Jerry West Is Reportedly Leaving The Warriors To Become A Consultant For The Clippers
(Had to get slick and throw in this seamless Photoshop since it’s almost #PhotoshopSZN)
SI- After six years as a special consultant, Jerry West is leaving the Golden State Warriors to take a similar job with the Los Angeles Clippers, SI.com has learned. West, who turned 79 as the NBA Finals began, made his decision over the last couple of weeks.
Known as the architect of two Laker championship teams as a general manager (Showtime in the decade of the 80s and the Kobe-Shaq threepeaters at the beginning of the century), West was not in a decision-making capacity with the Warriors. But he was a respected voice on personnel matters as Golden State turned from a laughingstock to a model franchise.
WOJ BOMB!!! Oh shit, Woj didn’t break this? Dude must already be resting on a bed of ESPN’s money even though he hasn’t started there yet.
Gotta say I love this move for the Clippers for a lot of reasons. First is that Jerry West is a basketball savant. He was a stud when he was a player, maybe somehow even more so as a GM, and he is the goddamn logo of the NBA. Jerry West is a fucking stud. Yeah he built the Showtime Lakers, convinced Shaq to leave Orlando, traded Vlade Divac for Kobe, resided over that threepeat, and likely weighed in on some important decisions as the Warriors became a juggernaut.
But lets not forget he was also able to turn the Memphis fucking Grizzlies into a competent team and came exactly one spot short of getting LeBron in Memphis. Instead the Grizzlies got the 2 pick (which was one Top-1 protected) because of an ollllld trade for Otis Thorpe and the pick was sent to the Pistons and later became Darko Milicic. Nothing but bad juju in that last sentence. OTIS THORPE!!! That’s the kind of move the Knicks make only to watch it blow up epically in their face. Either get the number 1 pick in the most important draft of the 2000s or nada and Jerry got nada.
I couldn’t imagine if my team missed out on LeBron James by one ping pong ball or however the fuck the lottery works. I have a hard enough time getting past the Knicks missing out on Steph Curry by 1 pick in 2009 a year after they drafted Danillo Galinari with the 6 pick after Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love went 4 and 5. And that’s knowing the Knicks would have somehow ruined all those players before they became stars. Jerry West has to look at the ceiling sometimes and just think about how many rings him and LeBron could have won together in Memphis. Not one, not two, not three, not four. LeBron may have even been lucky enough to know what it was like to play on a #Superteam if that had happened.
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Anyway, I love the timing of this announcement. This move has been rumored for a little while but the fact it gets announced tonight is great. Jerry West just had his proverbial dick sucked for two nights on ESPN’s Best of Enemies 30 For 30 by being a player on some great Lakers teams and then the GM of a bunch of others. Now the Clippers get that guy in their front office while Jeanie Buss rolls with Magic Johnson. L.A. hoops should be a pretty fun basketball civil war to watch in the coming years, especially if LaVar Ball is chirping the entire time.
Don’t get me wrong though, this wasn’t a no-brainer for West. He helped build up the Warriors to what they are today. But he probably felt like he had done all he could do. You ever build a franchise in 2K or Madden that just crushes teams even when you simulate and it’s not really even fun to play anymore? Yeah that was kind of a humblebrag of my video game GM’ing skills. But it’s also what the Warriors are going to be like for a while unless some unforeseen crazy shit goes down. Plus it sounds like their owners are about as fun as a bunch of rich tech guys would seem. I watch Silicon Valley. I get it. Jerry wanted a new challenge, a new franchise, and the Clippers are just that. Moving from the Warriors to the Clippers is like moving from the nicest house on the block to a house that looks pretty nice but has some real issues once you look up close. Some abestos in the walls or your house floods during torrential rain and you are sweeping it out for 6 hours at a time like KFC. That’s the best way to describe the Clippers current longterm outlook.
HOWEVAAAA, that house is also owned by a fun ass dude with a ton of cash and it could definitely be worse than some of the other houses.
Never underestimate the power of The Ballmer.
So what does this all mean for the league? It makes Chris Paul’s decision more interesting. There has been rumors of him potentially going to the Spurs for a while, even though he’d be leaving some serious cash on the table if he left the Clips. Blake Griffin is a free agent as well. And with L.A.’s pull and West’s resume, you would think the Clippers could turn things around quicker than people anticipated before West made this move.
The one personal bummer is that this probably ends the dream of sending #Me7o to LaLaLand, I mean L.A. Sorry if seeing LaLa triggered you Melo. Not much about Jerry West’s background says trading for an aging scorer with questions about his defense or willingness to share the ball/spotlight. West probably has a big fat VETO stamp ready for any trade that comes across his desk involving Melo. But whatever. At this point I guess I’m just happy for Clippers fans. I won’t have any true Knicks happiness in my life until James Dolan sells the team or dies.