Rest in Peace, Paul Westphal
Paul Westphal, who was inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019, passed away today at the age of 70 after battling brain cancer. Westphal was one of the NBA's top guards in the late 1970s/early 1980s, earning five straight All-Star selections (1977-81). He made the All-NBA Team four times, including three First Team nods (1977, 1979-80). In 1977-78 he finished sixth in the NBA in scoring with a career-high 25.2 ppg average, and he tied for sixth in the regular season MVP voting. Injuries ended Westphal's run as an elite player, limiting him to just 18 games during the 1981-82 season, but he bounced back to win the 1982-83 NBA Comeback Player of the Year award before retiring after the next season.
Westphal won an NBA title in 1974 as a reserve player for the Boston Celtics. The Celtics traded him to the Phoenix Suns for Charlie Scott, and Westphal helped Phoenix reach the 1976 NBA Finals (the Suns lost to the Celtics in a memorable six game series). Westphal became an elite player after joining Phoenix, and he is one of the most significant figures in that franchise's history.
Westphal served as an NBA head coach for a total of 10 years with three different teams, compiling a 318-279 record (.533 winning percentage), and leading the Suns to the 1993 NBA Finals before losing to the Michael Jordan-Scottie Pippen Chicago Bulls in six games. He also served as an assistant coach with three different NBA teams, most recently with Brooklyn from 2014-16. In between Westphal's stints as an NBA coach, he served as Pepperdine's head coach for five seasons, leading the Waves to one West Coast Conference title.
I interviewed Westphal on October 31, 2007 while covering Dallas' 92-74 win over Cleveland in the season opener. Westphal was an assistant coach for Dallas during that season. I profiled Westphal in a November 2007 article.
During that period, I interviewed many players and coaches, and it is sad that several of them have passed away in the past year, including Westphal, K.C. Jones, Eugene "Goo" Kennedy, Tommy Heinsohn, Mike Gale, and Kobe Bryant. During the past year, the basketball community has also lost some notable figures whom I respected but never had a chance to interview, including William "Bird" Averitt, John Thompson, Wes Unseld, Mike Storen, and David Stern.
Labels: Boston Celtics, Paul Westphal, Phoenix Suns
posted by David Friedman @ 8:56 PM
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