Front Office Executive
West’s demeanor from his playing days carried over into his front office positions. Before the 1982-83 season, West was promoted to the general manager position. After his coaching days West decided to take a front office position. He took on the task of running the Lakers as the general manager. He rebuilt the Lakers around Vlade Divac, Cedric Ceballos, and Nick Van Exel who would come up short in the playoffs but he did exceptional work and claimed his first NBA Executive of the Year Award. He wouldn’t stop there as championships were the only goal for the man. He traded Divac away for a rookie named Kobe Bryant and brought in a free-agent by the name of Shaquille O’Neal. Until his retirement in 2000, he continued to hold other positions within the Los Angeles front office.
The foundation West laid for the Lakers was finished off with a successful run capped off by the Lakers’ 2000-02 three-peat; he had accumulated 40 years of experience with the Lakers (playing, coaching, and managing). Wet could not stay away from basketball and decided to come out of retirement to take on a new challenge. In April of 2002, he became the President of Basketball Operations of a much smaller franchise in the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies were still fresh and new in Memphis after playing in Vancouver for six seasons. As expected, West didn’t have as much success immediately off the bat but he turned the franchise around. His decisions got the Grizzlies into the postseason for the first time in franchise history and brought Hubie Brown who would later win NBA Coach of the Year Award. With Pau Gasol as the face of the organization, the Grizzlies became competitive becoming a regular in the playoffs.
His decision making usually turned out best for the franchise. West was never fearful to make changes in the roster. While there was conflict between players and coaches, West would revamp the roster for the benefit of the organizations. At the age of 69, walked away from the game of basketball and West retired as the Grizzlies general manager. In May of 2011, West agreed to join the Warriors as the head consultant along with the new ownership of Joe Lacob.