Jerry West has some great nicknames – “Mr. Clutch, Mr.
Outside, Zeke from Cabin Creek.”
To this generation, he may be best known as “The Logo.” His
silhouette has been the NBA logo since 1969. That’s something the soft-spoken West
wouldn’t mind being changed, but it shows his outsized importance to the league
in the 1960s.
West played in 14 NBA seasons and made the All-Star game
every year. He averaged more than 25 points per game in 11 seasons, including
winning a scoring title in 1969-1970. Listed as a shooting guard, West was
really a combo guard. Beginning in 1965-1966, he averaged more than 6.0 assists
per game his last nine seasons, including leading the league in 1971-1972 with
9.7. Michael Jordan’s career high was 8.0.
The “Mr. Clutch” moniker was well earned. He topped the NBA
in playoff scoring four times, including averaging 40.6 points per game over 11
postseason games in 1964-1965. The only player to top it – Jordan in 1986 when
he averaged 43.7 points per game. Jordan only played in three games, though.
West also led the playoffs three times in assists, 1969-1970,
1971-1972 and 1972-1973. That’s something Jordan didn’t do even once.
In fact, West remains the only player in NBA history to win
the NBA Finals MVP on a losing team. In 1968-1969, the Lakers fell to Boston in
seven games in Bill Russell’s final season. West had games of 53, 41, 40 and 39
points. In game seven, West scored 42 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and had 12
assists in the losing cause.
His advanced stats are just as strong. He topped 22.0 in PER
in 12 of his 14 seasons. He led the league in PER in 1968-1969 and 1969-1907.
He had more than 10.0 in win shares in 10 seasons and topped the NBA in
1969-1970. In the playoffs, he was even better. He led the league in playoff
PER three times and in win shares three times.
With all these accomplishments, why has West fallen out of
the top 15? In my system, he ranks just 40th in peak (single season)
value because he never put together the one great all-around season. Players
such as Willis Reed, Allen Iverson and Derrick Rose had better single-season
marks than West.
His two best years statistically were 1964-1965 and
1965-1966. But the Lakers went 5-6 and 7-7 in the playoffs those years and West
finished well down the MVP voting.
In 1968-1969, when West won the NBA Finals MVP and the
Lakers won 70 percent of their regular season games and 61 percent of their
playoff games, West had his third best season numbers wise. For some reason,
though, he received no votes for MVP. Only five players got votes that year,
Wes Unseld, Willis Reed, Billy Cunningham, Bill Russell and Elgin Baylor. West
had a higher scoring average than any of them.
In the end, his best year in my system ended up being 1971-1972,
when he won his one NBA title with the Lakers and Wilt Chamberlain. By then, his
game was slipping. Although slipping for West meant he averaged only 25.8 per
game in the regular season and 22.9 in the playoffs. It ended up his best
because the Lakers won 87 percent of the regular season games he played in and
80 percent of the playoff games.
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Jerry West
bio info
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Career
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1960-1974
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Games
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932
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Points
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27.0
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Rebounds
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5.8
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Assists
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6.7
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FG Pct.
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47.4%
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All-Star games
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14
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NBA MVPs
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0
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NBA titles
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1
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Playoff seasons
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13
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Playoff games
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153
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Points
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29.1
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Rebounds
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5.6
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Assists
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6.3
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FG Pct.
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46.9%
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Hall of Fame
|
1980
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Top 100
rankings
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Points
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Top 100 ranking
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1-year
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355.32
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40th
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5-year
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1,733.28
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18th
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10-year
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3,231.16
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13th
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Career
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4,06.08
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19th
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Jerry West
at his peak
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|||
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1971-1972
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West
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Top 5
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Points
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PER
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23.1
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25.83
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Win Shares
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13.3
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18.13
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Box +/-
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NA
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NA
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VORP
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NA
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NA
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Total Advanced Stats
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36.4
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43.96
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82.80
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Playoff PER
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18.8
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24.34
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Win Shares
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1.0
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2.88
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Box +/-
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NA
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NA
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VORP
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NA
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NA
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Total Advanced Stats
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19.8
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27.21
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72.76
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Reg. Season Win %
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87.01
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87.01
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Playoff Win %
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80.00
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80.00
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MVP Voting (75 points)
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393/900
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32.75
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Playoff MVP (25 points)
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0
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0
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Total Score
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355.32
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West’s 10 greatest seasons
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1971-1972
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355.32
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1968-1969
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350.23
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1969-1970
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349.24
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1964-1965
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339.96
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1965-1966
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338.53
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1967-1968
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315.18
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1972-1973
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303.51
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1961-1962
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302.27
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1962-1963
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290.65
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1963-1964
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286.27
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Career
winning percentage
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|||
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W
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L
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Pct.
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Regular Season
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594
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337
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63.80%
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Playoffs
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87
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66
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56.86%
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