He brought a high-flying blend of finesse and strength. He was a pioneer of spinning shots off the glass to finish at the rim and a savvy rebounder who players of his era compare to modern stars, Charles Barkley and Karl Malone. “If he’d get in trouble going to the basket in the air,” said Hall of Famer Gail Goodrich, “he would just throw it against the backboard before it came down, and then go get it and then put it up. That’s how smart he was.” Jerry West, Baylor’s close friend and teammate for that first decade in Los Angeles, put it best. “He was kind of a glimpse to the future,” West recently told The Athletic.