Paul Westphal could have been the next Sam Jones or John Havlicek. Instead, he turned into something wonderful in his own distinctive right. Like Jones and Hondo, Westphal began his career as an important bench player for the Boston Celtics backing up Don Chaney and Jo Jo White. After a ho-hum rookie season (1972-73), Westphal found his footing in the two subsequent seasons averaging a combined 8.5 PPG and 2.5 APG on .507 FG% and .748 FT%. And in a snappy 16.7 minutes a night.
Thanks for the article on Westy, my first favorite NBA player. Here's a couple other fun tidbits about him:
* John Wooden considered Paul "the one that got away." He recruited Westy heavily for UCLA, but Paul opted for USC because he wanted to be part of turning a program into a winner, not a cog in an already-dominant program. If he'd chosen UCLA, would've been a key player on the Sidney Wicks/Curtis Rowe championship teams, and he would've still been around for Bill Walton's first season as a Bruin.
* USC retired its first two basketball numbers in 2007. One belonged to Westphal, the other to Celtics legend Bill Sharman. Westy was second-team All-American in 1971.
* Westy won the NBA's fondly-remembered H-O-R-S-E competition during the 1977-78 season. He was set to play Pete Maravich in the finals, but Maravich was injured and Westy beat his replacement, Rick Barry. Most players in the tournament appeared fairly befuddled by the competition, shooting traditional jumpers, hooks and layups, but Westy and the Pistol had an array of trick shots ready to go.
* Paul was not fast. But he felt, correctly, that basketball was a game of a few sprinted steps here and there, and if he could get one step on an opponent, he could get past him, and Westy had a great first step. He had an impressive vertical leap, he was ambidextrous as you noted, and he had insane body control (Watch the 3rd overtime of Game 5 of the 1976 Finals for proof).
Thanks for the article on Westy, my first favorite NBA player. Here's a couple other fun tidbits about him:
* John Wooden considered Paul "the one that got away." He recruited Westy heavily for UCLA, but Paul opted for USC because he wanted to be part of turning a program into a winner, not a cog in an already-dominant program. If he'd chosen UCLA, would've been a key player on the Sidney Wicks/Curtis Rowe championship teams, and he would've still been around for Bill Walton's first season as a Bruin.
* USC retired its first two basketball numbers in 2007. One belonged to Westphal, the other to Celtics legend Bill Sharman. Westy was second-team All-American in 1971.
* Westy won the NBA's fondly-remembered H-O-R-S-E competition during the 1977-78 season. He was set to play Pete Maravich in the finals, but Maravich was injured and Westy beat his replacement, Rick Barry. Most players in the tournament appeared fairly befuddled by the competition, shooting traditional jumpers, hooks and layups, but Westy and the Pistol had an array of trick shots ready to go.
* Paul was not fast. But he felt, correctly, that basketball was a game of a few sprinted steps here and there, and if he could get one step on an opponent, he could get past him, and Westy had a great first step. He had an impressive vertical leap, he was ambidextrous as you noted, and he had insane body control (Watch the 3rd overtime of Game 5 of the 1976 Finals for proof).