Jerry West reveals he never liked Mike Fratello’s way of running the offense: NBA News
Jerry West has been at the centre of attention quite recently because of the revelation of his depression woes in childhood, in his autobiography.
However that is not the only shocking thing in his book ‘West by West’. West has revealed several facts in his book that have ruffled a few feather and one of them is about the former Memphis Grizzlies coach Mike Fratello.
Fratello, who served as a colour analyst besides coaching professionally and currently serving as the head coach of the national team of Ukraine, was criticised the way he used to run the Grizzlies offense.
Similarly like many others, West also didn’t like the way Fratello’s method of running the offense. Regarding Fratello’s offensive mind set, West wrote in his book that:
“The problem I had with Mike Fratello had to do with the type of offense he wanted the team to run — a very slow, controlled game — and I tried to tell him that he needed to reconsider this. I warned him, ‘Everyone is killing me, Mike. The agents with players’ complaints, the fans, the press. This is not what we should be doing.’ But Mike was very stubborn; he was convinced that his approach was correct.”
This wasn’t undersized statement by West, as the person whom he was referring about is still considered as one of the most respectable basketball coaches in spite of the fact that he failed to lift the Larry O’ Brien trophy as a head coach. Moreover, when it comes to all-time NBA rankings, Fratello comes at No. 19.
Fratello led the teams to 667 wins and lost 542 games as a head coach that gives him an average of .551. During his 16 seasons’ coaching tenure, Fratello was able to push his teams into playoffs on 11 occasions. Still West didn’t agree with Fratello’s way of running the offense.
Apart from this, the two times NBA Executive of the Year Award winner, West also disclosed that while his time in Memphis, he had two nagging stalkers. One of these stalkers had crossed the limit too far as to buy a wedding dress. After which the 73 years old decided to get the services of a security guard in order to get rid of these two stalkers.
West charismatic personality not only did wonders for the Los Angeles Lakers as a player, coach and executive, but he had also turned the tables around after he joined the Grizzlies, as General Manager. It was because of his relentless hard work that the Grizzlies were no longer as butt of all the jokes.
In his autobiography, besides revealing several secrets, West also admitted the big mistake he made during his professional career. Among these mistakes was the selection of Drew Gooden over Amare Stoudemire from the NBA Draft.
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