Some players peak early, some peak late, and some like David West never stop peaking. In 1999 as a senior at Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia he was named 1st-team all-state. In 2003 at Xavier he became the school’s 1st-ever national Player of the Year and consensus 1st-Team All-American while winning a conference-record 3 straight A-10 Player of the Year awards. He made 2 straight All-Star teams with the Hornets in 2008/2009 and won back-to-back NBA titles with the Warriors in 2017/2018. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with 1 Xavier legend (all-time leading scorer/current radio analyst Byron Larkin) about another Xavier legend who arrived on campus a little later. Today marks the 20th anniversary of West recording the 1st triple-double in school history on December 8, 2001 so let us be the 1st to wish him a happy 1!
West grew up in New Jersey: what made him choose Xavier? He went to prep school and originally wanted to sign with Marshall but his parents made him reopen his recruitment and he ended up coming here.
He led the A-10 in RPG 4 times, FG% 2 times, and BPG 2 times: was he just a prototypical dominant big man? Yes, but he kind of grew into that. Every year he added something new to his game. He was a dominant rebounder even as a freshman, then added low-post scoring, then some better shooting in the post, then a jumper. It was a fun thing to watch his development. Rebounding was the 1st thing that he did really well because his hands were so big: when he held a can of soda it looked like a Tic Tac!
In the 2001 NCAA tourney he had 19 PTS/8 REB/5 STL in a loss to Notre Dame: was it important to show him that he could play his best against big time big men like Troy Murphy as opposed to just beating up on the A-10 most of the time? I do not think that was a watershed moment for him: they played a great non-conference schedule that year so that 1 game did not prove anything. He was good against whoever they played, from the lowest team in the A-10 to the best teams in the nation.
On December 8, 2001, he recorded the 1st triple-double in school history with 15 PTS/10 REB/10 AST in a 51-PT win over Long Island: how was he able to balance all of the different aspects of his offensive game? It was just something that came organically for him. He was 1 of the fiercest competitors you would ever want to meet so whatever he did he tried to do at the highest level. He had some near triple-doubles with PTS/REB/BLK. He was so smart that he knew when to pass and when to shoot so double-teams did not faze him. It is as much of a testament to his court awareness than to anything else: he put in the work to know what to do during games. We always knew that he was a special player who was really good at all the facets of the game.
He was a 3-time A-10 POY/3-time All-American/2003 national POY: what did it mean to him to receive such outstanding honors? I do not know if it was the most important thing to him. Winning was at the top of the list: that is what drove all of his accomplishments both in college and the NBA. I think it meant more to everyone else because he just wanted to be remembered as a winner. He always got big numbers but it never felt like he was trying to do too much: he just did what the game dictated and he was able to execute. It brought a lot of attention to the school because he was 1 of the best players in the country even though he was not a McDonald’s All-American coming out of high school. He invested in himself, worked really hard, and showed everyone that the sky was the limit.
He was a 2-time NBA All-Star in 2008/2009: where does he rank among the greatest Xavier alums in NBA history? I think that he is the best to ever come out of Xavier on any level. He accomplished so much on the floor and has a great intellect. There was never any trouble because he came from a good family, was well-behaved off the court, and took his studies seriously. He is the standard by which everyone who wants to become a student-athlete should measure themselves. Every NBA team wanted him on their roster because he was such a great mentor and was about doing the right thing. He has done it all: All-Star, national POY, NBA title, etc. He was not told coming out of high school that he was the 2nd coming: he just worked hard to earn everything.
In the 2017 NBA playoffs he was part of the Warriors’ 16–1 playoff record (the best postseason winning percentage in NBA history): where does that rank among the best teams that you have ever seen? I do not remember a lot of that season and do not get to watch a lot of regular season games, but I am sure that David accepted his role and did whatever he could to help the team win. He is happy to play 2 minutes or 42 minutes: as long as his team wins he is good. During timeouts he was acting like a coach, which is why Golden State wanted him. He has an AAU program in North Carolina and likes teaching young folks the game of basketball.
He was a great FT shooter in the NBA (81.7%): how was he able to do that as a big man? He just tries to be the best at everything he does. He was always a good FT shooter in college and just kept getting better. Most of FT shooting is between your ears: he did not let anything distract him and just got it done. A lot of guys work out together in the offseason or play pickup games, but he liked to go back to North Carolina with his trainers and just work on different aspects of his game. He did not want to be 1 of those guys who played with LeBron in the summertime because a lot of those guys just watched LeBron.
He announced his retirement in 2018 after 15 seasons in the NBA: when people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? As a self-made success, a guy who was successful in almost anything he did. He was like a top-200 recruit coming out of high school and when he came to Xavier he was more of a SF who could rebound, but after he grew a bit and put in the work he became the best player in the country. Anyone who knows him understands that he is a different guy: he is well-read, a great mentor to all of his former teammates, and nobody has a bad word to say about him. He is just a winner and an old soul who takes his behavior seriously.