Worn-Out Clutch

It used to be half-court shots against the New York Knicks in the finals, and now it’s moves from behind a desk with a similar degree of difficulty. This Mr. Clutch thing has gotten exhausting.

Jerry West, arguably the most successful front-office man of his era in any sport, all but said Tuesday he will retire as the Laker executive vice president when his contract expires after two more seasons, the one that starts Friday with his team among the favorites for the Western Conference title and then 1998-99. It was the strongest statement to date from the 59-year-old Hall of Famer that the end of his run of almost four decades in Los Angeles as a player, coach and head of basketball operations is nearing an end.

This season’s team is part of the farewell plan, West having overhauled a roster from the group that won 33 games in 1993-94 and went to the lottery for the only time in club history to one that should be a championship contender for years. This, apparently, will be his legacy, for likely successor Mitch Kupchak, owner Jerry Buss and the fans.

“This is a wonderful city to live in, even with the ills,” West said. “There are a lot of people here who really like basketball. It amazes me sometimes when I hear other people talking about our blase fans. We have good fans. But one thing that we’ve done, we’ve been competing against ourselves, and that’s awfully hard to do sometimes. When I say competing against ourselves, I mean our success.”

West’s responses during Tuesday’s interview:

Q: You’ve been given a lot of accolades for moves through the years, in the ‘80s and the ‘90s. Do you have any kind of list in your mind about maybe where this job that you have done, rebuilding this team, might rank?

A: I work very, very closely with [General Manager] Mitch Kupchak here. To me, we’re like twins. He’s a lot taller than I am, but we’re a twin. I just don’t think this is something I think about that much. I don’t.

I’m kind of an obsessive-like person. If you do something, I think you should try to do it well. That doesn’t always mean you’re going to do it well, and there are many times that you don’t feel very good about what you do. But I think now, sometimes when I go to practice, I look in the gym and see a team there that we think can be very good. We try not to overestimate our players, we try not to overestimate what we have, but when I have people throughout the league say that they think we have one of the top teams in the league, and that’s happened in a very short period of time, it does make you feel good.

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Q: A lot of teams do this thing about, “We’re going to get a little worse so we can better” and then they end up a lot worse for a lot of years. To have the one year that was particularly frustrating and then have every year since an improvement, is there a unique sense of pride in this organization?

A: You know what’s funny? I don’t really feel so much that the one year was frustrating. It’s just something you knew was going to happen. I mean, it wasn’t at the bottom of the barrel. If it had been at the bottom of the barrel, I think it could have been very frustrating.

But I think we’re all really surprised and pleased with the way we’ve played over the last couple years. And I think more importantly, you look at the age of the team and we’re probably too young. We think this team has some growth, but yet it’s young and halfway experienced for a young team. We’re all just delighted.

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Q: Do you ever think that this might be a bit of a going-away for the organization, your restocking the cabinet?

A: Yes, very much so. There have probably been times here in the last two years, with enormous pressure on you, with an enormous amount of press that are there, all the negative things that are said, all the negative letters I get, and I do get a lot of negative letters. I guess [I should say] to those people, “We’re trying to do the best we can. To the best of our abilities.” And for the people who are really positive, “Thank you.” We have to sort of balance both sides of it.

You just know sports fans are going to be that way. But to be very candid with you, you hear people talk about burnout. I know what that feels like because I put so much pressure, I do take it personally. I take it way too personally. And I know what it feels like.

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Q: When you have a team that’s done nothing but improve for several years, what are people writing negative letters about?

A: You should have done this, you should have done that. It’s sometimes disheartening. If we had a terrible team, I can’t even imagine what the letters would be like. I think it’s the people who want us to win so badly, they have their opinions about how things should be done. I would love, I would absolutely love for them to have to make some of the decisions we make.

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Q: So how much longer do you see yourself in this job?

A: That’s really hard to say. I’ve always been a person who when I’m tired of something and when I don’t think it’s good for me, there’ll be no press conferences, and I’ll just leave. These things are there. They take their toll.

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Q: You said in training camp you didn’t see yourself being around when this new building comes [for the start of 1999-2000].

A: I certainly wouldn’t be around in my present capacity, that’s for sure. There’s no way. No way. There’s not a night that goes by that I don’t either dream about something that’s going on or “Trying to be objective about your players and team, can we improve this team?”

You hate to tinker with something that’s pretty good right now, but if we can improve this team, we’ll improve it. But it’s a business, and regardless of your feelings for players, your loyalties to them, sometimes there’s things you do that are not very palatable and I don’t know if I want to be responsible for those anymore. I really don’t.

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Q: What will go into your thinking to make this final decision?

A: I live my life solely by my instincts. I do my job solely by my instincts, based on a lot of information that we’ve gathered. And when things get to a point that something tells me to step aside, I’m going to step aside. It will never, ever with me be about money. Ever. I’m not going to walk away bitter like I see a lot of people do over money. I’m not going to do that.

I don’t want to work for any other franchise, period, because there’s an awful lot of goodwill that’s been built up here over the years. A lot of my personal feelings are involved here, and I think when those things are there, it would almost be impossible to go somewhere else.

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Q: What are the chances this could be your final season?

A: I really don’t want to answer that because I don’t have an answer to that. I have [another] year left on my contract. I would like to honor that and then make some sort of decision after that. I think sometimes you come to work in the morning after maybe a particularly bad loss or maybe you’re contemplating a personnel move and you’ve been thinking about it all night, you’re up all night, talking to a lot of different people about different players. That bothers me. I don’t like to trade players, I don’t like to cut players. But we’re asked to make tough decisions sometimes. I think our owner has confidence in me that allows me to do that.

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Q: What does a relatively young man with a lot of energy do if he’s not the executive vice president?

A: Probably go crazy. [He smiles.] But, as I say, sometimes you have to do these things for yourself. The Lakers are very, very well entrenched to go forward. Mitch Kupchak, as far as I’m concerned, is as good or better than anyone in the league. He’ll be tremendous. And it’s probably time that he had a chance.

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Q: Have you had this talk with Mitch and with Jerry Buss?

A: Yes, I have. You get to a point where there’s just too many sleepless nights. My mind, I’m consumed by this game. This is what my life has been about. Even when we win it’s not enough. How can we get better? How can we get better? It’s almost a sickness.

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Q: Do you feel like this would be a fitting farewell for you, to leave after putting in place a team capable of winning a championship?

A: I would tell you that there’s probably been an awful lot of thought to that, yes. But, as I say, I would like to honor the last year of my contract. I want to do that. Then I’ll decide what is best for me.

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SPECIAL SECTION: A look at the Brothers Barry kicks off the NBA season preview. Section S

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Shaq Will Miss Opener

The Laker center will sit out Friday’s game with Utah because of a strained abdominal muscle. C8