Citing Pressures, He Signs Off as Head of Laker Opeeration He Helped Build to Greatness

By way of Long Island, Chapel Hill and Wounded Knee, after 14 years of patient progress, a million phone calls and waves of paperwork, Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak landed the “jewel job” in sports Monday, without having to change titles, or, for now, offices.

All he had to do was step into the spotlight, for good, as the Lakers’ new No. 1 basketball executive, answerable only to owner Jerry Buss, and, of course, the entire Laker Nation.

Upon the retirement of Jerry West, Kupchak became the inheritor, and executor, of West’s 40-year Laker legacy, which includes two future Hall of Famers very much in their primes, seven championships, and all the accompanying pains and pressures that pushed West past the jumping point.

Kupchak, who is careful where West was impulsive, who is more prone to a wry nod than a Westian curse-out, and who explains things at his own pace in his own metaphoric way, summed all that West meant to the Lakers as “the gift.”

Does Kupchak have it? He could only raise an eyebrow, and without words suggest: wait and see.

“None of us can ever have the presence that Jerry has walking into a room,” Kupchak said Monday afternoon. “There’s really no value that you can put on the fact that you have Jerry show up at a function, he walks into a college game or even an NBA game and someone says, ‘There’s Jerry West.’. . .

“When there’s a minute left on the clock on draft day and there’s a microphone up there in the war room and there’s three guys that everybody likes and someone has to yell into that microphone, to say, ‘The Lakers take. . . .’ Or when evaluating a trade. . . . or a crisis situation. . . .

“A person has to step forward. And that has been Jerry West, until this day.”

Now, whether or not West decides to return in a year or so, it is Mitch Kupchak, 46, a man still steeped in North Carolina blue, who considers Dean Smith and Bill Guthridge mentors alongside West, and who became one of the NBA’s first big-money free agents when he signed with the Lakers in 1981, then blew out his knee 20 games into his Laker career.

Really, Kupchak has been stepping forward ever since, right on until Monday.

That climb back from the injury--it was called career-ending, and he still wobbled back to play for a couple more seasons, earning the respect of West and Buss--and into a spot in the Laker front office is as telling as anything else in Kupchak’s career.

“When I talk to people, sometimes I say this might actually have been a blessing, the injury, or else I would never have went on this path,” Kupchak said.

Everything his friends and colleagues say about him now, and his climb to the Laker top spot, was encapsulated in those years, and that work.

“People don’t even know how good of a player Mitch could’ve been without that injury,” said Milwaukee Buck General Manager Ernie Grunfeld, who played against Kupchak and was his teammate on the 1976 U.S. Olympic team.

“He was having an all-star year when he came to the Lakers, then after the knee injury, he was never the same player after that. . . . He was really one of the first big-time free agents to move teams and get a boatload of money . . .

“But Mitch was always very focused and he had a great work ethic. Those are values instilled in him by his family. . . . He’s extremely hard-working in everything he does, including his golf game, though he hasn’t excelled at that.”

Bobby Jones, the former NBA player who was Kupchak’s teammate at North Carolina, remembers Kupchak as a raw but incredibly determined young collegian who flourished under Smith’s extended-family-style program.

“I think his loyalties lie with who has helped him, who has given him his shot,” said Jones, a coach at Charlotte Christian High. “[Kupchak] probably feels the Lakers have given him his shot, and he’ll stick with it.

“That’s the Carolina way; that’s sort of what you are ingrained with, you stay with it. . . . Here he was one of the top players around, at his position, there weren’t a lot of players at power forward who were as effective as he was. All of a sudden that’s taken away [by the injury]. I can’t imagine it.

“To have the organization stand behind him, that speaks a lot of the Lakers’ organization and Mitch recognizes that.”

Which makes Kupchak, Jones says, a natural person to step into such a high-pressure situation and succeed.

“Mitch is not cocky, but he’s very confident and he’s competent,” Jones said. “Mitch doesn’t have to be high profile. I don’t think a whole lot is going to change in his life through this. . . .

“I think Mitch has always had aspirations to be part of the program and to work his way up as high as he could. I think he’s the perfect fit there because as long as I’ve known him, he’s never had a big ego.

“It’s the joy of getting it done, it’s not the strutting around, ‘Hey I did it.’ He’s very contemplative.”

Kupchak does not disagree that his personality probably fits the new age of the NBA salary-cap calculations and agent complaints far better than West’s surges of emotion and brilliance.

“I tend to work through things at a more methodical manner, so to speak,” Kupchak said. “Maybe it’s pieces of paper, write things down, take a look at it, sit back. . . . that’s my nature.

