CLEVELAND: The NBA is a “star’s” league. Most championship teams over the years have featured at least one bona fide superstar, with rare exceptions such as the 2004 Detroit Pistons or the 1979 Seattle Supersonics. But having superstars is not enough. Team members who play specific roles — “role-players” — are a must to guarantee success.
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr was himself one such player, who played a sharpshooter role in the Chicago Bulls (1996-98) and San Antonio Spurs (1999, 2003) NBA champion teams.
It is no wonder that Kerr and his team brought in trusted veteran role-players to add to their existing core in 2016-17, one of whom is veteran power forward David West.
West is a former All-Star who played in New Orleans (then known as the Hornets) and with the Indiana Pacers. He refused a player option to be paid $12 million in 2015-16 by the Pacers, opting to test free agency.
Large pay cut
He went on to play for $1.5 million taking a large pay-cut with the Spurs who had won the title in 2014. He played solidly for the Spurs but could not win the championship. In 2016-17, he shifted loyalties to the Warriors, to play for the veteran’s minimum ($1.5 million).
West remained a solid bench player with the Warriors this season, adding attributes such as uncanny passing, and fitted well within the free-flowing Warriors system.
Last year, many players — some of them less-skilled or with lighter resumes than West — made a killing with rich contracts in free agency after the NBA increased the salary cap for teams following a massive increase in revenue.
Speaking to The Hindu in the locker room, West, when asked whether he regretted missing out on a higher pay day, the veteran smiled and said, “the motivations for each player are different”.
At this stage of his career, aged 36, he said he was content to chase a ring. He was enjoying the opportunity to play for a “winning Warriors team with a free flowing, expressive attacking philosophy” that brought the best out of unselfish players, just as he did in a “slightly more system-based philosophy among the Spurs”, he said.
West only played 11 minutes in Game 3, but scored off all his three attempts to register seven points.
West’s story is one of the many little things that have added to the Warriors juggernaut which is 15-0 in the 2017 NBA playoffs and is poised to become the champion.
