82 Jerry West Quotes On Basketball, Leadership, Winning & Being Clutch

The top quotes from "The Logo"

Jerry West was a legendary figure in the basketball world as both a player and an executive. As a player, West played his entire career with the Los Angeles Lakers where he was an NBA champion and 14-time NBA All-Star. 

He scored over 25,000 points in his career including many critical shots in high-pressure situations, giving him the nickname "Mr. Clutch."

Off the court, Jerry was known for his success as an executive. As the General Manager of the Lakers, he helped build them into a championship team in the 80's and early 2000's where they won multiple titles.

One of his most famous moves was trading for Kobe Bryant on draft day in 1996. 

Jerry also worked as an executive for the Memphis Grizzlies and as a consultant for the Golden State Warriors. 

Above all else, one of his most notable accomplishments is being the player that is silhouetted in the NBA logo, a testament to the great impact he had on the NBA and the sport of basketball. 

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Best Jerry West Quotes About Basketball

1. "As a player all you can do is play within yourself, even in the context of a team sport."

2. "I hate to say it's not a Laker but Michael Jordan. He's been the greatest player I've ever seen. And I'm probably a harsh judge of talent in the sense that I admire players that are really good defensive players and really good offensive players."

3. "A couple teams will grind the shot clock down. Most of the time coaches do that, it's usually a talent deficit. They can't compete against the better teams."

4. "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."

  

 

5. "It was clear to me that I was never going to be the same kind of player I had been. It was time to quit."

6. "The 3-point line has changed the game so much. The day of the big man, unless you're extraordinary good, is not numbered, but certainly you gotta be a lot more versatile to play the game today. You gotta be able to really run up and down the court."

7. "I was not a great ballhandler. I just worked very hard at it, and I got to be a good ballhandler-a competent ballhandler-but never a great ballhandler."

8. "Basketball came to me and for some reason it gave me an opportunity to live a life that I didn't dream possible. But it did let me live my dreams."

9. "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."

10. "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."

11. "The advent of so much dribbling has created a different kind of player, and it starts at a very early age. We have so many gifted ball handlers. Everything is pick-and-roll. Unless he's a catch-and-shoot guy, a player is going to put it on the floor and attack. Kevin Durant is a wonderful ball handler."

12. "You need to possess more than a little nastiness to play basketball at the highest level."

13. "The season is a beast within itself. It's not the quickest race; it's a marathon. In the playoffs - if you're fortunate enough to make the playoffs - that's more like a dash. You have to concentrate on one opponent. When they're done, you have to concentrate on another one."

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

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

  

16. "Don't let talent get in way of team performance. Great players do what's outstanding for team, not what makes them stand out."

17. "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."

18. "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."

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

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Jerry West Leadership Quotes

20. "To have harmony on a team, you need a coach who can get inside the head of every player and get them all pulling in one direction."

21. "For some reason, I always wanted to work in an environment where things weren't so good. I'm no messiah, but I always wanted to try and make a difference where a team hadn't prospered."

22. "That's a strong sign of a good coach, to let an assistant participate. It shows his confidence in the coach's ability not to have to dominate everything."

23. "If you can't see someone's got a game with great personality, you shouldn't be out there looking."

24. "I’ve never seen a better coach than Gregg Popovich."

  

 

25. "I think, at the end of the day, when you hear the same voice all the time, it goes in one ear and out the other when you're a player."

26. "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."

27. "I've always been a very harsh judge of talent because if you don't play the game on both ends of the court, and if you don't play hard every night, I'm probably not going to be in love with you as a player. I'm going to respect you because you're good, but these players are unique."

28. Obviously, stats are important tools, but I think there's something behind those things; somewhere along the way, you've got to try to look inside someone."

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

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Jerry West On Work Ethic

30. "You can't get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good."

31. "You need lofty goals. Then cement it with a great work ethic"

 

 

32. "Anything can happen with hard work and dedication."

33. "I've always been someone who has been very driven. I think my circumstances, how I grew up, hard work and work ethic are absolutely vital to any success that people might have, regardless of what they might be doing."

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Confidence And Self-Esteem Quotes By Jerry West

34. "I'm surprised when the ball doesn't go into the hoop. I think I should make every shot."

35. "Confidence is a lot of this game or any game. If you don't think you can, you won't."

36. "The word 'dog' comes up a lot....Well, I was a wolf. I used to eat dogs."

