Paul Westphal

Paul Westphal
Player information
Full name	Paul Douglas Westphal
birthday	30th November 1950 (age 70)
place of birth	Torrance , California , United States
date of death	January 2, 2021
Place of death	Scottsdale , Arizona , United States
size	193 cm
position	Shooting Guard
college	University of Southern California
NBA draft	1972, 10th pick , Boston Celtics
Clubs as active
1972–1975 Boston Celtics 1975–1980 Phoenix Suns 1980–1981 Seattle SuperSonics 1981–1983 New York Knicks 1983–1984 Phoenix Suns
Clubs as coaches
1992–1996 Phoenix Suns 1998–2000 Seattle SuperSonics 2009–2012 Sacramento Kings

Paul Douglas Westphal (born November 30, 1950 in Torrance , California - † January 2, 2021 in Scottsdale , Arizona ) was an American basketball player and coach . In both roles, Westphal celebrated great successes in the North American professional league NBA in the course of his career:

As a player in the Boston Celtics , Westphal won the NBA championship with the team in 1974.

As head coach, he led the Phoenix Suns in the finals for the NBA title in 1993 . Westphal was a multiple NBA All-Star as a player in the position of Shooting Guard and was appointed four times to selection teams in the league. From 2009 Paul Westphal was the head coach of the Sacramento Kings in the NBA, which dismissed him on January 5, 2012, referring to the lack of success.

Westphal was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 2019 .

Career as a player

college

Westphal made a name for himself as a player in Aviation High School and became one of the most wooed college players of his time. Against all odds, Westphal decided against playing for the then dominant UCLA team. Instead, he signed with USC . There he was awarded twice as All American as a player for the team of the USC Trojans . In his junior season he led the team in 1970/71 to a record of 24 wins with only two defeats. A knee injury ended his senior season prematurely. In 1997 Westphal was appointed as a player in the "Hall of Fame" of the USC. His jersey number 25 was excluded from being awarded to future players in honor of Westphal. In his three full seasons in college, he averaged 16.4 points per game.

NBA

Early years and NBA final in 1976

Westphal was elected tenth in the NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics in 1972 . With the team he won the championship in 1974. The following year he was given together with the draft rights for a second round pick of the Celtics in 1975 and 1976 to the Phoenix Suns , who in return sent Charlie Scott to Boston. Both players met for their new teams in the 1976 NBA Finals. Westphal had previously led an outsider Phoenix Suns team to a surprise win over the favorite team of the Golden State Warriors , which was led by star player Rick Barry . In the previous regular 1975/76 season, Westphal had established himself as the cornerstone of the Sun's play with 20.5 points per game, 5.4 assists and 2.6 steals per game.

In game five of the final series, in addition to decisive basket actions in the final phase of the game, Westphal also provided a tactical novelty: with only two seconds remaining in the second extra time, he announced a time-out , although his team was no longer entitled to a time-out. The Phoenix Suns received a technical foul for breaking the rules. The Celtics converted the associated free throw for the opponent, but instead of a throw-in under their own basket, the Suns then received a throw-in at the center line. Westphal had aimed for this better positioning. The compensation was successful and a third extension was due. The Suns ultimately lost the game, as did the final series. Westphal's use of the rule loophole led to a change in the regulations by the NBA.

All star

At the end of the 1970s, Westphal was considered one of the best players in the NBA in his position. He was named All-Star five times in a row from 1977 to 1981. During this time he was also honored three times with the nomination for the All-NBA First Team : 1977, 1979 and 1980. In addition, in 1978 he was appointed to the All-NBA Second Team . In his five years with Phoenix before joining the Seattle SuperSonics , Westphal led the Suns in points per game every year. His career best he reached in the 1978 season when he scored 25.2 points per game.

Injury and comeback

Before the 1980/81 season Westphal was transferred to the Seattle SuperSonics in exchange for Dennis Johnson . For Seattle he only played 36 games in one season after breaking a foot. The following season 1981/82 fell for Westphal with a total of only 18 games played due to the same injury almost completely. After two foot operations, however, he missed only two games in the 1982-83 season and started in 59 of 80 fixtures. For his sporty comeback he was awarded the NBA Comeback Player of the Year Award .

His last season as an active player led Westphal 1983-84 back to the Phoenix Suns. Due to repeated injuries, Westphal completed only 59 games and was released from the team during the preparations for the season 1984/85. In two legal proceedings, Westphal subsequently sued for payment of his salary for the second, unfulfilled year of his contract. His annual salary would have been guaranteed for Westphal in the optioned second season of his contract, had he been used in at least 60 games in the previous year. In the second trial, Westphal claimed that for purely financial reasons, the Suns had not set up at least one more game, although his health would have allowed it. The guarantee clause for a salary of $ 385,000 was forfeited. The Suns countered that sporting reasons alone were decisive for Westphal's disregard.

In 823 NBA games, Westphal scored a total of 12,809 points, with an average of 15.9 points per game. In addition, he collected 3,591 assists and 1,022 steals . His field throw rate over the entire period of his career was 50.4 percent.

Career as a coach

college

Westphal's coaching career began in 1985 at college level. In three years he was the head coach of two colleges in Phoenix, Arizona , with which he achieved a total of 84 wins with only 27 defeats. With the team of Grand Canyon College Westphal won the championship title of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics in 1988 .

1988-1996: Phoenix Suns

Westphal was hired as an assistant coach at the Phoenix Suns in 1988. He should be built up by the then head coach Cotton Fitzsimmons for his successor. After four years, Westphal replaced Fitzsimmons on July 1, 1992 officially as head coach.

