It's hard enough for Lakers fans to see Jerry West help lead the Pacific Division rival Warriors to an NBA title while Los Angeles sinks to new depths of incompetence.
But for West now to compare Golden State fans favorably to Lakers fans, well that cuts deep.
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In fact, it's not much of a comparison, West said on the Jim Rome Show, according to CBS Sports.
"Oh, much better than L.A. fans, OK? They don't ever leave the game," West told the West Coast radio host. "Once we moved into Staples Center, our fan base changed, I thought. It's a completely different kind of fan than Los Angeles. Los Angeles has a lot of corporate fans there, whole different people sat in different seats. You can go up to Oracle right now and you'll see the same fans in the same seats every night. The fans in Los Angeles are great, but I've never seen fans like this here."
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West likely is being brutally honest. Bleacher Report cites an NBA.com report that indicated 65.5 percent of the NBA's general managers label Golden State as having the best home-court advantage in the league, in a 2015-16 preseason survey.
CBS Sports analyzed the Staples Center fan base.
"Staples Center is well known for being exceptionally empty early in games, something always chalked up to traffic issues," CBS Sports reported. "It's a celebrity hotspot, and as such, the prices for tickets are always crazy. During the Conference Finals last year, I spoke with several lower-bowl season-ticket holders whose tickets had been in the family since the 70s. There are great Lakers fans, as you would expect with a team with that much success, and a lot of bandwagoners, again, as you would expect."
The Warriors are making a move from Oakland to San Francisco in 2018-19, CBS Sports adds, and how they compare to the Lakers then might be a gauge on the pros and cons of venue-moving.
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