Jerry West: Golden State Warriors can get a lot better

The fact you and I never have seen a better shooter than Stephen Curry is not much of a conversation stopper.The fact Jerry West never has seen a better shooter than Stephen Curry is profound enough to silence a Las Vegas dance club.It only proves that no one, not even West, has seen it all. He just knows, better than anyone, exactly what he’s seeing.He is a special adviser to Bob Myers, the former UCLA bench forward who is the general manager of the irresistible boy-band known as the Golden State Warriors.

“This is still a young team,” West said the other day. “What I love about them is their attitude and the way they love playing with each other. They realize they have a great opportunity. They can be a really good team for a long time.”On Tuesday the Warriors played absentminded offense — “we’ve been playing sloppy for a while now” West said — but again got what they needed from Curry at the end and beat Toronto by five. Golden State thus is 12-0 going into Thursday night’s Staples Center match with the Clippers, which is definitely an unfriendly.The Warriors might not be dynastic yet, even though they’ve won 95 games since Opening Night in 2014. But they could be historic. They won last year’s NBA title and never had to play a Game 7 in the playoffs. There are other numbers that add to the notion that this is the best team in pro sports right now.West is 77 years old. Perhaps he never thought he’d see another Showtime, or a team with such righteous togetherness and such appealing charisma. He built Lakers championship teams but he couldn’t stand to watch them actually win championships. Now his name isn’t on the bottom of the picture.“What people miss is how well these guys pass the ball,” West said. “It’s really not something you see very often. Most teams have at least one guy who is a ball-stopper on offense, but these guys look for each other. Steph will shoot it, of course, but he shoots it so quick and he shoots it from everywhere. There’s not a place on the floor you can take away.“We also led the league in defense last year. We’ve got a 6-foot-6 1/2 power forward Draymond Green, who can guard almost any position. He understands how to take away angles and how to compete, and he’s incredibly valuable to us. He makes us run.”