“And I think [West]’s nature is just take a look and act.

“My wife doesn’t think so, but I think I’m more patient. He’s certainly in a hurry to get there and in a hurry to leave. I could probably eat a meal in more than 30 minutes. I don’t know if he’s capable of doing that.

“I think I enjoy some of the intricacies of the business, dealing with the cap and the numbers and the agents. My patience is less tested than his.”

Said former Laker coach, general manager and president and current consultant Bill Sharman: “I think Mitch is more easy-going than Jerry. Jerry’s a very hyper, unique person. He just wants to be a perfectionist in everything he does.

“But you couldn’t pick a better person than Mitch. Mitch is very likable, he gets along well with everybody, he’s been working with Jerry all these years. . . .

“He doesn’t make any quick decisions and he studies what he wants to do. . . . He’s not as outgoing. But as you know, he’s very friendly, he gets along well with everybody.

“I don’t know if anybody could replace Jerry West, but I know Mitch has had a lot of input to Jerry West on what’s happened. So I think that he’s an ideal person to do it.

“I think Jerry Buss realizes this. I think it’s going to really work.”

Former Laker great and current part-owner Magic Johnson says that Kupchak has waited his turn, learning at the side of the master.

“The style will change, no question, because you’ve got two different people, and they operate differently, too,” Johnson said.

“Mitch will be Mitch--he’ll be cautious, because that’s Mitch. And once he gets into the swing of it, he’ll start being aggressive and start putting his signature on the team, but that won’t happen probably for a year or two. . . .

“Jerry could see a guy who was going to be a great talent three years from now. That’s the test. I can’t sit here and say Mitch’s got that. . . .

“We’ll have to see. That’s a talent that very few people have. But I don’t think Mitch is going to let anybody down. He’s ready.”

Kupchak says that West has always given him room to do the work he wanted to do and that space got larger in 1994 when Kupchak was moved from assistant general manager to general manager, and then again over the past two seasons when West edged away from day-to-day operations.

The relationship with West, and the other Laker employees, is similar to what he felt when he attended North Carolina, Kupchak suggests.

“There’s no doubt that the experience down there, although it was only four years, but it’s continued on for so many years, and the camaraderie that exists among the guys that went to school there, it means a lot,” Kupchak said.

“It’s nice to be a part of something like that. I think a lot of the methods in which [Smith] ran a club, the foundations. . . . you can apply at this level. The class that he brings to an organization. Those types of things are things that you’d like to see with any club.

“And a lot of those things already exist here, and I think that’s maybe something that’s been appealing to me for all those years.

“It’s really not that different.”

But the only question is, does he have the gift?

“The last six or seven years, my wife has been saying it, ‘You’re starting to act like him,’ ” Kupchak said with a smile. “In my mind, there’s no way I would ever act like him.

“But a lot of times, we’ll look at a player, we’ll look at a board, and we’ll almost say the same thing at the same time. And in this profession, with what he’s done, I think that’s a good thing for me.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Dear Lakers fans:

This is a difficult yet happy time for me personally as I retire my position with the Los Angeles Lakers and enter another period of my life, one that will allow me more freedom to enjoy my friends and particularly my family, unburdened with the pressures of professional athletic business.

We have experienced much success and many happy moments and I would like to thank you for 40 years of support. There should be many more wonderful moments for the Lakers franchise to enjoy.

My gratitude goes to Shaquille and Kobe for their belief in the Lakers.

A special thank you to all of my teammates, coaches, players and associates, particularly Jerry Buss, for allowing me to continue my association with the Lakers for so many years. The Lakers have brought me a greater appreciation of all things in life.

I have been blessed with the privilege to play for and work for the best athletic franchise in all of sports and I will always treasure that experience. As I watch their progress with great interest and pride, I will remain their biggest fan.

Very sincerely,

Jerry West

West By The Numbers

18 Seasons as GM/executive VP

4 NBA championships

8 Western Conference titles

9 Division titles

.673 Winning percentage, best in NBA

1 Executive of year award (1995)

COVERAGE

HE SAYS IT’S TIME TO GO

Jerry West, the man whose savvy front-office decision-

making paved the way for four Laker championships in the last 18 years, departs after 40 years with the franchise. A1

NO ONE PERSON FILLS VOID

Mitch Kupchak is announced as the successor, but in reality no one can or will replace West with the Lakers, who are more likely to be run by committee, Mark Heisler writes. Page 8

YEAR BY YEAR

A look at the transactions West made during his reign as the general manager and executive vice president. Pages 8-9