Jerry West to Step Up Warriors Involvement


by Ryne Nelson / @slaman10

Sure, they let JLin go. Sure, fans are unhappy with GM Larry Riley. But there is hope for the Golden State Warriors.

Jerry West may soon step into a more prominent decision-making role with the franchise. West recently spoke to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle, offering the mostly standard quotes about acquiring Draft picks and adding talent to improve the team. But there were a few interesting snippets about his getting more involved in ‘GMing’:

Jerry West readily admits that he hasn’t had a major impact on the Warriors in his role as executive board member, but that might be about to change.

“The Logo,” a 14-time All-Star as a player and twice the league’s Executive of the Year as a general manager, has acted merely as a remote adviser for the Warriors thus far. He says that he’ll be a regular in the Bay Area after this weekend’s Northern Trust Open charity golf tournament in Southern California, and that the Warriors might be closer to becoming a playoff team than their 9-14 record indicates.

“I’m going to be up here a lot more. I think something can be done here, and it’s kind of fun for me,” said West, who watches every game on a 60-inch TV from his Bel Air home and talks regularly with general manager Larry Riley, assistant GM Bob Myers and co-owner Joe Lacob. “It’s a challenge, but it can happen in a year’s time if we can get lucky with a few things.”

West also gushed about Jeremy Lin today to Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News, stating, “I definitely think he’s a starter.” Seems like West may have liked to have been involved when team execs waived Lin on the first day of training camp.

Interestingly, while West was more than happy to talk about Lin and all things Lin-sanity, he laughed and immediately cut me off when I asked one specific question:

Did the Warriors’ front office check with their most famous exec-board member before the team released Lin on the first day of training camp this season?

“I don’t want to go there,” West said, with a chuckle. A pause. “Just: No comment.”