During his time as a player and then as a general manager for the Los Angeles Lakers, Jerry West was considered one of the best in the business. As if West’s dominating on the basketball floor wasn’t impressive enough, his stint as a GM with the Lakers was just as impactful.
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With that being said, when West speaks, most people tend to listen. West is as respected as anyone in the league with a great reputation to along with an incredible resume.
West’s most recent comments dub San Antonio Spurs head coach Greg Popovich the best he’s ever seen.
West made an appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd recently and praised Popovich, according to a transcription from Dan McCarney of Spurs Nation:
“I’ve never seen a better coach than Gregg Popovich. He does less than more. But having said that, when he gets less, he develops it into something really good. They have a great development program down there.
“For a coach coming into this league, if they don’t hire people who are really competent, to take these young kids who haven’t made it somewhere but have talent and build a system they can prosper in, but more importantly to get these kids shoot the ball. When they got Kawhi Leonard, he was not a shooter. It tells you the significance of what they’ve done internally to improve their team.”
West’s comments are pretty powerful considering he was the GM for the Lakers during the Showtime era with Pat Riley and while Phil Jackson was at the helm following Del Harris’ departure.
With Popovich winning his fifth title in San Antonio, the longtime head coach of the Spurs has been thrust into the conversation of the greatest NBA head coaches of all-time. Popovich’s fifth title ties Riley’s total and has his name mentioned along with Red Auerbach and Jackson.
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Although Popovich is arguably the best head coach in the game today, it remains uncertain whether he’ll attempt to continue adding to his legacy moving forward. Popovich has said in the past that he’d retire once Tim Duncan decides to walk away from the game, but Duncan has yet to make a decision on his immediate future leaving Popovich hanging in the balance.
H/T Pro Basketball Talk
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