Also, Oscar declined more rapidly than West so the seasons where Robertson was better early in their careers are partially balanced by the seasons where West was better later in their careers. Theres a reason the leagues logo is the Los Angeles Lakers legends silhouette. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a decade of dominance. The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFLs All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years. In Game 2, Baltimore was unable to stop the Lakers guard, who scored 52 points, nearly half of L.A.'s total, in the 118115 win. From college to the pros, Robertson and West shared a unique bond and reverence. > Archive 75: Jerry West| 75 Stories: Jerry West. Head to Head: Oscar Robertson vs. Jerry West. As a 6-foot senior, West became the first prep player in state history to score 900 points in a season, averaging 32.2 points. And knowing what that looked like, the Logo wanted to surpass him. FantasyPros considers the best player values for DraftKings and FanDuel NBA DFS. Biography. Oscar Robertson. [41] In Game 7, Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke had put up thousands of balloons in the rafters of the Forum in Los Angeles. Oscar Palmer Robertson (born November 24, 1938), nicknamed "the Big O", is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Still, West was named to the All-NBA First Team 10 times in his career, and he was selected to the NBA All-Defensive First Team in four of his final five seasons. [67] In 2015, the Warriors won their first championship in 40 years; the championship was the seventh earned by West while serving as a team executive. In the Olympic basketball tournament, the USA definitely conquered Rome. "Who else would you want to take it but Kobe?" In the 1960 NBA Draft, Robertson was drafted first overall (territorial pick) by the Cincinnati Royals (now the Sacramento Kings) and dominated from the get-go, averaging 30.5 points (47.3% shooting), 10.1 rebounds, and a league-high 9.7 assists per game as a rookie; as a result, he was Rookie of the Year, made the first of his 12 consecutive All-Star Game appearances, and earned the first of nine straight First Team All-NBA selections. They beat the Pistons four games to two to advance to the 1962 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics. 1971 Topps NBA Assist Leaders #143 PSA 6 Jerry West/Oscar Robertson/N. With West not yet in shape, Baylor and the Lakers fell back 32; then they succumbed in Game 6 in front of their home crowd with a 112109 loss. But West, who had scored 38 points in a Game 4 win, had sprained his ankle and did not play at full strength the rest of the series. No copyright infringement is intended. "Why does everybody say the game has changed? Perhaps I expect too much.. From 1962-70, the Lakers reached the Finals six times, losing to Boston five times and to the Knicks once. West averaged 27.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.6 assists and was again NBA All-Star and All-NBA First-Team;[15] however, he played in only 55 regular-season games, missing the last seven weeks due to a hamstring injury. He moved up and he was like, I know Im The Logo and everything else, but in my era, there was no better basketball player than Oscar Robertson.'. [89], This article is about the basketball player. [82], As a person, West was often described as an introverted and nervous character, but who also drew the highest praise for his uncompromising work ethic. Just look at the roster: Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Walt Bellamy, Bob Boozer, Terry Dischinger . [ 1] With an all-around game that rivaled Oscar Robertson's, West added six assists and six rebounds per game and excellent defense in the backcourt that produced a number of steals each game. [8][10] He was so small, frail, and weak that he needed many vitamin injections from his doctor and was kept apart from children's sports, to prevent him from getting seriously injured. As his line-drive jumper headed for nothing but net, he would run off the court, clapping his hands, never looking back because it was a sure thing. [36] In Game 1, West only hit seven of 24 shots, and the Lakers lost 107101, but L.A. evened out the series at two games each. He then embarked on a 14-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, and was the co-captain of the 1960 U.S. Olympic gold medal team, a squad that was inducted as a unit into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. He had finally won a championship, in one of the greatest seasons ever for an NBA team. Jerry West and the Lakers won Game 3 of the 1962 NBA Finals at the buzzer. During halftime of Sunday's All-Star Game, 45 members of the 75th Anniversary Team including Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar stood side by side on a circular stage in the middle of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. During his first year, he was benched by his coach Duke Shaver due to his lack of height. On the flipside, West was selected more frequently for All-Star (14x to 12x), All-NBA (12x to 11x), and All-Defensive (5x to none) Teams, though Robertson does have the one MVP to his name. Despite his statistical achievements, and those of Wilt Chamberlain, NBA media voted Bill Russell their 1961-62 MVP. It was 200 degrees and a heat wave in Rome. The