  

 

37. "Self-esteem is something I still battle. People look at me and say, 'You've got fame. You've got admiration. You've done this; you've done that.' As far as I'm concerned, I haven't done anything. I've just fulfilled a dream of competing."

38. "I see people that have success, and I see how poised and polished they are and how they handle it. I wonder inside if they feel the same way that I feel."

39. "I've been so low sometimes and when everyone else would be so high because I didn't like myself."

40. "Even though I felt, at times, 'My goodness, you're among the upper echelon,' there is still a huge void there. A huge void. It is about self-esteem. That's a thing that has always been a real complex part of my life."

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Jerry West On Winning And Competition

41. "You get so addicted to winning that you don't want that feeling to stop."

42. "I'm just ultracompetitive. I will be till they put me in the grave."

43. "The passion to win games, the incredible, focused energy and also the camaraderie of the team were all things that I really loved."

44. "I don't think people fully appreciate the trauma associated with losing. It takes a lot out of you, year after year."

45. "If you don't want to win, you don't want to be around me."

  

 

46. "A lot of people would be happy that they got through a long career and had a chance to play as many times in the finals. To me, I wanted to win for the franchise and for the people. And when you can't do that, it's devastating, particularly for someone like me."

47. "As you get older, every chance to win a championship is more crucial, because you are going to have less and less of them."

48. "I enjoy winning, but more importantly, I enjoy the people I'm around."

49. "Everyone always says you have to be on the best team, the team that wins. Oh, no, no, no. I disagree with that."

50. "You can't imagine how much good luck is involved in winning, but all of a sudden, you get in a situation where every break goes your way, every call goes your way, every ball that rolls around drops in instead of out. It feels magical."

51. "You have to win games by scoring points, of course, so that's important. But when you're having nights against a good defensive team, you have to win in a different manner. You have to win a defensive-type game."

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Jerry West Quotes About The Lakers

52. "There's been so many unbelievable players in Los Angeles, maybe the best of the best."

53. "I have often wondered why I was never captain of the Lakers."

54. "I don't know anything else but the Lakers. This has certainly been more than a job for me as a player. It has certainly meant more to me than just an occupation."

 

 

55. "I remember, years ago, if I had had an opportunity to leave the Lakers, I would have left for one reason: because I did not like an owner that was not telling me the truth. And it would have made no difference what they would have offered me; I would have left."

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

57. "You can't ever totally know what's inside of someone else, or see the kind of will someone like Magic has. You have to rely on your instincts to find people who hate losing and know how to win."

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Jerry On Challenge And Adversity

58. "I've seen a lot in my life. I've seen a lot of winning. I've seen a lot of testing times. I think when you're tested, you really find out what you're made of."

59. "Fear of failure, it's the greatest motivational tool. It drives me and drives me and drives me."

 

 

60. "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."

61. "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."

62. "Many people, men in particular, just can't not be active. I guess our minds demand that we seek other challenges."

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West On Pressure And Being Clutch

63. "When time is running out and the score is close, most players are thinking, I don't want to be the one to lose the game, but I'm thinking, What do I have to do to win?"

64. "I always wanted the ball in my hands with a game on the line, as I think any real competitor does."

 

 

65. "I was disappointed if I didn't have a chance to win a game, and if I had the chance and didn't do it."

66. "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."

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Other Jerry West Quotes

67. "I don't live in the past. And besides, there are too many times in my career to remember specific events, because I played so many games."

68. "There are many players who don't measure up to their marketability."

69. "I'm a Gemini. Know what that means? There are two very different sides to me."

70. "I'm still very much a West Virginia boy. I haven't forgotten my roots, because that's really who I am."

71. "When it's time for me to walk away from something, I walk away from it. My mind, my body, my conscience tell me that enough is enough."

72. "I'm at the point where you look back on your life and reflect. I've always been an unbelievable critic of me. If we lost a game, I blamed myself every night. I'm very proud of some of the things I did as an athlete, as an executive."

73. "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."

74. "I like to keep people guessing."

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

76. "To be candid with you, free agency hurts all sports. It's great for athletes making an enormous amount of money. But to say it helps the sports, I don't believe that."

77. "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."

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

79. "I'm not one who likes to be honored, to be honest with you. That's never been who I am."

80. "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."

81. "There's always two or three players I like, and why I like them, I can't tell you. There's just something about them I think would be great on a team."

 82. "I often do things that surprise me, not to mention others."

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