Jerry West Quotes

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Jerry West

Profession : Businessman

Birth : May 28, 1938

Kevin Garnett was a great player, but he wasn't Kobe Bryant.

Jerry West

It's discouraging for me to come out there and watch the lack of fan support for a good team.

Jerry West

Coaches who have been players in the league, they get so attuned to playing how they were successful and who their coaches were.

Jerry West

The league is changing, and we don't have many back-to-the-basket players. We now have a game that requires skill and versatility. A lot of that is about being able to think. It makes all the difference in the world to have a player in there with a high basketball IQ who can make the right decision.

Jerry West

Defensively, from a team standpoint, I didn't feel I played very well. Very rarely was I satisfied with how I played.

Jerry West

If I'm not nervous, if I don't have at least a little bit of the same self-doubt and anxious feelings I had when I started playing, then it will be time for me to go on. I must have that tension.

Jerry West

In the playoffs, the best players are supposed to play better. I did. It made no difference.

Jerry West

A shot is a lever; it's all it is. You don't open a car door differently each time. A car door is efficient - it opens and closes. So is a shot.

Jerry West

I would never stay under circumstances where I felt I was a figurehead and might look good in your team media guide. I don't want to be that. I do want to contribute, and if I don't contribute, I'll walk away from it. If I don't feel welcomed, I'll walk away from it.

Jerry West

Some guys lay their fannies out there every night - they play the game at such a high level, and they give so much that, frankly, they don't get credit for it. And I think it's tragic sometimes.

Jerry West

I know when I left the game, I could have played more. There is no question. I think I could have played at a very high level, too. But I could not play the way everyone wanted me to play. And I was not willing to compromise what I felt was a standard that I had established in this league and, particularly, for our fans at home.

Jerry West

I'd go fishing and always pretend I would catch the biggest fish. I'd stay out there for hours after everybody else left until I caught something. When I shot baskets, I was always the coach and star player and always made the winning shot.

Jerry West

Anything you can do to help someone, I just think it's so important because there's a lot of kids that look up athletes of all size and shapes in a lot of different fields, not necessarily in the basketball field. They get involved emotionally with those people because there's something about certain athletes that people rally around.

Jerry West

I've always been really nationalistic, and I had a brother killed in Korea. And I think the 'Star Spangled Banner,' even today - and I've heard it a heckuva lot of times, OK - has always been a significant feeling to me.

Jerry West

I hated to miss games... at the height of my career, I missed a lot of games due to... just a hamstring pull. And I hated sitting out. I just hated it. You play for your team, but you also play for the people who attend the games.

Jerry West

We talk about players of yesteryear, guys who could play or couldn't play, and I think it's ridiculous to try to even compare people... The things that you can do in basketball today that you couldn't even do then... you can carry the ball; you walk all over the place.

Jerry West

At one time, we were asked to play your own man; you're responsible for your own man. And, if you were good enough and kind of a ball hawk, you helped everyone else. Now it's really much more of a team concept defensively than it was when we played.

Jerry West

I went a few times, but I felt there was no way that any therapist could understand my particular torment and also felt in some respects they were sicker than I was.

Jerry West

The Lakers had been home to me, unlike the home I had grown up and felt apart from.

Jerry West

When the Warriors are on, my wife keeps away from me. I'm a rabid fan, and my language sometimes is not too good.

Jerry West