NBA Detroit Pistons exec calls Winning Time "campy, mean-spirited fiction"

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/jerry-west-arn-tellem-winning-time-guest-column-1235113928/

In a Hollywood Reporter essay, former uber NBA agent Arn Tellem -- who is now vice chairman of the Pistons and who is married to former longtime CBS boss Nancy Tellem -- describes the HBO Showtime Lakers drama as "cruel, dishonest and staggeringly insensitive," especially in its treatment of Jerry West. "The show’s paradox is that it prides itself on being faithful to the facts, and yet — between the formulaic script and stick-figure cartoon characters — reality seldom intrudes," says Tellem. "Hiding behind the disclaimer 'this series is a dramatization,' Winning Time imagines itself a 'satire' that treats pretty much everyone with equal odium, covers pretty much everything with equal ordure. Pro basketball players are greedy braggarts and narcissists; pro basketball owners, ruthless bigots and hedonists. Of all the athletes and executives shamed and ridiculed in the first two episodes, the most brutal — and gratuitous — character assassination was reserved for Jerry West (played in the series by Jason Clarke), the universally beloved former Lakers player, coach and general manager known as Mr. Clutch. In the series opener, which aired on March 6, his character seemed to be modeled on Yosemite Sam — a boozy, impulsive hothead who steamrollered anyone in his path, angrily snapped a golf club over his knee and stormed away to curse out a colleague, and chucked his 1969 NBA Finals MVP trophy through his office window in a fit of frustration. Never mind that West is a health nut who has always shied away from alcohol. Never mind he’s not just a gentleman but a gentle man who prides himself on treating others with grace and compassion. And never mind that his old office at the 'Fabulous Forum' didn’t have windows. Indeed, none of the arena’s basketball offices did. I ought to know. I was there."