The Top 10 NBA Players Ever - #9

This is yet another installment in my list of the top 10 NBA players of all time. It is admittedly a subjective list. Are individual statistics more important than the number of championships a player led his team to? Of course, these types of lists will always be contentious.

#9 Jerry West 
Jerry West was a splendid scorer, a good passer, and a stellar defender. His nickname was Mr. Clutch for all of his big game performances. He epitomized the NBA to the point where the league's logo was made in his likeness.

West's teams only won one title during his 14 year career. But they won the Western Conference title 8 other times. The problem was that those Lakers teams ran into two of the better clubs ever, the Boston Celtics of the 1960s and the New York Knicks of the early 1970s. The Lakers lost 4 Game 7s in the Finals during that stretch. Still, West is the only player to win the Finals MVP award while playing for a losing club. That happened after the 1969 finale, the first year of the award.

Throughout his career, West poured in buckets at a 27 a game rate, good for the 5th highest average in NBA history. He put up over 30 ppg 4 different seasons, winning the scoring title in 1969-70. He played even better during the playoffs. His postseason average was 29.1 a game. He led all postseason players in scoring 4 times and averaged over 30 a game 8 times, including in 1965 (40.5 ppg).

In Game 3 of the 1970 NBA Finals, with the Lakers down to the Knicks by 2, Mr. Clutch heaved a prayer from the other side of the midcourt line. It went in and sent the game into overtime. But he wasn't merely a legendary scorer. He averaged 6.1 assists per game (6.3 in the playoffs) and led the league in 1971-2 (9.7 apg). Jerry finished in the top 10 in the category 6 more times. He even rebounded at over 5 boards a contest.

West's remarkable numbers came despite the battering his body took. He was often injured, which also hurt his team's chances at the title. Despite the pain, Jerry was one of the NBA's best defenders. The All-Defensive team didn't come into existence until his 9th year, but he still made the 1st team 4 times and the 2nd team once. The league only kept tabs on steals in West's final season. In 31 games, West averaged 2.6 a game during that 1973-4 season.

West never won an MVP. That's partly due to the presence of Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell in the league at the same time as Jerry. But it was also because his teammate was the renowned Elgin Baylor; both seemed to cancel each other out. West made 10 All-NBA 1st teams. He made the 2nd team 2 other times. West was the only guard of his era who could possibly be compared to Oscar Robertson. He was the best shooting guard in history until a man named Michael Jordan took the court. He scored at an alarming rate, was a great defender, and excelled during pressure situations.