Jerry West at Live Talks on Oct 18…In the LA Times…
We’re pleased to be hosting Jerry West on October 18 at Track 16 at Bergamot Station. He’ll be in conversation with Peter Guber discussing his memoir West by West. Ticket info here.
Video below from the Los Angeles Times, and here’s an excerpt from the Los Angeles Times:
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that West’s autobiography, “West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life,” sheds light on his complex and torn personality. As noted by the San Jose Mercury News’ Tim Kawakami, who received an advance copy, the book apparently features West’s blunt honesty about his relationships within the NBA and on his own psyche.
–West expressed concerns about Phil Jackson dating executive vice president Jeanie Buss, daughter of owner Jerry Buss. Jackson apparently never greeted West at work. And West confirmed Roland Lazenby’s reporting in the Chicago-Sun Times that detailed Jackson kicking West out of the locker room during the 1999-2000 season.
“So one of the problems I had with Phil was this,” West wrote. “His office was right near mine and when he would arrive in the morning, he would walk right past and never even bother to wave or duck his head in to say hello.
“He would later say that he felt the need to stake out his territory, that on top of that he was ’a wack job,’ but I am sure it was more than that.”
“Phil and I had no relationship,” West writes. “None. He didn’t want me around and had absolutely no respect for me–of that, I have no doubt.”
–West felt his relationship with Buss changed when the Lakers moved out of the Forum in 1999 to Staples Center, and Buss was around less and less.
“The close nature of our relationship began to change, and not only did I feel more and more unappreciated, or under-appreciated,” West wrote, according to Kawakami, “but my own personal demons, rooted in my childhood, were threatening me.”
–West laments “how unwilling Kobe was to defer to Shaq in any way.”