Go West Young Team

First appeared on December 14th, 2011 in The Lebanon Reporter

If you’re like me when you hear “Go West”, your thoughts automatically drift to the British Rock sensation whose singular gift to the world (King of Wishful Thinking) left an impact upon mankind that is perhaps rivaled only by cheese in aerosol form and Velcro tennis shoes.

Perhaps you count yourselves amongst that more mature, somewhat silver haired generation, who didn’t wear out a cassette of “Go West” in their 1989 Chevy Cavalier. If this is the case, then you likely remember “Go West” as the all call for westward expansion during the Manifest Destiny period of U.S. history (1830’s to the late 1880’s). OK, so maybe not.

But it would seem to find the answer to all his problems, specifically rebounding the basketball and interior scoring, Pacers President Larry Bird did in fact “go West”. Well-west that is provided you consider New Orleans part of the west, which the NBA apparently does. Though part of the west in Lewis and Clark days, the exact location of New Orleans in relation to the Mississippi is debatable at best. In reality however, whether geographically east or west of Old Man River, the Pacers did go west in search of an answer to their Power Forward shortcomings, west as in former New Orlean’s Hornet David West that is.

The Pacers have reportedly agreed to a 2 year deal worth $20 million to bring the former Xavier University graduate to Indy. For those who haven’t seen West play, he’s big. He can bang. He can stroke the 17 foot jumper and he can finish around the basket. And if that doesn’t convince Pacer fans they’re getting their money’s worth in West, I’m sure for $20 million he’ll don a green jacket to park cars and sell popcorn at Conseco too.

Simply put-West will be like both the Davis boys combined minus a few rebounds and their shot-blocking ability plus outside touch, the ability to catch and pass the ball cleanly while making more than 1/3 of his free throws. OK, so maybe that wasn’t so simple.

West doesn’t come without question marks however. He’s yet to play a full season, which may or may not matter in this particular lock-out-shortened campaign. It also remains to be seen if he’ll be willing to rotate over to stop the constant flood of players going around Danny Granger on their way to the basket.

Either way West is the “get” Larry Bird has been trying to get for quite some time now. Stalking him from afar, Bird knew this was the piece that would fit better than any and, after ‘reportedly’ landing him, the Pacers suddenly seem to be coming together in promising form. His arrival has a lot of Hoosiers (or at least 1) Googling “famous people named West”. Apparently there have been several famous west’s. Jerry, Adam, Mae and Kanye. And from this crop you have a man who gave birth to the NBA Logo, another who wore the gunmetal gray tights of Bat Man, a fox so stunning she became the most famous pin up of the “Greatest Generation” and a grown man who stormed the stage to elbow a 16 year old girl out of the spotlight.

Prediction- You will never read another sports column that uses the word “west” 22 times. Prediction #2- David West will be good; really good. Prediction #3- by the end of this NBA season, the most famous “West” according to Hoosiers will be wearing the Blue and Gold of our Indiana Pacers.

© 2011 Eric Walker Williams