Delonte West

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Delonte West
Cleveland Cavaliers – No. 13
Shooting Guard
Born: July 26, 1983 (1983-07-26) (age 25)
Washington, DC
Nationality American
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight 180 lb (82 kg)
League NBA
High school Eleanor Roosevelt
College Saint Joseph's University
Draft 24th overall, 2004
Boston Celtics
Pro career 2004–present
Former teams Boston Celtics (2004–2007)
Seattle SuperSonics (2007–2008)
Profile Info Page

Delonte Maurice West (born July 26, 1983, in Washington, D.C.) is an American professional basketball player in the guard positions for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA.

Contents

[edit] High school career

West went to Eleanor Roosevelt High School where he excelled. He led the Raiders to their first tournament appearance. They made it all the way to the Maryland 4A championship, where he had 22 points and 8 rebounds, but they lost 70-58. He was named Washington Post All Met Basketball Player of the Year due to his averages of 20.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 3.1 steals per game.[1] He scored double figures in all but one game his senior season. He then signed with Saint Joseph's University.

[edit] College career

At Saint Joseph's University he formed what was widely regarded as the best backcourt in the country along with Wooden- and Naismith Award-winner Jameer Nelson, averaging 18.9 points and 6.7 assists per game and shooting 41% from three-point range as a junior. His efforts helped the Hawks to go 27-1 in the regular season, and earn an Elite Eight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Saint Joseph's finished the season at 30-2.

[edit] NBA career

West chose to leave St. Joe's after his junior campaign and was selected by the Boston Celtics as the 24th pick in the 2004 NBA Draft. In his first season he struggled with injuries, playing a total of just 39 games, mostly coming off the bench. He averaged 4.5 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game. After making the transition to point guard in his rookie season, West was named the starting point guard at the beginning of the 2005-06 season by head coach Doc Rivers.

In 2005-06, West averaged 11.8 PPG, 4.1 RPG and 4.6 APG. On February 12, 2006, he was named to represent the Celtics on the sophomore team for the Rookie Challenge at NBA All-Star Weekend. Coincidentally, he replaced his college teammate Jameer Nelson, who withdrew because of injuries.

West was moved to the shooting guard spot in the 2006-07 season, but showed signs of difficulty early in the season. He was later moved back to the point guard position. West had some clutch shots, including a game-winning buzzer-beater against the Charlotte Bobcats on November 8, 2006, and a game-tying three pointer with 4 seconds remaining in regulation to bring the game into overtime against the New Jersey Nets on March 3, 2007. The Celtics would eventually win the game against the Nets. The next day against the Minnesota Timberwolves, West scored a career-high 31 points and made a career-high 12 free throw shots, in a double overtime Celtics victory. West scored all 31 of his points in that game during the second half, including the two overtimes. At the end of the 2006-07 season, he was sharing starting minutes with Rajon Rondo.

[edit] 2007-2008

On June 28, 2007 (during the 2007 NBA Draft) the Celtics traded West to the Seattle SuperSonics, along with Jeff Green (their 5th overall pick) and Wally Szczerbiak. Boston received Ray Allen and Sonics' 35th overall pick Glen Davis.

On February 21, 2008, West was part of a three-team trade which sent him, Ben Wallace, Joe Smith and Wally Szczerbiak to the Cleveland Cavaliers.[2] He was reunited with his Saint Joseph's teammate Dwayne Jones.

As a Cavalier, West played in 26 regular season games (starting all 26). As a Cavalier, he averaged 10.3 points, 4.5 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.1 steals. He had a season high 20 points against the Boston Celtics only six days after his trade to the Cavaliers and a season-high 11 assists on March 30, 2008 against the Philadelphia 76ers. For the entire season, West played in 61 games (starting 31) and averaged 8.3 points, 3.8 assists and 3.2 rebounds.

On April 27, 2008, West made perhaps the most clutch 3-pointer of his NBA career with 5.4 seconds left in a playoff game against the Washington Wizards, in Washington. His tiebreaking game-winner took the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 3-1 lead in this first round series.[3] In 13 playoff games, West averaged 10.8 points, 4.2 assists, and 3.3 rebounds. West scored 21 points in both Game 3 and Game 5 against the Boston Celtics.

[edit] 2008-2009

On September 12, 2008, West signed a three-year $12.7 million contract with the Cavaliers. He was moved to the starting shooting guard position at the beginning of the season, due to the acquisition of Mo Williams.

He has emerged as a key cog in the Cavaliers' team which won a league-best and franchise-record 66 games during the regular season, and went 39-2 at home. There have been several occasions where West has actually led the team in minutes for long stretches, instead of pre-eminent superstar LeBron James, due to his immense versatility in the backcourt. In addition to his role as the starting shooting guard, he also serves as the backup point guard, manning the position when All-Star point guard Mo Williams is not in the game. He has emerged as the team's best backcourt defensive player, guarding a very wide variety of players ranging from the 6'3 Ben Gordon to the 6'9 Hedo Turkoglu. On the offensive end, he emerged as a dangerous outside shooter, with a field-goal percentage of 46% (and 40% on three-pointers), and maintained his reputation as an athletic and hard-nosed driver with the ball. West, Williams, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and Anderson Varejão finally came together to form a worthy supporting cast for the all-world James.

