"greg brown" <noway@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:<6hTLc.11884$Qu5.9543@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>...
>
> By now I believe most Lakers fans are aware of the story of West wanting
to
> draft Moncrief over Magic. But West is also the guy who insisted on
drafting
> Worthy over the more hyped "Human Highlight Film", Dominique Wilkins.
West
> was also responsible for persuading Buss not to trade Worthy for Roy
> Tarpley, and Mark Aguirre. West brought in Bob Mcadoo in '81 when
everyone
> thought McAdoo's career was over. He traded Norm Nixon for the number
one
> guard drafted in the '93 draft, Byron Scott(I personally thought Norm
was a
> better player, but Scott was a better fit for the Lakers). From what I
have
> read, West was also against the Eddie/Elden for Rice trade. And then
there
> is the 3 time champions built at the beginning of 2000.
>
> There are many other stories like these that illustrate why West is the
best
> GM in the history of the game.
>
> For a long time I believed that West left the team because of a dispute
over
> money and power, but I have heard him deny this with his own voice. Only
> West knows for sure, but I have enough respect for Jerry to simply
accept
> his word on the matter and move on.
>
> I have no such respect for Charlie Rosen. From what I have read, I
believe
> he is a hack writer looking to forward a personal agenda that would see
his
> career, as it were, go in the same direction as Peter Vescey or Stephen
A.
> Smith. He is hoping that his inflammatory, psuedo-controversial and
shrill
> exaggerations, distortions, fabrications and outright lies, will be his
> vehicle for success.
>
> At all times Rosen should be aggressively ignored.
>
> Greg
All good points. I think another testimonial to Jerry West's ability
as an executive is how the Lakers never underwent a lengthy rebuilding
period where they were uncompetitive, like the Bulls and the Celtics.
After their cornerstone prematurely retired, the Lakers under West
ramped it back up with Van Exel, Jones, Peeler, Divac, etc. before
Shaq and Kobe came along. (there were some dark years, with Pfund and
Dunleavey, but it was a brief interlude)
And like Rosen mentioned, he's doing a pretty good job with the
Grizzlies.
It's pretty difficult to credibly bash the man's track record.
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