The Arrival of Elgin Baylor and Jerry West

The Minneapolis Lakers used the No. 1 overall pick in the 1958 NBA Draft to select Baylor, then convinced him to skip his senior year at SU and instead join the pro ranks. The Lakers, several years removed from the glory days of George Mikan, were in trouble on the court and at the gate. The year prior to Baylor's arrival the Lakers finished 19-53 with a team that was slow, bulky and aging. Baylor, whom the Lakers signed to play for $20,000 per year (a great amount of money at the time), was the franchise's last shot at survival.

Drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA with the 2nd overall pick in the 1960 entry draft, Jerry West became the first draft pick by the Lakers after their move to Los Angeles. He also teamed up with former Mountaineer legend, Hot Rod Hundley, in Los Angeles. West spent his entire professional career (1960-74) with the Los Angeles Lakers franchise. Although he was teamed with Hall-of-Fame scorer Elgin Baylor for most of his career, West still averaged more than 30 points per game in four different seasons and led the league in scoring during the 1969-70 season

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Sports

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• lakers
• elgin
• baylor
• jerry
• west

[lameroger]

Jerry West and Elgin Baylor should won the title while they were together in LA but I like Elgin's style of play that modernrize the game. He mordernize the game himself with the moves that the crowd or the game never seen before. The Lakers won their first NBA tile in 1973 and Elgin should stayed on the team, he retired in the beginning of the season. The 72-73 season was the best year the Lakers ever had winning 33 straight games. And oh, don't forget about Wilt.

[ginoongkamote]

In my opinion i think that elgin baylor has been a jinx for the lakers. After his retirement the la lakers started their 33 consecutive wins. They had a very big advantage against boston in 1969 and in 1970 against the knicks without willis reed.

[geocgeo]

@lameroger The LOS ANGELES Lakers won their first title in the 71-72 season. They won 33 straight games,that season coached by former Celtics hall of fame great Bill Sharman. Sharman one of the greatest free throw shooters in NBA history. Sharman led the league in free throw shooting % in 7 seasons. The Celtics were dead going into the 1968-1969 NBA season according to Lakers fans but Bill Russell and the Celtics proved them wrong that year.

Lookback at the 1969 Boston Celtics - YouTube

[greendynasty32]

@ginoongkamote Baylor was unlucky. He had his best years before Wil came around . The advandage that the Lakers had was in manpower and roster. And the right question is. How many teams has that and don't win? And why tis happens?

Well if don't have winning mettality you don't win even if you have the upper hand. The 70s Knicks were a great all around team. The Lakers were good but not at their prime anmore. West was lucky to find the right combination with Wil + Goodrich and win a ring.

[greendynasty32]

The Lakers had a great team with 2 of the gratest scorers the league has seen. But they hadn't a Center and when they had him had to find a coach to bring them all together. Baylor and Champerlain were two great players that didn't find a way to coexist.

Celtics on the other hand builted a strong foundation that drove them to success even in the 70s. Russel wasn't in the middle but there was his great successor Dave Cowens.Once again a great defender in the middle and a great team fast break.

[greendynasty32]

@geocgeo i think that the phrase in the video was 3 times defending champions Celtics and it was referring to the 1962 Finals. So the C's didn;t won it yet. As for Bill Sharman, and his coaching stint i think that it shows something about that team with the 3 superstars. To win you want Chemistry and that Chemistry was found when Goodrich was around and not Baylor. Baylor was the A-male of the team and with Big Dipper around they never came together. That was what Sharman brought to the team

[eers2ya]

Jerry West and Hot Rod Hundley...WVU!!!

[Sovnarkom]

@ginoongkamote Per game, her scored more points than anyone other than Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain. He could also rebound with the top big men in his era and handled the ball as well as most point guards.

Without him, The Lakers would not have made it to the 10* NBA finals appearances that they lost. He suffered from a major knee injury and late in his career, he was not the spectacular player that he was in his prime. And he chose to retire when he felt that he was holding back LA.

[kimv020887]

I always wonder that if Baylor didn't retire nine games into the 1971-72 season, he would've been part of a Lakers team that won 33 straight games and most importantly he would have won the NBA title.

[geocgeo]

@lameroger Baylor broke a kneecap in a 1965 playoff game and came back slowly the following season. He was never quite the same player after that, though he averaged more than 26 points a game in 1966-67 and 1967-68 and more than 24 points in 1968-69 and 1969-70, his last full season. After missing almost the entire 1970-71 season because of a torn Achilles tendon, Baylor attempted to come back in the fall of 1971, but retired after just nine games in 1972 .

[geocgeo]

In 1962 the Boston Celtics won their FOURTH STRAIGHT NBA Championship not their third straight as it states in the video. The Celtics won the next FOUR straight also in 63,64,65,66 also making it EIGHT straight. for the Celtics. The funny thing is is in that 33 straight gameswinning streak the Lakers were coached by Bill Sharman who was a hall of fame player for the Bostoc Celtics

[jmaal2345]

Both of these guys are legends I have em on my top 20 list, Jerry west at #11 and baylor at #17! I respect em both even tho I hate the lakers