Alexander: Mr. Clutch visits Riverside

RIVERSIDE — Yes, Jerry West is now a member of the Clippers’ organization. But he made his reputation as a Laker, as a player and an executive, and he has spent the last few seasons associated with the NBA’s current glamour team, the Golden State Warriors, as a consultant.

So, then, guess which teams The Logo wound up talking about most extensively Saturday morning, as the keynote speaker for the Riverside Unified School District’s annual Coaches Clinic?

This transition may take a while for the public to get used to.

Jeff Fellenzer — a lecturer on sports media as an adjunct professor in USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism — guided the conversation in a Q and A format, following presentations by athletic trainer Jim Clover, Cal Baptist wrestling coach Lennie Zalesky and CBU athletic director Micah Parker.

And when West and Fellenzer took over the stage, the assembled coaches, administrators and athletes, including Riverside Poly’s girls basketball team, discovered a lot more about this fascinatingly complex man than just basketball opinions.

West, now, 79, touched on some of the topics of his 2011 autobiography, subtitled: “My Charmed, Tormented Life.” He talked about the turbulence of his home life as a child, the role basketball played in getting him through those times, the pain of losing an older brother in the Korean War, and his estrangement from a father with a pronounced violent streak.

“I was an at-risk kid in a town of 550,” he said. “So what did I do? I became a loner.”

And, he added: “In my house, I never felt good about myself, but I could go out and shoot a basketball. I could be the coach, the referee, the timekeeper. And I used to practice making the last shot. I’d miss it 10 times (to every make) when I was a little guy. Finally, I just found a way” to handle that pressure.

West became, of course, the premier pressure shooter of his and maybe any era, and that “Mr. Clutch” nickname the late Chick Hearn gave him has endured ever since. He embellished his Hall of Fame resume with his success as a general manager with the Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies, and advanced it further as a consultant with the Warriors in their rise from also-ran status to two titles in three years.

With the Dubs’ last three trips to the Finals, teams that West has been involved with have now reached the championship round 21 times, more than any individual in NBA history.

He lost his first seven trips to the Finals as a player, and remains the only Finals MVP from a losing team, in 1969. “We don’t have to talk about that,” he said, drawing a laugh.

But he has nine rings: The 1972 championship with the Lakers, six more as a Lakers scout or executive (Magic Johnson’s five in the 1980s and Kobe Bryant’s first in 2000), and 2015 and ’17 with the Warriors.

What led him to change teams this summer?

“I won’t be somewhere where I don’t feel wanted,” he said. “And I didn’t feel wanted there anymore.”

There have been reports, including a book excerpt in Sports Illustrated this week, that the issue involved money, and that in fact Warriors’ managing owner Joe Lacob wanted West to take a severe pay cut.

And, well, the Clippers wanted him, and West and wife Karen have made their home in L.A. all along. And that competitive fire is not ready to be extinguished.

“I do like challenges,” he said. “Even though I’m much older, I need a reason to get up every morning … and if I can’t help make a difference. I won’t stay there. I’ll go off into the sunset, and I’ll move to Riverside.”

Jerry knows his audience. That brought a big cheer.

Other observations?

• Points aren’t everything, and in fact West helped sell Kevin Durant on the Warriors by pointing out that in Oakland he didn’t have to score 30 points a game but could show his all-around skills in an environment with plenty of scorers.

• “The whole Warrior team was the nicest group of people I’ve ever been around,” he said. “It happens by accident sometimes. Steph Curry, the reason his appeal is so big — forget the extraordinary shooting and the ability to play the game. If you’d have him at the house you’d probably want to give him a toy because he looks like a young kid.”

• One of his absolute favorite players? Kawhi Leonard. And yes, the Spurs forward is the pride of Riverside King, but West loves him for this reason: “Substance over style. He’s got something special inside of him that some of these players who are really talented don’t.”

• West’s view on teams giving players games off: “If you’re a fan in a city and you want to see Lebron James and he doesn’t play, they’ve paid a premium to see him. I think it’s wrong. If you want to sit him out at home, go ahead and do it. But not on the road, period.”

And if someone had tried to get him to sit out a game as a player, even in an era with fewer restrictions on scheduling and commercial rather than charter flights?

Uh, no.

“I’m wired differently than most people,” he said. “I know I am. A lot of people think I’m crazy. I am crazy, in a good way.”

We wouldn’t have him, and probably couldn’t imagine him, any other way.

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