mr. Clutch, Zeke from Cabin Creek
Born: May 28, 1938 in Cheylan, West Virginia
Height: 6-3
Weight: 185
High School: East Bank in East Bank, West Virginia
College: West Virginia
Drafted: 1st Round, 2nd Pick - LA Lakers, 1960
Jersey#: 44

Played for the Lakers from 1960 to 1974
Inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1980


West started his stellar basketball career as a schoolboy phenom at East Bank High School, where he led his team to a state championship in his senior year, and became the first high school player in West Virginia to score more than 900 points in a season. He was heavily recruited leaving high school, with offers from more than 60 colleges, but chose to stay home and attended West Virginia University. As a freshman, he starred on a team that went 17-0. In his three remaining years, he was the main force of the team, averaging 17.8, 26.6 and 29.3 ppg respectively. In 1959, his junior year, West led the Mountaineers to the NCAA Finals and captured the tournament's Most Outstanding Player Award. As a senior, he was a consensus All-America and led WVU to its third consecutive conference championship. In the summer of 1960, he played for the US Olympic Gold Medal team in Rome, Italy. In Los Angeles, West played virtually his entire career with Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor and five years with Wilt Chamberlain.

West is currently on fourth place on the career scoring average list (27.0) behind Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor. He's also in third place on the free throws made list (7,160) behind Moses Malone and Oscar Robertson and fifth on the free throws attemted list with 8,801.

He averaged over 20 ppg every season except his first and averaged over 30 points four times (1962, 65, 66, 70). He was also a defensive force, being named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team four times.

During his career, West was named All-NBA First Team ten times. He was selected to 14 All-Star teams, capturing the MVP award in 1972. He was also named to the NBA's 35th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1980, and selected NBA Finals MVP in 1969. West's most remarkable skill was the ability to perform under pressure. He averaged 29.1 ppg in 153 playoff games; 40.6 ppg in 11 playoff games in 1965.

West won his only NBA championship in 1972, on the greatest team EVER.

West retired in 1974 due to injuries, and coached the Lakers for three seasons (1976-1979). He served as the Lakers' general manager from 1982-94 and has been executive vice president since 1995, when he was named NBA Executive of the Year, until 2002. In 2002 he was hired as President of Basketball Operations by the Memphis Grizzlies. Although it was the worst team in the NBA at that time, West quietly rebuilt the team. In 2004, the Grizzlies won 50 games for the first time in their history, and West was named NBA Executive of the Year for the second time.

Jerry West was used as the model for the current NBA logo.



Regular Season Stats


YEAR TEAM G MIN FGM FGA PCT FTM FTA PCT 3PM 3PA PCT REB RPG AST PF STL TO BLK PTS PPG
1961 LAL 79 2797 529 1264 .419 331 497 .666 0 0 - 611 7.7 333 213 0 0 0 1389 17.6
1962 LAL 75 3087 799 1795 .445 712 926 .769 0 0 - 591 7.9 402 173 0 0 0 2310 30.8
1963 LAL 55 2163 559 1213 .461 371 477 .778 0 0 - 384 7.0 307 150 0 0 0 1489 27.1
1964 LAL 72 2906 740 1529 .484 584 702 .832 0 0 - 443 6.2 403 200 0 0 0 2064 28.7
1965 LAL 74 3066 822 1655 .497 648 789 .821 0 0 - 447 6.0 364 221 0 0 0 2292 31.0
1966 LAL 79 3218 818 1731 .473 840 977 .860 0 0 - 562 7.1 480 243 0 0 0 2476 31.3
1967 LAL 66 2670 645 1389 .464 602 686 .878 0 0 - 392 5.9 447 160 0 0 0 1892 28.7
1968 LAL 51 1919 476 926 .514 391 482 .811 0 0 - 294 5.8 310 152 0 0 0 1343 26.3
1969 LAL 61 2394 545 1156 .471 490 597 .821 0 0 - 262 4.3 423 156 0 0 0 1580 25.9
1970 LAL 74 3106 831 1673 .497 647 785 .824 0 0 - 338 4.6 554 160 0 0 0 2309 31.2
1971 LAL 69 2845 667 1351 .494 525 631 .832 0 0 - 320 4.6 655 180 0 0 0 1859 26.9
1972 LAL 77 2973 735 1540 .477 515 633 .814 0 0 - 327 4.2 747 209 0 0 0 1985 25.8
1973 LAL 69 2460 618 1291 .479 339 421 .805 0 0 - 289 4.2 607 138 0 0 0 1575 22.8
1974 LAL 31 967 232 519 .447 165 198 .833 0 0 - 116 3.7 206 80 81 0 23 629 20.3
CAREER 932 36571 9016 19032 .474 7160 8801 .814 0 0 - 5376 5.8 6238 2435 81 0 23 25192 27.0


Playoff Stats


YEAR TEAM G MIN FGM FGA PCT FTM FTA PCT 3PM 3PA PCT REB RPG AST PF STL TO BLK PTS PPG
1961 LAL 12 461 99 202 .490 77 106 .726 0 0 - 104 8.7 66 39 0 0 0 275 22.9
1962 LAL 13 557 144 310 .465 121 150 .807 0 0 - 88 6.8 57 38 0 0 0 409 31.5
1963 LAL 13 538 144 286 .503 74 100 .740 0 0 - 106 8.2 61 34 0 0 0 362 27.8
1964 LAL 5 206 57 115 .496 42 53 .792 0 0 - 36 7.2 17 20 0 0 0 156 31.2
1965 LAL 11 470 155 351 .442 137 154 .890 0 0 - 63 5.7 58 37 0 0 0 447 40.6
1966 LAL 14 619 185 357 .518 109 125 .872 0 0 - 88 6.3 79 40 0 0 0 479 34.2
1967 LAL 1 1 0 0 - 0 0 - 0 0 - 1 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1968 LAL 15 622 165 313 .527 132 169 .781 0 0 - 81 5.4 82 47 0 0 0 462 30.8
1969 LAL 18 757 196 423 .463 164 204 .804 0 0 - 71 3.9 135 52 0 0 0 556 30.9
1970 LAL 18 830 196 418 .469 170 212 .802 0 0 - 66 3.7 151 55 0 0 0 562 31.2
1972 LAL 15 608 128 340 .376 88 106 .830 0 0 - 73 4.9 134 39 0 0 0 344 22.9
1973 LAL 17 638 151 336 .449 99 127 .780 0 0 - 76 4.5 132 49 0 0 0 401 23.6
1974 LAL 1 14 2 9 .222 0 0 - 0 0 - 2 2.0 1 1 0 0 0 4 4.0
CAREER 153 6321 1622 3460 .469 1213 1506 .805 0 0 - 855 5.6 973 451 0 0 0 4457 29.1