Jerry West does it again

[bEER_Nation13]

Jerry West lures Kevin Durant from OKC. As a Thunder fan (not big fan as NBA is one of my least favorite leagues to watch. I even prefer tennis, golf, and soccer over NBA), it sucks to see such a great talent leave especially to a team that is already loaded. People gave Lebron hell but this is worse, IMO. Miami Heat wasn't coming off 73 win season, losing Game 7 of Finals, and had won it all previous year. NBA is becoming even more unwatchable as there are only 3-4 teams in the league with any realistic shot at winning it all. It's too predictable. Everyone picked Cavs vs Warriors Championship rematch right after Golden State beat them last year in the Finals. It's the only league where you can correctly predict Championship teams 1 year in advance.

It's the complete opposite of NHL. As a Penguins fan, I was calculating the team's chances of winning the draft lottery to get Matthews back in December. Nobody had the Pens winning it all, most didn't even have them making playoffs. Everyone was just hoping they could gel things together to make a good run in 16-17 yet here we are, Penguins and Phil Kessel are Stanley Cup champions. Stanley Cup Playoffs is utter madness, very unpredictable which makes it the greatest and toughest post-season tournament in all of sports.

Same could be said for the NFL. It's a little bit more predictable than NHL but it's still pretty unpredictable when you have teams like ; Patriots, Steelers, Broncos, Packers, Cardinals, Seahawks, Panthers, Bengals, Ravens, etc who are absolute contenders. with many other fringe teams that are about to become contenders within 1-2 years such as Raiders, Vikings or Rams (if they can find their missing quarterback piece).

But in the NBA, you only have about 3-4 teams which might be closer to 2-3 now since Thunder is no longer a real contender. Spurs will soon no longer be a legit contender unless they retool through FA because most of their core is up there in age, even Duncan is likely to retire this year and Ginoboli will soon follow. So who does that leave you with? GSW and Cavaliers. The regular season is a joke, it's even more worthless now.How can anyone enjoy watching regular season NBA unless you're a Cavs or GSW fan. Not only did OKC lose yesterday, I think the entire league lost as parity continues to weaken even more.

With that said, Jerry West struck gold once again. That's why he's one of the greatest ever associated with the NBA. He was a world class basketball player and he's been a world class recruiter/manager since retiring as a player.

 

[Cuyahoga Falls Eers]

Jerry West lures Kevin Durant from OKC. As a Thunder fan (not big fan as NBA is one of my least favorite leagues to watch. I even prefer tennis, golf, and soccer over NBA), it sucks to see such a great talent leave especially to a team that is already loaded. People gave Lebron hell but this is worse, IMO. Miami Heat wasn't coming off 73 win season, losing Game 7 of Finals, and had won it all previous year. NBA is becoming even more unwatchable as there are only 3-4 teams in the league with any realistic shot at winning it all. It's too predictable. Everyone picked Cavs vs Warriors Championship rematch right after Golden State beat them last year in the Finals. It's the only league where you can correctly predict Championship teams 1 year in advance.

It's the complete opposite of NHL. As a Penguins fan, I was calculating the team's chances of winning the draft lottery to get Matthews back in December. Nobody had the Pens winning it all, most didn't even have them making playoffs. Everyone was just hoping they could gel things together to make a good run in 16-17 yet here we are, Penguins and Phil Kessel are Stanley Cup champions. Stanley Cup Playoffs is utter madness, very unpredictable which makes it the greatest and toughest post-season tournament in all of sports.

Same could be said for the NFL. It's a little bit more predictable than NHL but it's still pretty unpredictable when you have teams like ; Patriots, Steelers, Broncos, Packers, Cardinals, Seahawks, Panthers, Bengals, Ravens, etc who are absolute contenders. with many other fringe teams that are about to become contenders within 1-2 years such as Raiders, Vikings or Rams (if they can find their missing quarterback piece).

But in the NBA, you only have about 3-4 teams which might be closer to 2-3 now since Thunder is no longer a real contender. Spurs will soon no longer be a legit contender unless they retool through FA because most of their core is up there in age, even Duncan is likely to retire this year and Ginoboli will soon follow. So who does that leave you with? GSW and Cavaliers. The regular season is a joke, it's even more worthless now.How can anyone enjoy watching regular season NBA unless you're a Cavs or GSW fan. Not only did OKC lose yesterday, I think the entire league lost as parity continues to weaken even more.

With that said, Jerry West struck gold once again. That's why he's one of the greatest ever associated with the NBA. He was a world class basketball player and he's been a world class recruiter/manager since retiring as a player.

I think Jerry West could run the NBA or anything else he tries. The guy is so committed, so persistent, almost anal about perfection. Lakers, Warriors, even the Grizzlies, benefitted immensely by having Jerry West around. If Jerry asked you to join him, who could turn him down? There's Jerry and then there's all the others who have played basketball at WVU. God bless him. God bless WVU for having him. And a curse on California for that finals victory despite a fantastic performance by Jerry.

 

[Soaring Eagle 74]

I think Jerry West could run the NBA or anything else he tries. The guy is so committed, so persistent, almost anal about perfection. Lakers, Warriors, even the Grizzlies, benefitted immensely by having Jerry West around. If Jerry asked you to join him, who could turn him down? There's Jerry and then there's all the others who have played basketball at WVU. God bless him. God bless WVU for having him. And a curse on California for that finals victory despite a fantastic performance by Jerry.

Editorial suggestion: "God blessed WVU by having him".

 

[steeleer]

It's a shame he left the Lakers
1) I'm a Laker fan
2) Jerry was a legend there
3) Jerry built 2 great teams as GM there

If it wasn't for Phil banging Jennie Buss and feeling entitled to make GM-like calls, Jerry would have never left. He would have made Shaq and Kobe work and we would never had seen the mess these last 3 years have been. Mitch Kupchak sucks.

 

[tOSUGrad90]

Lakers' fan here, too. You forgot to mention Jim Buss, who is singularly responsible for Phil Jackson not returning to L.A. a few years ago. We are in for an historically long dry spell, I'm afraid.

 

[steeleer]

Lakers' fan here, too. You forgot to mention Jim Buss, who is singularly responsible for Phil Jackson not returning to L.A. a few years ago. We are in for an historically long dry spell, I'm afraid.

If Jim is good for his word, then he'll leave after this season. Word is they'll bring Phil back as GM, but I'd much rather have Jerry.

 

[mike48]

Bring Jerry back with his son Ryan as GM and GM in training. Only chance of Lakers have to be in the hunt for years to come.

 

[bEER_Nation13]

Lakers will probably get Russell Westbrook since LA is his hometown, he did play at UCLA and we all (or least I did) got to watch him play live at the Coliseum when WVU beat them few years ago. The question is do they trade for him. It would take someone like Ingram or Russell + draft pick to get him. But they could just wait until next summer when he becomes a UFA and sign him without losing any assets. Of course, Knicks could make a trade for him by giving up someone like Porzingis + draft pick. NY is another real possibility for him because I think he likes the big city scene. I think Knicks or Lakers will likely be where he signs next year with Boston being a dark horse.

But I think if someone does make a trade for him and gives up some legit assets, they will feel very confident about being able to resign him because I would not give up Ingram, Porzingis, etc for a 1 year rental. But OKC has to trade him unless they know 100% he will resign. He seems more of a honest guy than KD, he'll tell the management straight up if he wants to or not. If not, then they will trade him. They have to. Small market teams like OKC cannot lose both KD and RW for absolutely nothing.