Quotes from Jerry West

Some guys lay their fannies out there every night - they play the game at such a high level, and they give so much that, frankly, they don't get credit for it. And I think it's tragic sometimes.

Anything you can do to help someone, I just think it's so important because there's a lot of kids that look up athletes of all size and shapes in a lot of different fields, not necessarily in the basketball field. They get involved emotionally with those people because there's something about certain athletes that people rally around.

I remember, years ago, if I had had an opportunity to leave the Lakers, I would have left for one reason: because I did not like an owner that was not telling me the truth. And it would have made no difference what they would have offered me; I would have left.

When time is running out and the score is close, most players are thinking, I don't want to be the one to lose the game, but I'm thinking, What do I have to do to win?

The only thing I care about is winning. That's all. If you don't want to win, you don't want to be around me.

There's always two or three players I like, and why I like them, I can't tell you. There's just something about them I think would be great on a team.

Kevin Garnett was a great player, but he wasn't Kobe Bryant.

It's discouraging for me to come out there and watch the lack of fan support for a good team.

The support this city and our fans have shown the Grizzlies made my decision to stay in Memphis an easy one. Memphis deserves a championship team, and I am committed to that.

For some reason, I always wanted to work in an environment where things weren't so good. I'm no messiah, but I always wanted to try and make a difference where a team hadn't prospered.

I'm a Gemini. Know what that means? There are two very different sides to me.

There's been so many unbelievable players in Los Angeles, maybe the best of the best.

I'm at the point where you look back on your life and reflect. I've always been an unbelievable critic of me. If we lost a game, I blamed myself every night. I'm very proud of some of the things I did as an athlete, as an executive.

I know when I left the game, I could have played more. There is no question. I think I could have played at a very high level, too. But I could not play the way everyone wanted me to play. And I was not willing to compromise what I felt was a standard that I had established in this league and, particularly, for our fans at home.

Defensively, from a team standpoint, I didn't feel I played very well. Very rarely was I satisfied with how I played.

I've always been a very harsh judge of talent because if you don't play the game on both ends of the court, and if you don't play hard every night, I'm probably not going to be in love with you as a player. I'm going to respect you because you're good, but these players are unique.

I don't know anything else but the Lakers. This has certainly been more than a job for me as a player. It has certainly meant more to me than just an occupation.

The Lakers had been home to me, unlike the home I had grown up and felt apart from.

You can't get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good.

Anything can happen with hard work and dedication

I would hope that racism is something that just does not work in this day and age, but I know otherwise.

At one time, we were asked to play your own man; you're responsible for your own man. And, if you were good enough and kind of a ball hawk, you helped everyone else. Now it's really much more of a team concept defensively than it was when we played.

A shot is a lever; it's all it is. You don't open a car door differently each time. A car door is efficient - it opens and closes. So is a shot.

The 3-point line has changed the game so much. The day of the big man, unless you're extraordinary good, is not numbered, but certainly you gotta be a lot more versatile to play the game today. You gotta be able to really run up and down the court.