Big O's best statistical season came in 1961-62 when he averaged a . During their overlapping careers, Robertson and West faced off head-to-head on 94 occasions. Clutch" a handle which stuck with West for his entire career. The two go back quite a ways. Robertson's last All-NBA first team was in 1969 and West made first team from 1970-1973. Too few fans today saw Oscar play with Jerry Lucas in Cincinnati or saw him when he was the sidekick of Lew Alcindor (before he changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) on a championship team in Milwaukee. However, West averaged 22.8points, but also averaged 8.8assists per game, and again was a First Teamer in the All-Star, All-NBA, and All-Defense Teams. He scored 19 points in the second half, leading WVU to an upset victory. [37] Coach Van Breda Kolff was concerned about the drain at the guard positions after losing Clark, and especially after losing Goodrich in the expansion draft to the Phoenix Suns. Ventaja : Jerry West. West was 6-3, although he was "long" in today's terminology because of his wingspan. Oscar Robertson Calls out NBA for Super Teams Hypocrisy: When Boston Got Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, That Was David Sterns Deal. Combine a deadly jump shot, tenacious defense, obsessive perfectionism, unabashed confidence, and an uncompromising will to win, and youve got Jerry West, one of the greatest guards in NBA history. [22], In the 196566 NBA season, West averaged a career-best 31.3points, along with 7.1rebounds and 6.1assists per game. Before that, the Oscar Robertson Rule was established in 1976, and the ABA-NBA merger allowed the NBA to expand for the 1976-77 season. [68] [69][70], On December 17, 2020, it was reported that West and the LA Clippers were under investigation by the NBA following a lawsuit filed by John Wilkes against the LA Clippers over the recruitment of Kawhi Leonard to the team. Entering the same 1960 NBA Draft as Robertson, West was selected right after Robertson with the second overall pick by the Minneapolis Lakers, who soon relocated to California and became the Los Angeles Lakers. And his 6,238 career assists (6.7 apg) rank among the best ever. Additionally, as President of the Players Association, he was involved in the landmark Robertson vs. National Basketball Association antitrust suit that led to reforms for the college draft and free agency rules, and also finally allowed the completion of the ABA-NBA merger to take place in 1976 (the suit was filed in 1970). Your suplied Email address (xxxxx@fiba.basketball) does not seem to be correct, "THAT WAS THE MOST SPECIAL MOMENT IN MY LIFE, TO PLAY THE NATIONAL ANTHEM, IT WAS THE MOST THRILLING, CHILLING THING THAT I'VE EVER BEEN INVOLVED WITH. Basketball, Team, School. Jerry West could easily feel a sense of bitterness toward Russell, even though The Logo eventually did win a ring in 1972. He was the measuring stick for how a player. After losing Elgin Baylor to an Achilles tendon rupture that effectively ended his career, West himself injured his knee and was out for the season; the short-handed Lakers lost the Western Conference Finals in five games to the championship-bound Milwaukee Bucks, who were led by freshly-crowned Most Valuable Player Lew Alcindor (later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and veteran Hall-of-Fame guard Oscar Robertson. The USA had a team to envy. For most of the game, the Lakers trailed, but West and Frank Selvy hit several clutch baskets and tied the game at 100. [40] L.A. also took Game 2, with West scoring 41 points. "I did that once or twice. The book has had tremendous critical acclaim and became an instant New York Times bestseller. After helping the Golden State Warriors win the championship against the Cleveland Cavaliers, on June 14, 2017, West announced that he would go to the Los Angeles Clippers as an executive board member and consultant. Robertson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar helped lead the Bucks to the 1971 championship, beating West and the Celtics in the Conference Finals in the process. Although West enjoyed great individual success during his prime, the teams record is a study in frustration unbelievable frustration is how West described it to the Los Angeles Times Magazine. They accomplished their mission of beating the USSR, too, winning 81-57. "[48], Having vanquished this long-time bane, West entered his 13th NBA year. In-Game 1 West scored 24 points before fouling out with three minutes left and L.A. won Game 1 115112. As a player with the Cincinnati (Ohio) Royals of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1961-62, he averaged . [41] After the loss West was seen as the ultimate tragic hero: after the game, Bill Russell held his hand, and John Havlicek said: "I love you, Jerry". It only makes sense that he also seeks validation. Across their respective decades of dominance, Robertson holds the edge in essentially every category, from health (games played) to counting statistics to shooting ratios to advanced metrics; this is of course no knock on West (whose best-decade numbers are still scintillating), but speaks to how truly dominant the Big O was at his peak. [16] He was also named to be a member of the U.S. Pan American Games basketball team that won the gold medal. Today, both are remembered as among the all-time greats, with