SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The stage was filled with Laker greats when Jerry West made history Sunday night by becoming the first three-time inductee to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
When one of them had his turn to speak, he could barely get the words out trying to say what West meant to him.
“He’s a friend and a mentor, and I owe him more than he could ever understand,” Michael Cooper said while choking back tears.
No wonder Jonnie West said of his father, who died in June at 86: “Jerry West was beloved by pretty much everyone in basketball.”
Cooper was enshrined as part of the 13-member class led by Vince Carter and Chauncey Billups. Carter is the only player to appear in four decades and his 22 seasons are an NBA record.
Even as he prepared to call it quits in 2020 at 43, Carter was having trouble using the word “retire.” That changed, he said, after a conversation with Kobe Bryant during his final season in which Bryant assured him that life after playing was wonderful. Shortly after, Carter came to terms saying he was retiring.
“Because Kobe Bryant allowed me to see it was OK,” Carter said.
The class also included high-scoring Phoenix star Walter Davis and former Knicks champion Dick Barnett, with Seimone Augustus and Michele Timms making it from the WNBA. Doug Collins and Pacers owner Herb Simon were inducted as contributors, along with amateur-level coaches Bo Ryan, Harley Redin and Charles Smith.
This honor for West was for his work as a contributor, largely recognizing the eight championships he helped the Lakers win as an executive.
“Contributor to the game of basketball, that is you in every single sense and that will live on forever,” Jonnie West said, with Lakers Hall of Famers such as Magic Johnson and James Worthy joining Cooper, with coach Pat Riley nearby.
West had already been inducted for his playing career with the Lakers that began in 1960, and then again in 2010 as a member of the 1960 U.S. team that won an Olympic gold medal at the very start of one of basketball’s most unparalleled careers.
“The Logo. The icon of our game,” said Cooper, who had Riley and Johnson back on stage chanting “Cooop!” along with fans when he returned for his own enshrinement.
West loved to find players for the Lakers and mentor them once they were, from a No. 60 pick and defensive specialist out of New Mexico like Cooper, to a high school teenager like Bryant.
Boosted by West’s acquisition of Bryant and signing of Shaquille O’Neal in 1996, the Lakers won three straight championships from 2000-02. Billups led the Detroit Pistons to an upset of the Lakers in the 2004 NBA Finals and was voted series MVP as the point guard on a team that included Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince.
“We affectionately called ourselves the best five alive and nobody was going tell us any different,” Billups said.
Billups had a rough start to his career, lasting just half a season in Boston before the Celtics traded the No. 3 pick in the 1997 draft. He didn’t last much longer in Toronto or Denver but eventually found his spot in Detroit, where the No. 1 jersey of the player nicknamed “Mr. Big Shot” hangs in the rafters.
“I never thought I needed a second home but in Detroit I have one,” Billups said.
Carter ended up with plenty in his career, which he said included 261 teammates. It started as the high-flying phenom in Toronto in 1999, where he joined his cousin and now fellow Hall of Famer, Tracy McGrady. It was only shortly before that they learned they were related, and Carter said when McGrady called to tell him that news, he said: “Cuz, I’m going to make sure the Raptors draft you. I got you.”
“Here we are today,” Carter added.
His dunks, whether in Slam Dunk contests, Olympics or just regular-season games, made Carter must-see TV early in his career. He relished remaining a productive player many teams and many years later, when he was no longer quite the high flyer.
He thanked the fans who watched him for all the years, both the ones who cheered and the ones who booed.
“Man, it’s been an honor to fly in arenas for your entertainment,” Carter said.
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