What Jerry West’s Move to the Clippers Means for the Lakers
Jerry West’s arrival with the Clippers couldn’t have come at a better time, but the same could have been said for the Lakers too.
What if I told you the Los Angeles Clippers were going to be alright regardless of what happens with Chris Paul, J.J. Redick and Blake Griffin this summer? Chances are you’d look at me like I was a crazy person. Now what if I told you the reason I thought they were going to be alright was because Jerry West was coming to town to right the ship?
According to multiple reports, the logo is coming back to Los Angeles, but not with his beloved Lakers. Instead, he will be joining the Clippers’ front office in an advisory role similar to the one he held for the past six years with the Golden State Warriors.
Before his time with the Warriors, West spent just over 20 years in the Lakers’ front office, first as a scout and then as the team’s general manager from 1982–2002. West also spent 14-years, in a Hall of Fame NBA career as a player with the purple and gold. If he wanted to return to sunny Los Angeles, California, why not do it with the Lakers?
According to Bleacher Report’s NBA Senior Writer Kevin Ding, the fit wasn’t there:
The Lakers just went through a front office shakeup of their own, with Magic Johnson taking over as president of basketball operations and longtime agent Rob Pelinka succeeding legendary general manager Mitch Kupchak. So, perhaps there wasn’t a role. However, as noted by Bleacher Report Lakers’ Insider Eric Pincus, Jerry West is the type of guy you make room for:
Surely the Lakers could have used West in an advisory role. As well as things have begun, they can get turn bad quickly for Magic and Pelinka if they take one misstep this summer. Having West around would have aided a young, up and coming front office headed by a few fresh new faces, including Jerry’s son Ryan.
Like his father, Ryan West started out as a scout with the Lakers in 2009 before eventually being promoted to Director of Player Personnel two years ago. During his time with the Lakers, Ryan has had Jerry’s full support.
“I love the Lakers, okay,” West said in an interview on The Dan Patrick Show. “And, it’s a different situation now — a different time — and obviously I wish everyone well over there. My son works there. I’m very proud that he works there.”
But, could Jerry West’s role with the Clippers mean the end of the read for Ryan West and the Lakers? While Ryan has a solid gig with the Lakers, it’s hard to believe he’s going to pass up an opportunity to learn under his father, who is believed to be one of the greatest general managers in NBA history. That would be a huge loss for the Lakers, who reportedly see Ryan as a “significant part” of everything they do moving forward.
Aside from the internal problems this move could potentially cause, West’s move to the Clippers isn’t a good look for the Lakers.
Dating back to the 2012–13 season, the Lakers have not won a single season series against the Clippers. They even gave their Staples Center roomies their largest margin of victory in franchise history with an embarrassing 48-point loss in 2014. Despite this, the Lakers are still the team the majority of basketball fans in Los Angeles claim — and it’s not close.
For all of the misfortunes the franchise has suffered over the past five years, they still have their 16 league championships and retired jerseys to hang their hats on. The Clippers have yet to make it past the second round of the Western Conference playoffs. Until that happens, the Clippers will always be the butt end of all Lakers fans’ jokes.
However, Clippers’ owner Steve Ballmer isn’t too concerned with winning over fans in Los Angeles, as he told Business Insider earlier this month.
“We’ve been kicking the Lakers’ ass the last several years … But our ultimate goal isn’t to beat one other team. It’s to beat 29 other teams. If you tell me you were the top team in LA, but the 28th team in the league, I say to heck with that.”
Assuming the Clippers re-sign Paul and Griffin this summer, there’s no reason they won’t be making their seventh consecutive postseason appearance in comfortable fashion. They might even give the Warriors a run for their money if they can stay healthy.
But what if they don’t? What if Paul and Griffin decide the Clippers aren’t any closer to beating the Warriors than the Spurs or the Rockets and sign lucrative deals elsewhere?
Paul is rumored to have interest in joining the Spurs, while Blake Griffin has been linked to Boston as of late. Both the Spurs and Celtics have larger championship windows than the Clippers, whose lone All-Star is only under contract for another season.
If Paul and Griffin leave this summer, West becomes invaluable to the Clippers’ organization, the same way he could have been invaluable to the Lakers in their rebuilding situation.
During his six-year stint with the reigning league champion Golden State Warriors, West played a key role in the decisions the front office made. West was rumored to be the one that pushed the Warriors to trade Monta Ellis to make way for an up and coming Klay Thompson. That trade not only provided more playing time for a rising star, but it landed them Andrew Bogut, who would become a crucial part of their championship run in 2015.
West was also vocal when it came to players he didn’t want traded, including the aforementioned Klay Thompson. The Warriors were reportedly engaged in talks with the Minnesota Timberwolves for Kevin Love in 2014, but the trade talks fell apart after some stiff criticism within the Warriors’ organization, according to a report by Sports Illustrated.
Jerry West threatened to resign his position as the Golden State Warriors head consultant if the team went ahead with a proposed trade last summer with the Minnesota Timberwolves involving guard Klay Thompson and forward Kevin Love, SI.com’s Chris Ballard.
At the time, Klay Thompson wasn’t the dominant two-way force he is now, but West saw enough in him to protest a trade that would have landed them an All-Star caliber forward that would have fit perfectly in their system. Not too many people can make that call, but West is one of them.
The Lakers are going to need that voice of reason come February, when teams start calling about the handful of young players on the roster. Mitch Kupchak and Jim Buss, for all of their faults, were wise enough not to gut their roster for DeMarcus Cousins at the deadline last year.
Can the same be said for Magic and Pelinka, who will be put in a tough position with Paul George next year? Who’s stopping them?
For the Clippers, West can be the guy to put them over the top by saying “Hey, we’re a pretty good team right now, but I know how we can be even better. You just have to trust me.”
I’d like to meet the person that can tell him he can’t.
Heading into a pivotal summer, the Los Angeles Clippers made the right move by bring Jerry West aboard. For the Lakers, it was a missed opportunity to provide balance to a front office that could really use it right now.
