Before he became one the best two GMs in NBA history (along with Red Auerbach), Jerry West had a brilliant career with the Los Angeles Lakers.
He was a lean 6-4 guard who punished his body constantly by driving to the lane against massive defenders. Do a search on his injuries sometime. His ankles and feet were constant victims, and there are photos of him playing with a mask over his broken nose.
He was really tough.
But his calling card was a beautiful jump shot. This video breaks his shot down in various ways, but the most interesting thing to us is his release.
Today, most players extend their hand/wrist through the shot. You see photos of players with the ball on the way to the basket and what you usually see is the follow-through. A great example of this is Michael Jordan’s game-winning shot against Georgetown in 1982. He has an immaculate follow-through (scroll down just a bit).
What you’ll notice in this video of West is that he doesn’t really have a follow-through. He flicks his shot. His goal is to release as quickly as possible, and it works.
We’ve noticed in a lot of older videos that the players from the 1960s and 1970s tend to do this as well, so you have to think that at one point, shooting was taught this way.
Whatever. It worked brilliantly for West, who remains an archetype of an offensive artist.
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