The 1992/93 season closed the Suns with the club record of 62 wins with only 20 defeats. Charles Barkley , who was signed at the beginning of the season, was voted the most valuable player of the season at the end of the season and also led the team in the play-offs . Paul Westphal went into the final series against the Chicago Bulls as the most successful newcomer coach in NBA history in terms of the win rate in the regular season: The Suns had won 75.6 percent of their games and the title of the Pacific Division. As a newcomer to coach, only Bill Russell in 1967/68 had achieved the mark of 62 victories .

The final series 1992/93 lost the Suns with two to four games against the Bulls around Michael Jordan . Westphal remained successful with the team in the next two seasons, each with at least 55 wins. With this, Westphal reached the mark of 150 career victories in 1995, his third year as NBA coach. He only needed 208 games for this, just five games more than the record holder in this statistical category, Phil Jackson . In both 1993 and 1995 Westphal was appointed coach of the West selection team at the NBA All-Star Game .

In the NBA seasons 1994 and 1995 , the Suns reached the second round of the play-offs under Westphal. There the team was defeated in seven games by the Houston Rockets , the later title holder in 1994 and 1995. At the beginning of the 1995/96 season Westphal had to do without key players Danny Manning and Kevin Johnson due to injury . In the end, Barkley was injured and Westphal was fired with a season record of only 14 wins and 19 defeats. He was followed by his predecessor, Cotton Fitzsimmons, as head coach.

1998-2000: Seattle SuperSonics

After Westphal had worked as an assistant coach at a high school in Phoenix until his son graduated, the Seattle SuperSonics hired him as head coach for the 1998/99 season . He led the team in the shortened season to a record of 25 wins and 25 losses. In the following season, the team reached under Westphal a record of 47-35 and reached the play-offs, where it was subject to the Utah Jazz in five games . At the start of his third year as a coach in Seattle, Westphal and star player Gary Payton had a verbal incident during a game . Shortly afterwards, the SuperSonics dismissed Westphal, who had already offered to resign a few weeks earlier.

2001-2006: Pepperdine University

At the beginning of the 2001/2002 season, Westphal took over the position of head coach at Pepperdine University . During his playing time, he led the team to a record of 22 wins with nine losses and participation in the NCAA tournament. It should be Westphal's most successful season at Pepperdine: In the 2002/2003 season, two key players were injured and the team achieved 15 wins and 13 losses. The next two seasons produced comparable results. After the 2005/2006 season had only seven wins for Pepperdine after 27 games, Westphal was dismissed on the grounds that the team needed a new development.

2007-2008: Dallas Mavericks

In 2007 Westphal worked for various television stations as a basketball commentator, but was then hired as an assistant coach for the Dallas Mavericks under head coach Avery Johnson . The following year he moved to the business management of the Mavericks after the new head coach Rick Carlisle did not appoint him to the coaching team. His duties in this position included supporting General Manager Don Nelson and scouting .

2009–2012: Sacramento Kings

In the summer of 2009, the Sacramento Kings hired Westphal as the team's head coach. The Kings had previously only achieved 17 wins in 65 losses in the past season. They won the fourth lot in the 2009 NBA Draft . The team chose Tyreke Evans , who was awarded the NBA Rookie of the Year Award under Westphal in his first season . With the Kings, Westphal achieved only 24 and 25 wins in regular time in the first two years as a coach. After the team had started the 2011/12 season with a record of 2 wins and 5 losses, the team dismissed Westphal and justified this with the fact that the success achieved fell short of expectations.

death

In August 2020 Westphal was diagnosed with a brain tumor, of the consequences of which he died in early January 2021.

Awards

• NBA All-Star: 1977-1981
• All-NBA First Team: 1977, 1979, 1980
• All-NBA Second Team: 1978
• NBA Comeback Player of the Year: 1983
• National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame: 2018
• Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame: 2019

Westphal was a member of the "Ring of Honor" of the Phoenix Suns. Only people who have had a major influence on the development of the team are accepted into this team of honor. The Ring of Honor currently has 12 members, including Westphal, his coaching mentor Cotton Fitzsimmons. Both were jointly nominated for inclusion in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011 . He was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 2018 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} NBA mourns Paul Westphal. In: Bluewin , January 3, 2021. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Sacramento Kings press release , accessed January 5, 2012.
3. ↑ Chicago Tribune, 2002 , accessed December 2, 2011.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Profile on nba.com , accessed November 30, 2011.
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} pepperdinesports.com  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 3, 2011.  
6. ↑ ^{a b c} basketball-reference.com , accessed November 30, 2011.
7. ↑ brightsideofthesun.com , accessed December 3, 2011.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Simmons, Bill. The Book of Basketball . Ballantine, New York 2009
9. ↑ Chicago Tribune, 1985 , accessed December 5, 2011.
10. ↑ Sarasota Herald Tribune, 1984 , accessed December 5, 2011.
11. ^ New York Times, May 11, 1988 , accessed December 6, 2011.
12. ↑ sun-sentinel.com , accessed December 7, 2011.
13. ↑ New York Times, January 17, 1996 , accessed December 7, 2011.
14. ↑ abcnews.com , accessed December 11, 2011.
15. ↑ espn.com , accessed December 12, 2011.
16. ↑ pepperdine.edu ( memento of June 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on December 12, 2011.
17. ^ The Seattle Times , accessed December 12, 2011.
18. ↑ Sacramento Press ( June 12, 2010 memento on the Internet Archive ), accessed December 12, 2011.
19. ↑ nbauniverse.com , accessed on 12 December 2011th
20. ^ Ring of Honor at nba.com , accessed December 17, 2011.
21. ^ Hall of Fame 2011 at nba.com , accessed December 17, 2011.