Position Assistant coach Listed weight 195 lb (88 kg) Height 1.93 m League NBA College USC (1969–1972) Weight 88 kg | Nationality American Name Paul Westphal Career start 1972 Listed height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Role Basketball player Spouse Cindy Westphal | |
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Born November 30, 1950 (age 73)
Torrance, California ( 1950-11-30 ) Education Aviation High School, University of Southern California Similar People Jeff Hornacek, Paul Westhead, Joe Pytka | ||
Paul westphal 25pts 10asts vs suns 1979
Paul Douglas Westphal (born November 30, 1950) is an American retired basketball player and a former head coach with several National Basketball Association (NBA) and college teams. Westphal has had a storied career in the NBA, both as a player and as a coach. As a player, he won an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics in the 1974 NBA Finals. In addition to being a five-time All-Star selection, from 1977 to 1981, Westphal earned three All-NBA First Team selections and one Second Team honor. Later, he returned to the Finals in 1993 as head coach of the Phoenix Suns. He returned to his home state of California when he was the men's basketball head coach at Pepperdine University from 2001 to 2006.
Contents
- Paul westphal 25pts 10asts vs suns 1979
- Paul Westphal Elevates for Game Clinching Dunk in 1977 All Star Game
- Playing career
- Coaching and broadcast work
- References
Westphal is a former assistant coach on Lionel Hollins' staff on the Brooklyn Nets.
Paul Westphal Elevates for Game-Clinching Dunk in 1977 All-Star Game
Playing career
Westphal was born in Torrance, California. He went to Aviation High School and then USC. He was the 10th overall pick in the 1972 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics. After three seasons in Boston, including a championship in 1974, he was traded to the Phoenix Suns. In 1976, Westphal helped the Suns reach their first-ever NBA Finals appearance, where they played against the Celtics. Game 5 of that series is often called "the greatest game ever played" in NBA history.
Westphal was 6th in the NBA in scoring average for the 1977–78 season at 25.2 ppg. In that season, he became the first NBA All-Star Weekend H-O-R-S-E Competition champion. The following 1978–79 season, he was 7th in scoring average with 24.0 points per game.
After the 1979–80 season, he was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics for Dennis Johnson where he played one season before heading to the New York Knicks. In 1983 he returned to Phoenix for his final NBA season. He had been injured and only played in 59 of the 82 games of his final season.
In his career Westphal scored a total of 12,809 NBA points for an average of 15.1 points per game, with 3,591 assists for an average of 4.4 assists per game. He also had 1,580 rebounds, for an average of 1.9 per game. He was a 5-time All-Star and 3 times an All-NBA selection and one time a second team All-NBA selection. He is Phoenix's fifth all-time leading scorer (9,564), averaging 20.6 points (1975–80, 1983–84) and a member of the Sun's Ring of Honor.
Coaching and broadcast work
Westphal's coaching career started in 1985 with Southwestern Baptist Bible College, located in Phoenix. After compiling a 21–9 record in his lone season there, he moved on to Grand Canyon College, also in Phoenix, and after two seasons led them to the NAIA national title in 1988.
In 1988, after three years in the college ranks, Westphal became an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns under head coach Cotton Fitzsimmons, and in 1992 he succeeded Fitzsimmons as head coach of the Suns. With players such as Kevin Johnson, Dan Majerle, rookie Richard Dumas and the newly acquired Charles Barkley and Danny Ainge, the Suns made it to the NBA Finals in Westphal's first season as a coach, but eventually lost to the Chicago Bulls in six games. Incidentally, Game 3 between the two teams went to triple-overtime (which the Suns won) and is considered one of the greatest games ever played. While the Suns made the playoffs during each of Westphal's seasons as coach, they did not return to the finals, and Westphal was let go during the 1995–96 season. He served as an assistant coach for a high school team in Arizona for two years before he returned to the NBA as a coach with the SuperSonics for the 1998–99 season. He coached in Seattle until he was fired during the 2000–01 season.
Westphal returned to the college ranks in April 2001 at Pepperdine University. In his first season, Westphal led the Waves men's basketball team to a 22–9 record and tied nationally ranked Gonzaga for the WCC title. The team achieved an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament, but lost 83–74 to Wake Forest in the first round in a game played at ARCO Arena. This was the only postseason berth during the rest of Westphal's five-year tenure and he finished with an overall record of 74–72. After a 7–20 season in 2005–06, Westphal was fired on March 15, 2006.
Westphal has also worked as a studio analyst for Fox Sports Net West/Prime Ticket for Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers games, first joining them during the Clippers' playoff run. In 2007, Westphal announced the locally broadcast USC basketball games. He worked alongside Jim Watson on FSN Prime Ticket. Westphal was also a studio analyst along with Don Maclean for the 2007 Pacific-10 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament games that aired on FSN.
On June 28, 2007, the Dallas Mavericks announced they had signed Westphal as an assistant coach under head coach Avery Johnson. When Johnson was replaced by Rick Carlisle, Westphal left coaching to become executive vice-president of basketball operations (under Donnie Nelson) for the Mavericks on October 2, 2008.
On June 10, 2009, Westphal was named head coach of the Sacramento Kings. Westphal was fired from the Kings on January 5, 2012.
For the 2014–15 season, Westphal was hired by the Brooklyn Nets as an assistant to new head coach Lionel Hollins. In his first season with the Brooklyn coaching staff, the Nets reached the Eastern Conference Playoffs.