Michael Cooper: “My relationship with him goes very deep. You recognize, after I retired, I had alcohol and substance abuse points. And Jerry—he was the primary one to tug me to the aspect. He was like, ‘Coop, what’s occurring?’ And he understood it. So I went and spent 45 days at John Lucas’s rehab facility down in Houston—probably one of the best things I ever did to turn my life around. Generally we get led astray by various things, and Jerry West was capable of see that in me. He caught it early earlier than my points grew to become even greater—earlier than I couldn’t deal with them.” “So I went down there, took care of it, got here again, and I nonetheless had a job. He was nonetheless rooting for me. And till the day he died, I spoke to him. Every week earlier than he handed away, we talked. Jerry and I had been very, very shut. Relaxation in peace—he’s going to be missed. However once more, we attempt to dwell our lives to mimic who he was, and I feel lots of us try this.”
Supply: YouTube
Supply: YouTube
Extra on this storyline
Vernon Maxwell: “Kobe Bryant was the real deal even before he got to the league. I remember when John Lucas invited him to our practices in Philly. He was just a high school senior, but man, he was killing us. I couldn’t cease him, and I’m a top-tier defender. This child was dropping buckets on all people, easy as hell. I instructed him, ‘You don’t want faculty. You’re prepared now. Convey your ass to the league.’ He had that drive, that starvation. You would see it in his eyes. He wasn’t simply enjoying; he was on the market proving a degree. I keep in mind considering, ‘This dude’s gonna be one thing particular.’ And he was. Even again then, he was shaking his head, smiling, like, ‘Yeah, that is too straightforward.’ That’s how assured he was. No person may contact him, not even us execs.” -via YouTube / December 18, 2024
Michael Cooper on Jack Nicholson: “Jack was so right down to Earth as a result of we used to go to ‘On the Rocks’, which is above ‘The Roxy’ in Hollywood, and Jack can be in there and we used to social gathering with him, ingesting and it was an intimate setting nightclub so we’d all be up in there and simply to listen to a few of the tales… However once more you watched ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’, you watched him in lots of different motion pictures and I couldn’t imagine that this man was standing subsequent to me, however so educated of a fan, knew the sport inside and outside. My one nice reminiscence of Jack is that in 1984 and clearly not with the ability to beat the Celtics that yr, we go there and the Celtics beat us but Jack said ‘You know? F-ck y’all I’ll moon them’. He pulled his pants down and mooned the fans on our way out. For us, that was our sign that ‘you know what? The Celtics will never beat us again’, and then we came back in ’85 and beat them. Jack was our unspoken leader.” -via YouTube / February 7, 2025
