David West yielded a dying skill to his advantage, the mid-range jump shot. Let’s take a look at how he was able to be so effective with such an inefficient shot.
Can’t you picture it so vividly in your head? David West scurries up to the top of the key to set a screen. George Hill reads the defends and attacks. In sheer panic, the defense chooses to stop the intelligent Hill from getting to the rim for an easy basket, and both defenders cut off his drive.
“Success!”, they probably think as Hill turns away from the rim halfway through his drive. Then, horror for the defenders. They left David West wide open. Hill flips the ball to West at the top of the key, and fans begin celebrating before the ball even goes through the hoop. It’s going in. It is David West in the mid-range, after all.
If you can’t picture it (seriously, everyone should be able to picture this), here it is:
That happened time and time again during the David West era. David West was, and is, the master of a shot that is considered statistically bad, but he makes it okay by being so great at it.
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During his Indiana tenure, West shot 49.5 percent on long twos, considered by basketball reference as shots from 16 feet and out that are not three-pointers. That is elite finishing from that distance, it equates to .99 points per shot. That would be a 33 percent three-point shooter, and league average during West’s Indiana tenure was right around that number, showing that West was actually fairly efficient when shooting from (what he considers) long range.
He also leveraged this into other opportunities for himself and others. He was always attentive to how strongly his matchup was playing him on a screen. If he was being overplayed, he would simply slip the screen into space and swish the open jumper:
That play shows off West’s acumen and feel for the game. He knew exactly where to be, and when to be there; West traveled at whatever speed he deemed necessary to get the open shot.
He also knew the gravity that his long two had on the court. Beyond simply stretching the floor for his teammates, reflected in his very impressive 108 offensive rating in Indiana, he also was able to use the shot fake incredibly well.
This isn’t a fake on a long two, but it is still a perfectly executed simulation nonetheless. He gets into the lane and fakes Nerlens Noel out so badly here that he nearly jumps out of the stadium:
Almost all of West’s value came from solid defense and a sweet mid-range stroke. Thankfully, West was often able to leverage his beautiful jumper into other scoring opportunities for himself, making him significantly more effective.
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The comparison stops at the mid-range jumper, but Myles Turner’s offensive game reminds me a lot of David West’s. If Turner ever gets the post scoring that West had, he will an incredibly effective player. West was a huge part of the Pacers teams that made the conference finals, and he has his pretty looking jumper to thank for that.