Indiana Pacers: David West Faces an Even Greater Challenge
By Shane Young
11 years into the league, zero championships under his belt.
LeBron James looked to be on his way to that description, but the drought ended in 2012. Kevin Durant has a short number of years before those same rumblings hit him, but many have Oklahoma City slated to get over the hump in 2015.
That infamous statement fits David West, the Indiana Pacers’ veteran forward who’s tired of coming in second.
Signing with Indiana in 2011, West noticed a certain direction the franchise could head towards. They had drafted an athletic wizard in Paul George the year prior, and Roy Hibbert was showing unceasing improvements to his arsenal. Even more than offensively, Hibbert was becoming a feared asset in the paint with his shot blocking, or at least shot altering.
He’s been next to Chris Paul for majority of his career. Actually, six of West’s 11 years were spent with the league’s top point guard on the court in New Orleans.
Transitioning into the Pacers’ organization, that was the only true setback West was facing with his new group. He didn’t have a dynamic point guard that could make offense easier by the minute, and he had to figure things out on his own. Darren Collison and George Hill aren’t fully on the level of incompetence, but they’re below average starting point guards.
Since joining Indiana, it’s been about taking a step back, and sharing the offensive wealth. Well, for the 23rd ranked offense in Offensive Rating (104.1 points per 100 possessions), definitely consider it offensive poverty, not “wealth.”
Turning 34 years old just two months ago, West suffered a summer worth of heartbreak.
On media day, he claimed he was watching Paul George’s leg injury live from his house, as Team USA was scrimmaging in preparation for the FIBA World Cup. The immediate thoughts were of agony for the friend George has grown to become, and how close he and West have been since joining together three years ago.
If you’re a veteran, what’s one thing you love to see? That would be your youngsters working all offseason, going through the necessary steps to become dominant at their position, or in their role. George entered that door, as he worked extensively on his post game all through June and July, since that was an area President Larry Bird advised him to pay attention to.
The only way for West to take that is strongly, since he knew the core starters were trying to right the ship, and putting in the “blue collar” aspects of the sport. Through West’s childhood growing up in New Jersey and North Carolina, nothing was ever handed to him. He’ll be the first to tell you of how tough it was trying to get to the college level, and that he doesn’t deal with laziness.
It happened to be a mutual dependability; Indiana sought after West because he filled that personality they needed, and it was the one destination that fit West’s goals and approach. The Eastern Conference was inevitably a huge factor in West coming along for the ride three seasons ago. Taking out Chicago and Miami from the equation, the East was relatively down. Boston was coming off a 56-win year, but everyone had already hopped the train of believing Pierce and Garnett were hit with the age factor. Orlando had just won 52 games, but Dwight Howard’s unrest was brewing more than ever, and Stan Van Gundy had lost critical pieces to his Finals roster.
Now, it’s nearing the end of the tunnel for the Xavier legend, one that many forget captured a National Player of the Year accolade in college.
West isn’t far from retirement, although he sees big men in this league play up to their 17th, 18th, or even 19th season. Envisioning himself playing that long was never a reality, and that’s probably because he played four seasons at the collegiate level. You rarely see that anymore, and it’s hard to fathom that he came into the NBA during the same draft as LeBron, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and Carmelo Anthony.
After practice last week, West explained that he’s not stubborn about ending a career. The effect retirement will have on Kobe Bryant (36) or Dirk Nowitzki (36) will be much different — for multiple reasons — but West isn’t in the same boat. He’s not going to battle Father Time. He’s cut from a different tree, and knows that it’s within one or two seasons.
“Oh, yeah, absolutely. You know, that’s a part of it,” West said concerning the end of his career. “You’ve got to be prepared for that. I was already close to retiring a couple years ago. I was telling guys then, if we had won the championships (in 2012-13), I probably would have walked away.”
Instead, the Pacers were ousted in the final quarter of Game 7 vs. Miami, in the Eastern Conference Finals that season. And, instead of “walking away,” West re-signed with the team that summer, on a three-year deal.
It’s back to square one for both West and the Pacers, and nobody’s denying that. Nobody would dare deny it. Nobody would have the nerve to say this roster, as constructed, could easily reach the postseason. It could, but Indiana would have to dig deep and dance to the same tune as the Los Angeles Lakers, a team playing with the theme of “proving people wrong.”
In fact, more people are probably having their doubts about these Pacers than those unfortunate Lakers.
As the frontcourt leader and locker room standout, West has to search for answers. He has to pull out the 20 point per game Hornet that was left in New Orleans five years ago. Other than Paul George, West is the only one on the Pacers’ roster that’s averaged at least 20 points once in his career. West has done it twice, back-to-back seasons in which he also shot over 47 percent from the field, and at least 85 percent from the foul line. The man has a soft touch, and is a reliable shooter from mid-range.
Is it going to be too much for him to bounce back from? Is it out of the question for West to revert to his old scoring load, and reach those type of offensive figures again?
In NBA history, there has only been 14 big men (forward or centers) to average at least 20 points per game after age 34. That list of all-time greats is quite impressive:
- Karl Malone
- Wilt Chamberlain
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- Dirk Nowitzki
- Patrick Ewing
- Hakeem Olajuwon
- Elgin Baylor
- Dan Issel
- Dominique Wilkins
- Alex English
- Julius Erving
- Elvin Hayes
- Larry Bird
- Bernard King
Never mind the fact that it’s not a short list. Actually, 14 players throughout a sport’s history is honestly short. But, the company West would enter is what really speaks the loudest here. Each of those names is included with all-time legends in their respective positions, and it would only allow us to respect Mr. West more. It would force us to give him the credit he’s deserved throughout his career, in which he’s been vastly underrated.
With Damjan Rudez receiving praise from his play in Croatia, Frank Vogel will look to go deeper in the frontcourt than he did last season. That also includes giving minutes to four-year power forward Lavoy Allen, who Vogel vowed would get minutes at the four spot in the rotation.
Knowing all of Vogel’s training camp intentions, it’s hard to fathom West being “the guy” again in his career. West believes he could fight through and get to the same level of production as he did at ages 29 and 30, but it won’t be a cakewalk if it has to come to that.
Who knew that with Stephenson and George being removed from the rotation, Indiana could value greater offensive variety. But, it sure looks to be that way.
They don’t have a “go-to” guy, and they made that extremely vocal through the first week of media sessions.
If anyone can rise above and step into that position, however, it’s the tenacious, no-nonsense David West.
**All statistical support credited to Basketball-Reference**