Tweets, like tattoos, can tell the story of a man.
Not the full or complete story -- especially of a man who refuses to live life on the surface -- but enough to gather a close glimpse. Watching what someone personally says, whom they follow and what they decide is important to share and re-share (retweet) with the world can reveal what that individual honors.
In the case of the Indiana Pacers' David West, his body art as well as what he decides to publicly engage via his Twitter account simply validate what he has exemplified for years: If you don't stand for anything, you will fall. Period.
The Barrel is not a crabs natural living space....
- David West (@D_West30) October 29, 2014
Scoop Jackson: I'm going to ask you two questions at once: What did last season teach you and what did it teach about yourself?
David West: One, last season taught me that you've got to maximize. That when you have a good team you have to do everything you have to do to maximize that team that you have because it can change [snaps fingers] just like that. And then, probably about myself, just through all of those different things and the adversity or whatever, just [about] staying the course, holding the line, you know what I'm saying? Just sorta staying with the plan, keeping focused so that the goal that we set, it doesn't get clouded with all of that other stuff going on.
I mean, we learned a lot, I think, guys individually about themselves. We set lofty goals for ourselves at the beginning of the season last season. We wanted to be the No. 1 seed and we had a whole bunch of ups and downs, but ultimately we were the No. 1 seed going into the playoffs, so.
Jackson: Can you explain how this team goes from underachieving last season to overachieving this season?
West: We started off the year injured, obviously. We lost Paul [George], George [Hill] was out for 35 games, I missed the first 16. So we started off not healthy and we knew it was going to be an adjustment and everybody just sorta wrote us off. We just maintained among ourselves that if we just get healthy, play our style of basketball, that we could get one of those playoff spots. And that's sorta been our thing the whole year. Just, you know, knowing that it's gonna be rough, knowing December was going to be a rough month, knowing January was going to be a tough month because of the schedule and all of those Western Conference teams, and we're undermanned. We knew there were going to be tough stretches. And the thing about our locker room is that we know the NBA season is a marathon. It's not a sprint. It's not a sprint. And we've just sorta been walking people down. Just doing what we do, grind how we grind. Hopefully we can keep that up for the last month and a half of the season.
Jackson: How did you all simply not lose, for lack of a better word, faith? I don't know how you all just didn't start thinking about 2016.
West: You know, we basically had our bench and with Roy [Hibbbert], George and myself, the same team just minus Paul, Lance [Stephenson] and Rasual [Butler], who went to Washington. But everybody else, we still had. And we'd been to the playoffs together and made deep runs, so we know that we have the pieces it was just a matter of making adjustments with Paul and Lance being out of the lineup. We were just, and still are, trying to put the pieces together. But we never doubted who we are.
Jackson: Never?
West: Never. Coach wouldn't allow that to happen.
Jackson: Damn. That's almost like the exact opposite of the knock you all got last season from people outside of the organization. Saying that Frank [Vogel] couldn't keep the team focused but here it is when you are are supposed to -- and have crazy and legit excuses to -- fall apart you all are locked in!
West: [Laughs] Yeah ... I know. Man, that's just us as players and as a team having a certain attitude about ourselves. We never felt sorry for ourselves and we didn't really want any sympathy from anybody else. When we were getting beat earlier in the year ... look, I remember one time, I forget who it was we were playing, but we had just a bunch of guys not dressed, in suits, sitting on the bench and I'm like, "We'll take this now." You deal with getting your butt kicked, you deal with it. You handle it, you learn. But we never got down or started feeling like, "Aghh!," sorry for ourselves. Even when we were 12-15 games under .500 we never got like it was out of the realm of possibility that we can get this thing back right.
If we don't have the right to determine our destinies, then who does...Assata
- David West (@D_West30) July 14, 2013
Jackson: Outside of here, outside of Pacer Nation or Indiana, a lot of the credit is being given to you for saving this ship. But, internally, truth be told, George [Hill] is probably just as responsible. I heard that he put his work in the offseason to get better. So much better.
West: Oh yeah. His focus is different. His role is different. He doesn't have to defer to Paul, he doesn't have to defer to Lance. They don't have to create and score, he can now do that. Now we look to him to score late in games, we are looking for him to carry us in stretches, to shoot all of the balls and be aggressive. And that's something that we hadn't asked him to do but we knew he was capable of. And I think that is probably the biggest key.
Him coming back to the lineup, just the boost, he solidified us up top. He's been our starting point guard so we know what he can do and I think once he came back it just shifted everybody back into their natural roles that we were comfortable with, that we can be more successful in.
Jackson: Do you ever think about what could have happened if you and Chris Paul had stayed together [in New Orleans]?
West: I do, sometimes. I think about that sometimes.
Jackson: Yeah because, man ...
West: [Laughs] I know, but what people don't realize is the cog to that was Tyson Chandler. When they decided to pull the plug on Tyson, that, you know, that kind of deflated Chris and myself. [Shrugs his shoulders] I don't know man. But that's what happened with us. But he's played well in the years we've been away [won a championship with Dallas in 2007; won Defensive Player of the Year in 2011] and I've had success here and Chris has been Chris, All-Star. I just look back at that time and am like, "It was a great time." Obviously I'll always feel like we should have, they should have kept us together a few more years, but you know. It is what it is.
I will be in this skin far longer than I will be able to play this game...
- David West (@D_West30) November 26, 2014 Jackson: Do you feel players and people in the league fear you or respect you?
West: Me?
Jackson: Yeah, you.
West: It's probably more respect. I mean, there's nothing about me to fear. I play hard and all that but I think more than anything it's respect. It's just an idea that, I think that guys who have been around me, compete against me, play against me, like [they know] I'm not very talkative. You know, you have guys in the league that when you are standing on the free throw line they start "yap, yap, yap?" I don't really do all that. I've never been one of those guys. Most of my time is spent, um, I spend most of my life just [being] serious. I'm just not a jokey-jokey type of guy, so.
I think most of it is that and guys respect that. They respect who I am, they know who I am. It's "this dude is serious, he's a serious dude." I think it's more of that than anything else, you know? I think it's more about how I carry myself. Who I really am doesn't change based on who I'm around or anything like that. I stay consistent. People have seen that throughout the years and I think that garners a certain level of respect. It's just a respect level that's there.