Is Jerry West a victim of his skin color?

[Dagoods]

All here is D-Wade this...D-Wade that!
The Flash this...The Flash that!
Is he really the greatest SG of all-time behind Jordan and Kobe?
What about the LOGO? How come he doesn't get the same amount of respect BIRD does?
is it because he's white and not flashy?

Dwayne Wade:
3× NBA champion (2006, 2012, 2013)
NBA Finals MVP (2006)
13× NBA All-Star (2005–2016, 2019)
NBA All-Star Game MVP (2010)
2× All-NBA First Team (2009, 2010)
NBA scoring champion (2009)

Jerry West:
NBA champion (1972)
NBA Finals MVP (1969)
14× NBA All-Star (1961–1974)
NBA All-Star Game MVP (1972)
10× All-NBA First Team (1962–1967, 1970–1973)
4× NBA All-Defensive First Team (1970–1973)
NBA scoring champion (1970)
NBA assists leader (1972)

Take the rings away and West blows him out of the water.

What Say You?
Your thoughts...your thoughts...

[Phoenix]

Jerry West is considered a top 15 player and ahead of Wade in GOAT rankings. Not sure his color is holding back the perception of him. FWIW, I'm a big Wade guy but when the top 25 SG thread by L.Kizzle comes up I'm ranking West third and Wade 4th.

[Dagoods]

He seems as fragile, small, skinny, slow, etc ..
Meanwhile WADE was able to do things Kobe and MJ were able to do, but not consistently.

[light]

All here is D-Wade this...D-Wade that!
The Flash this...The Flash that!
Is he really the greatest SG of all-time behind Jordan and Kobe?
What about the LOGO? How come he doesn't get the same amount of respect BIRD does?
is it because he's white and not flashy?

Dwayne Wade:
3× NBA champion (2006, 2012, 2013)
NBA Finals MVP (2006)
13× NBA All-Star (2005–2016, 2019)
NBA All-Star Game MVP (2010)
2× All-NBA First Team (2009, 2010)
NBA scoring champion (2009)

Jerry West:
NBA champion (1972)
NBA Finals MVP (1969)
14× NBA All-Star (1961–1974)
NBA All-Star Game MVP (1972)
10× All-NBA First Team (1962–1967, 1970–1973)
4× NBA All-Defensive First Team (1970–1973)
NBA scoring champion (1970)
NBA assists leader (1972)

Take the rings away and West blows him out of the water.

What Say You?
Your thoughts...your thoughts...

Victim?

He was considered the GOAT SG before Jordan and he's still the logo. How is he a victim?

[Phoenix]

Victim?

He was considered the GOAT SG before Jordan and he's still the logo. How is he a victim?

That's what I'm wondering. West seems to get almost universal praise.

[Dagoods]

JORDAN
KOBE
and some claim WADE

were better than him. I can understand MJ and KOBE but WADE? really? How so?

[Psileas]

All here is D-Wade this...D-Wade that!
The Flash this...The Flash that!
Is he really the greatest SG of all-time behind Jordan and Kobe?
What about the LOGO? How come he doesn't get the same amount of respect BIRD does?
is it because he's white and not flashy?

Dwayne Wade:
3× NBA champion (2006, 2012, 2013)
NBA Finals MVP (2006)
13× NBA All-Star (2005–2016, 2019)
NBA All-Star Game MVP (2010)
2× All-NBA First Team (2009, 2010)
NBA scoring champion (2009)

Jerry West:
NBA champion (1972)
NBA Finals MVP (1969)
14× NBA All-Star (1961–1974)
NBA All-Star Game MVP (1972)
10× All-NBA First Team (1962–1967, 1970–1973)
4× NBA All-Defensive First Team (1970–1973)
NBA scoring champion (1970)
NBA assists leader (1972)

Take the rings away and West blows him out of the water.

What Say You?
Your thoughts...your thoughts...

Agreed, West is clearly the #3 GOAT SG and he's closer to #2 than #4. People don't realize West was one of the most complete players to have ever played, an elite offensive and defensive guard, clutch, competitive, perfectionist, pretty much no weaknesses, remains the all-time Finals leading scorer and is #3 in ppg there (btw, #1 is the also white and underrated Rick Barry) with 30.5 ppg without 3's, is arguably the GOAT stealer and shot blocking guard etc. He played through zillions of injuries and was still highly impactful at the age of 35-36.
Add this to the faulty perceptions that black/white films create, people totally wrongfully thinking he was slow/unathletic, etc, and you have an example of a grossly underrated player. Not necessarily underrated as to where he ranks (although he may be underrated there as well in many lists), but as to fans (below 60, at least) never mentioning him in any discussions he absolutely belongs.

[Phoenix]

JORDAN
KOBE
and some claim WADE

were better than him. I can understand MJ and KOBE but WADE? really? How so?

I've seen some lists with West ahead. I dont think it's written in blood that Wade is the 3rd ranked SG and some of that may have been recency bias but now that Wade's career is done, some people may revert back to West. I don't think you can go wrong with either, two great guards in two completely different eras. It's no more a subjective argument as to whose 'greater' than any other argument of this nature.

[Marchesk]

He seems as fragile, small, skinny, slow, etc ..
Meanwhile WADE was able to do things Kobe and MJ were able to do, but not consistently.

You mean like a taller scoring version of John Stockton?

Luka and Jokic look like slow, out of shape, soft Euros until you watch them consistently wreck good teams with superior athletes. Looks are deceiving.

And then there was Larry Bird, who looked and sounded like some hick, and people thought he was unathletic, but everyone has him ranked above the likes of Nique, Worthy and even Dr. J.

[HBK_Kliq_2]

Victim of his era and victim of the Celtics. You have to overcome a great team at least once, all the greats did it. Jerry West never overcame the Celtics.

[Kblaze8855]

Jerry West is a victim of the stupid people who came after him making the rankings of individuals in team sports solely about team accomplishments. Jerry is a victim of lazy tv producers and radio hosts creating a generation of fans who don’t know the game well enough to compare players without ring count.

Jerry is a victim of modern sports fans having no interest in the past or ability to evaluate anything beyond kids table surface level nonsense.

His skin color isn’t the issue.


Fans being stupid is the issue.

[Carbine]

So he's supposed to be ranked higher than 15ish?

That post Mr Blaze sounds like you believe people generally rank him in the 25 area.

Being regarded as one of the top 15ish players ever isn't fans being stupid either.

[Ben Simmons]

One thing about Jerry West is nobody can decide if he's a PG or SG

[Mr. Woke]

Nope.

Stupid ass cracker lost too much in the finals.

[90sgoat]

Jerry and Larry are the two GOAT basketball people.

Player, coach, executive.