Kobe Bryant just passed Jerry West as the Lakers’ all-time scoring list. Kobe’s numbers throughout his career is impressive, but is Kobe the best Laker ever to suit up for a game? Let’s see.

Jerry West is known for being the logo of the NBA, and he has one of the coolest nicknames ever, “Mr. Clutch”, but what he did on the court was just simply amazing. Most NBA players of today are very passive when it comes to perfecting their game, but not West. He wanted to be the perfect basketball player so bad that it became an obsession. Jerry West’s drive for perfection continued throughout his career as the Lakers general manager in the 1980s and 1990s and well into the Lakers three-peat of the new millennium. Lets take a look at West’s numbers.

West played a total of 932 regular season games, averaged 27ppg, while scoring 25,192 points. West dished out 6,238 assist and grabbed 5,376 rebounds. These are amazing stats, especially for a shooting guard. The best shooting guards of all-time, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant both don’t have the assist numbers that West has, which makes him more deadly because not only does he score, but he has the ability to get his teammates involved. Jordan averaged 5.3 assist per game and Kobe averages 4.6 assists per game. West averaged 6.7 assist per game.

Let’s talk about West’s leadership. As a player, West lead the Lakers to an incredible nine playoff appearances, but only won one title, due to the misfortune of having to play the Celtics of that era. When West retired, he was the all-time playoff scoring leader, and who can forget one of the greatest shots of all-time, the 60 foot buzzer beater against the New York Knicks in the 1970 Finals? West was a great player, but is he the best Lakers player of all-time?

I’m not sure. What do you think?

- John A. Roberts

Popularity: 1% [?]