In many ways, West's 2008-2009 season was reminiscent of his scrappy defense and accurate shooting alongside Wooden Award recipient Jameer Nelson at St. Joseph's, only this time with James as the star. Being in James's shadow worked wonders for his game, as he was now free to pick his spots on the floor and attack the openings created by the double and triple teams James commanded. Being freed from the duties of playing as the starting point guard also made a considerable difference. His value to the Cavaliers was revealed as the Cavs' only back-to-back losses over the whole season occurred with West disabled by a broken wrist.

Off the court, his time in Cleveland has seen him establish a reputation as one of the league's funniest players. His hilarious off-court interviews and distinctive speech mannerisms have made him a viral video celebrity, a must-watch comedian and philosopher, and a correspondent on Jim Rome's ESPN television show Rome is Burning. Rome called the correspondence the best in the show's history.

On March 2, 2009, against the Miami Heat, West set a career high with 8 steals.

In the playoffs, West's averages shot up to nearly 14 points per game, despite struggling with his 3-point shot much like his backcourt-mate Williams, whose shooting struggles in the playoffs were well documented. Further, the Cavs' lack of scoring punch on the bench forced West to take on extremely high minute loads. He averaged 42 minutes per game throughout the postseason, and in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Orlando Magic (which the Cavs lost in 6 games due in part to, again, outside shooting struggles from Williams and West) he played over 45 minutes per game, more than any other player in the series. In addition to this, he drew the defensive assignment of Hedo Turkoglu, who had a 7-inch height advantage, to allow James to play the "rover". West battled as hard as he could, and was able to stop Turkoglu's facilitation of the Magic offense in spurts, but the height advantage was too much this time, as he picked apart the Cavs defense all series long. The fatigue from all this presumably caused West's 3-point shooting to suffer as it did, although he was scoring adeptly when getting into the paint.

West set a new career playoff high in points, with 22 in a losing effort in Game 6 against the Magic.

[edit] 2009 Offseason

The Cavs' shocking loss exit from the 2009 NBA Playoffs, after a regular season which featured a franchise record and league-best 66 victories, has called into question once again the quality of the team surrounding LeBron James. West is identified by General Manager Danny Ferry as an indispensable component of the team's push towards a championship.

[edit] Career transactions

[edit] NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

[edit] Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2004–05 Boston 39 7 13.0 .426 .358 .704 1.7 1.4 .5 .2 4.5
2005–06 Boston 71 71 34.1 .487 .385 .851 4.1 4.6 1.2 .6 11.8
2006–07 Boston 69 47 32.2 .427 .365 .853 3.0 4.4 1.1 .5 12.2
2007–08 Seattle 35 5 20.8 .388 .339 .667 2.7 3.2 .9 .3 6.8
2007–08 Cleveland 26 26 31.0 .440 .367 .788 3.7 4.5 1.1 .7 10.3
2008–09 Cleveland 64 64 33.6 .457 .399 .833 3.2 3.5 1.5 .2 11.7
Career 304 220 29 .447 .378 .821 3.2 3.8 1.1 .4 10.2

[edit] Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2004–05 Boston 7 3 16.4 .524 .455 .500 1.3 .6 1.0 .1 4.1
2007–08 Cleveland 13 13 34.8 .400 .429 .854 3.3 4.2 1.1 .5 10.8
2008–09 Cleveland 14 14 42.2 .465 .333 .833 3.5 4.1 1.4 .5 13.8
Career 34 30 34.1 .444 .393 .828 3.0 3.4 1.2 .4 10.7

[edit] References

  1. ^ All-Met Winter 2001. Washington Post. 2001. Retrieved on May 25 2009.
  2. ^ "Cavs get Wallace from Bulls, Szczerbiak from Sonics". ESPN. 2008-02-22. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3257159. Retrieved on 2008-07-01. 
  3. ^ "Cleveland vs. Washington – Recap". ESPN. 2008-04-27. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=280427027. Retrieved on 2008-07-01. 
  4. ^ Celtics Acquire Seven-Time All-Star Ray Allen from Sonics
  5. ^ Cavaliers Acquire Ben Wallace, Wally Szczerbiak, Joe Smith and Delonte West in Three-Team Trade

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Cleveland Cavaliers current roster

00 Jackson  | 1 Gibson  | 2 M. Williams  | 8 Kinsey  | 10 Szczerbiak  | 11 Ilgauskas  | 13 West  | 17 Varejão  | 21 Hickson  | 23 James  | 32 Smith  | 33 O'Neal  | 55 Wright  | Coach Brown
v • d • e
2004 NBA Draft
First Round
Second Round
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delonte_West"
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