Wests silhouette gracing the NBAs logo, but it is impossible not to compare the two players and ask: Who was better Oscar Robertson or Jerry West? In five postseason games that year, West scored a total of 160 points, presaging his NBA playoff heroics. Both entered the league via the 1960 NBA Draft - Robertson was the No. The Celtics' Sam Jones inbounded the ball at half-court with three seconds left. [50][51] West conceded that he had played a terrible series, and credited the team for the success. Oscar Robertson vs Lenny Wilkens. One of the main complaints that many old heads have with the modern game is its statistical, analytics aspect. In 1960, Robertson was a member of the gold medal winning basketball team in the Rome Olympic Summer Games with fellow Hall of Famers Jerry West, Jerry Lucas and Walt Bellamy. The teams split the first two games, and at the end of Game 3 in Los Angeles, West tied the game at 115. With Elgin Baylor (Mr. It's a test of your strength and stamina and playing ability, really. He thinks its really going in! It did, sending Game 3 into overtime. 3 Copy quote. In 1974, the 36-year-old West left the game as the NBAs third-leading career scorer, behind Chamberlain and Robertson, with 25,192 points in 932 games. At the tail ends of their careers. He spent five years at that post, helping build Memphis into a playoff team in 2004, 05 and 06 before stepping down in 2007. [48] West himself contributed with 25.8points and led the league with a career-high 9.7assists per game. Emboldened by the success of the westward-bound Brooklyn Dodgers and faced with the dilemma of finding a site for its home games, the Lakers franchise moved to Los Angeles for the 1960-61 season. Born: November 24, 1938 in Charlotte, Tennessee us College: Cincinnati High School: Crispus Attucks in Indianapolis, Indiana Draft: Cincinnati Royals, 1st round (1st pick, 1st overall), 1960 NBA Draft (territorial selection) Choosing to stay local, he played college basketball at West Virginia University, where he was a 2x First Team All-American, 2x Southern Conference Player of the Year, and NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player in 1959 as the Mountaineers narrowly lost to Cal in the finals by a 71-70 score. If I could have one wish granted, it would be that you would always be happy. West averaged 46.3 points per game, a figure that is still an NBA record. "We got one dollar a day per diem," West recalled, when he spoke at the team's induction ceremony at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012. Shaver emphasized the importance of conditioning and defense, which were lessons that the teenager appreciated. Although both ranked among the top four leading scorers in history when they retired, neither man ever won an MVP. Finally, in his last playoff appearance in 1973-1974, Robertson would make it back to the NBA Finals, but fell once again to his old nemesis the Celtics in seven games. [15] The Lakers had a disappointing season, winning only 36 games and getting swept by the San Francisco Warriors in the first round of the 1967 NBA Playoffs. [15] On January 17, 1962, West scored a career-high 63 points in a 129121 win over the New York Knicks. Maybe that's what a team is all about. Led by Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, and John Havlicek, the Celtics would win eleven NBA . Besides, the Big O has quite a bit of respect for The Logo, too. [87][88], West is portrayed in the 2022 HBO docudrama series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty as a temperamental, foul-mouthed executive prone to angry outbursts and mood swings. Before Game 1, West privately complained to Bill Russell of exhaustion, but then the Lakers guard scored 53 points on Boston in a close two-point win. He was named All-State from 1953 to 1956, then All-American in 1956 when he was West Virginia Player of the Year, becoming the state's first high-school player to score more than 900 points in a season, with an average of 32.2 points per game. Advertisement. [20] His college coach was also hired to coach the Lakers. After a slump in the early 1990s, West rebuilt the team of coach Del Harris around center Vlade Divac, forward Cedric Ceballos, and guard Nick Van Exel, which won 48 games, and went to the Western Conference Semifinals. Prior to the 1971-72 season, the 33-year-old West was considering retirement. He was also a member of the first five NBA All-Defensive Teams (one second, followed by four firsts), which were introduced when he was 32 years old. During that time, West was the better scorer (27.0 to 25.7), but Robertson grabbed more rebounds (7.5 to 5.8) and averaged more assists (9.5 to 6.7) and also had slightly better shooting percentages. At the same time, the early 1970s also saw West post his highest career assist numbers, which culminated in him leading the NBA in assists in 1971-1972 at 9.7 assists per game to go along with 25.8 points (47.7% shooting) and 4.2 rebounds per game. [28] The Lakers struggled during the entire season, winning only 42 games, and were beaten by the Hawks in five games during the first round of the 1964 NBA Playoffs. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. He is a. man for the ages." Jerry West. [77] Finally, the NBA logo itself is modeled after West's silhouette. 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