Mike Trudell's wide-ranging article on the Lakers' secret weapon: http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/160303_billBertka/
"I could tell you stories for hours about Bert," Bryant said. "He used to be up in the Forum before anybody else was there. When he'd hear a ball bouncing, he'd come down and rebound for me. I'd ask him stories about the good old days, and through those stories he'd teach me life lessons. So Bert's been an integral part of my development, especially in my first three years."
During an Inside the NBA broadcast on TNT in January, Shaq brought Bertka up unsolicited when discussing his own nomination to the Hall of Fame.
"Last shout out goes to a guy named Bill Bertka," said O'Neal. "What got me to the next level was not working out and drills and all that, but conversations I had with the great Bill Bertka. Cause I never really got a chance to converse with Kareem or Wilt Chamberlain, but Bill Bertka was the middle guy who used to tell me stories.
"Like, it's no secret that I liked to go middle first for the jump hook. One time I was getting doubled and I had the drop step but I wasn't really going to it. Bill called me into the office and showed me some tape on Wilt. He was like, "One time they were doing the same thing to Wilt and he went baseline and scored extra points, and the next game it opened back up." So Bill Bertka if you're watching this, I just want to say thank you very much."