delantedesouza

Thank you! Personally, I think that Jerry West is entitled to his opinion about his portrayal in the show, be it negative or positive, just like Magic and Kareem are entitled to their opinions. I think we have to emphasize that Winning Time is not a documentary and states in the opening credits that it's a fictionalized work of art, so we can assume that everything in the show didn't happen exactly the way it's shown. I'll also say that the intention with the show is not to defame or slander anyone's name or legacy. Winning Time is a love letter to the NBA, the Lakers, and the world of sports. We just try to encapsulate all of the humanity in these prolific people and dramatize it in order to make enjoyable television for the world to watch and learn about them. And funny enough, once you see Jerry West's entire storyline and character arc in the show, he's actually one of the most popular and liked characters in the series!

Thank you so much! I appreciate that! Oh wow, there's been sooo many fun scenes, especially involving the players, haha!

Okay, if we're talking my favorite scene to perform, I'd say it was my last scene at the end of Episode 4 with my wife in the show. There's no words in it, but it's such a beautiful moment for Michael Cooper. Now, my favorite scene to shoot in general would be a tie between Spencer Haywood showing off his self-circumcision in the locker room in Episode 5 and when we spray Paul and Pat with shaving cream in Episode 8. We all had a blast shooting those and the reactions you see are real!

Thank you! I love that you're enjoying it!

It depends on the actor in question, but I'd say we all put a considerable amount of work into different areas. For the newcomers (Myself, Quincy, and Solomon), we're all pretty similar to the players we play in the show personality-wise. In real life, Quincy has an infectious charm with a smile that could light up a room and Solomon's a PhD and lecturer at Stanford, so there wasn't much we had to do acting-wise to believably portray our characters. It was more so getting down the basketball scenes that was more work for us, I'd say.

I think Coop's portrayal as a high scorer was more for storyline purposes as a set up for a possible character arc in Season 2 than it was as a response to mine and my double's athleticism. Between us two, there's not much we can't do basketball-wise. It's also 1980, so I think Cooper will grow into the defensive specialist we all know him to be as future seasons come :).

Thank you for checking the show out and I'm hyped that you're digging it!

The basketball scenes were filmed inside of a soundstage that we built a basketball court (The Forum) in. It's about 2-3 feet shorter than an actual NBA-sized court because of soundstage restrictions, but the rims are 10 feet high, so it's pretty close to the real thing.

The process was that we'd get the script from the writers on what they envision for the game(s) we'll play that episode, then we'll get with our basketball coach and start choreographing and rehearsing the game for a couple weeks before we start shooting it. There's usually 2-3 camera operators on the sidelines filming the action and a camera operator on the court with us filming the action up close.

With the actors, the basketball experience levels vary. DeVaughn Nixon (Norm Nixon) is Norm's real-life son, so he's played basketball his entire life, and Solomon Hughes (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) played college ball at Cal and played with the Harlem Globetrotters, so I'd say they're the two players with extensive prior basketball experience. Quincy played basketball growing up and was a college football player. I, myself, started pretty much at ground zero in basketball experience and spent the two years between the series pickup and now learning the game, so I'm the baby of the bunch when it comes to basketball experience, haha! What you'll find interesting is that outside of the players, some of the coaches even have hoop skills! (*hint hint* It's Jason Segel, haha!)

Oh wow, haha! That's how you know I'm an actor first and a basketball player second! Let me try again with a "basketball" oriented answer:

So, DeVaughn Nixon (Norm Nixon) and Solomon Hughes (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) both played basketball before, so they have prior experience before filming the show and didn't have much work to do. Most of Solomon's basketball work was in perfecting the skyhook that you see in the show and DeVaughn's already pretty skilled and has the playstyle of his dad, so there wasn't much new stuff for him to learn. Quincy Isaiah (Magic Johnson) played college football and also played basketball growing up, so most of his work was in learning the no-look, behind the back flashy passes that you see in the show. I never played high-level basketball before, so most of the work for me was just learning the basics and getting into the rhythm of running a fast break Cooper-style. With the way the show is shot, each player kind of has their "specialty" and we all as actors just worked on each of our specialties so that when it's edited and cut together, it's an amalgamation of what made each Showtime player special.

Thank you for clarifying!