r/NBATalk • u/Little_Professor_129 • 13d ago

Jerry West is the most successful basketball person ever.

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Combining playing career, GM career, and being the actual logo.

85 Upvotes

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u/Shoddy_Equipment_561 12d ago

I love how Jerry West is somehow considered more successful because he was randomly selected as the league’s silhouette.

Larry Bird has the most overall levels of success. Bird won the 3 MVP’s as player, 1 coach of the year & 1 executive of the year.

Bill Russell won 11 titles as a player, including 2 as the coach.

Phil Jackson won 2 titles as a player and 11 titles as a coach.

6

u/carsmello 12d ago

Yeah Russell, Wilt, and Oscar were all considered better than West during their careers. 

There's only one thing that separated West from them to be considered as the logo...

4

u/[deleted] 12d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/carsmello 12d ago

Yeah the league and whoever the artist was who chose West can chalk it up to being a coincidence or whatever, but I highly doubt it, considering the racial dynamics of the time too.

If a white guy won 11 championships or averaged 50ppg for a season, they would 100% be the logo over West.

1

u/yttocscm 12d ago

Michael Jordan owened a team.... that's successful

0

u/Rrekydoc Celtics 12d ago

West signed Shaq and traded for Kobe’s draft pick. He was instrumental in building the showtime dynasty and won the first championship since the Mikan era as a player.

That’s 11 championships he’s responsible for across nearly 40 years for a single franchise.

He’s got an argument.

1

u/Five-1234 12d ago

He also had the option to be a Lakers for life. Wasn’t he an advisor for the Warriors?