It is no secret that Hollywood has a tendency to embellish even the best of stories.
For HBO’s new series on the Showtime Lakers, named “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty,” that fact proves to be true.
In a recent review of the program, NBA Insider Marc Stein couldn’t help but point out the portrayal of iconic NBA superstar Jerry West, who was made out to be a bit more eccentric than some people remember.
Jerry West’s old office at The Fabulous Forum did not have windows to hurl objects through in anger. None of the Forum’s basketball offices did.
West also, to my knowledge, did not keep his 1969 NBA Finals MVP trophy in that office. That scene Sunday night when he supposedly chucked it through glass in frustration because the Los Angeles Lakers drafted Magic Johnson over Sidney Moncrief? Total fabrication.
I’m likewise told West never played golf in a foursome with eventual Lakers owner Jerry Buss and then-Lakers general manager Bill Sharman. Even if he had, I’m quite confident that West — ever the gentleman in public — never would have broken a golf club over his knee or storm away from a putt to engage in a curse-filled shouting match with the regal Sharman.
The show has gotten mixed reviews so far, with one critic citing it as “a historical period piece that doesn’t seem that interested in history.”
“Winning Time is a watchable show that doesn’t seem to have any other compelling reason to exist other than to be watched. Its tone is broadly comedic, but it’s not actually very funny; it’s a show about basketball that’s really a show about America, or capitalism, or guys who fuck, or something. It’s a show about one of the most interesting subjects I can imagine that seems to fundamentally misunderstand what actually makes that subject interesting.”
At a glance, ‘Winning Time’ isn’t the best portrayal of the inner workings of Showtime. In typical Hollywood fashion, it’s a show that twists and bends the story, and the characters in a way that takes away from the integrity of the story.
For a team in an era that was so important to sports history, one would think that the show would have no problem translating it to the big screen.
As for Jerry West, you shouldn’t be fooled by what the show tells you he is. The guy has said and done more than enough to speak for himself.
