David West didn't want to 'roll the dice' with another year in Indiana

Candace Buckner | IndyStar

SAN ANTONIO — David West looks different. It's not just the black and silver practice uniform he's wearing inside the facility on 1 Spurs Way. But it's the way he lights up when he talks about learning basketball minutiae and smiles at how he feels like a 35-year-old rookie.

Then again, West is very much the same player who spent the last four years in Indiana. Still speaking without a filter but never recklessly, still balancing his love for the game against Father Time.

Just these days, he just looks happier.

"I’m good. I’m great. I’m enjoying," are the first words West says after the San Antonio Spurs' Monday morning shootaround.

Last summer, West decided not to opt in to the final year of his contract with the Indiana Pacers and his departure set in motion a renaissance at Bankers Life Fieldhouse according to coach Frank Vogel. Without West, the Pacers' proposal to moderately use a four-wing lineup with the second unit to space the floor warped into the all-in, new-look staple that defined every move of the offseason.

"He would be our starting power forward," Vogel revealed. "That was the plan. The plan was never to go full time with the starting lineup as a spread lineup. The plan was to use it on occasion. That's where you had some unclear moments (with) Paul George being uncomfortable with how much we were going to use that.

"When David opted out, we pushed forward with it as a full-time thing by signing Monta (Ellis)."

So now the sides reunite, the Paul George-led Pacers and West with his championship-hunting Spurs. So much is different from last year, but as West discloses in an exclusive interview with The Star, this change was inevitable.

Question: You had a very interesting quote in the New York Times, and I want to get some clarity. “For me, in terms of basketball, I needed every night to mean something to keep going.” Why didn’t it mean something with the Pacers?

Answer: I wouldn’t necessarily say it didn’t mean something. But in terms of the goal this year — and every year here — the focus is winning and winning a championship. I guess when you get here, it’s not even an expectation. You understand through the preparation that’s what you’re in here for. It wasn’t that every night didn’t mean something with the Pacers, because obviously the nights do. For a couple years, we were fighting to the get the 1 seed, get to the conference finals. I needed that guarantee again. I just wanted to be a part of a group that had a chance to win it this year.

Q: Last year it looked like the injury-plagued season and being the leader of the locker room was weighing on you.

A: A little bit. It was a combination of a lot of stuff. It was sort of seeing what I saw happen in New Orleans where the group you envision is not (there). I was pissed off with myself more than anything because I started off hurt and banged up. Our team had injuries and more than anything, I was mad at that age, at 34, I went through another one of those seasons. This past summer was the first time I watched the Finals in three years. So I’m watching the Finals, and I’m saying: ‘Man, damn!’ I was just hell bent on having the opportunity to at least be in that conversation again at some point.

I didn’t want it to be where we had to do it (like), ‘Look at where they came from!’ Or be a surprise team. I always talk about there’s a few seasons I wish I can get back in New Orleans. That last one in Indy. But you can’t get them back. So the next decision you make has got to be a solid decision for you. Mentally, physically and emotionally this was the right spot for me to fall into.

(West had more to say about being the main leader in the Pacers’ locker room) It's hard doing that and being in that position but then having to be responsible for your own mental focus and your own mental prep. It’s not something I grew weary of, it’s just that it’s a hard situation to be in. Paul (George) and I have a different relationship. The year Danny was out, it was: ‘Let’s get Paul into that realm we know he can get to.’ So there were conversations when I was relaying messages to Frank (Vogel) and other people. Hell, even his agent sometimes. Just trying to make sure he’s getting the vision of what we believe he could become. But then you’ve got four or five or six other guys to do that for as well, where they see you doing that with Paul and ask: ‘Well, can you do that with me?’ And that is where it becomes, like OK (leans back and makes an exasperated look). You get to a point where you’re like: ‘Damn.’ At times it got overwhelming. You just get to the point, like I did this summer, when those guys have got to take that step.

Q: Before making your decision, did you not consider the Pacers improving just by adding Paul back?

A: I thought about Paul and thought about George (Hill), those two guys mainly. I felt like they’re at the age. I knew PG was going to be back in full effect, but for me it was just time for a David decision. People don’t know this, but after my second year in Indy, there were a few teams that wanted me to leave out of there, but ... I wanted to be a part of the group as long as I felt like I still was giving them everything that I had, and I felt like I just got to the point where there was nothing else I could give Paul and George. I think they’re mature enough now, and Paul can carry a team. Obviously as he gets older and he grows, the maturity stuff will start to fill in, but he’s strong-willed enough and strong-minded enough to carry a team, and George is getting there. So I felt like from that standpoint I did my job with those guys and helped them get better and handle situations. Paul’s at that stage when he’s got to able to control the locker room, and George is the same way as a point guard. That’s what we tried to impress upon them a few years ago. I just think it’s that time.

Q: Did you have an ‘I’m out of here’ moment during last season?

A: Nah. I had some moments where I was just spent, but I didn’t have one of those moments. It really came down to watching the playoffs for the first time in how many years, not being in the playoffs and then ultimately watching the Finals and just saying: ‘(Forget) it, man. You can’t roll the dice next year.’ Because that’s what I felt I would be doing.

People were telling me: ‘Opt in and then demand a trade!’ That’s just not me. I’ve never been motivated by money. I didn’t want to play that game. I wanted to make a pure decision strictly based off of basketball, and I wanted to have the ability to make it. However long the Finals and conference finals were, I’m just watching it getting more angry. Obviously you can’t account for Paul’s injury, but I’m just thinking: ‘You’ll be 35 at the end of the summer, D.’ I don’t know how much more I can play or want to play. So if I know I’m going to play this year, we’ve got to go somewhere where your role might change but that everyday comfort will be there, that everyday ‘mean something’ will be there. And that’s what I wanted to be a part of, because I just feel like the NBA season is so long. To go through this long year and then not have that light or that opportunity at the end of the tunnel is just something I couldn’t leave to chance.

Q: Have you talked to Larry Bird since you made your decision?

A: I haven’t spoken to Larry. I guess we’ll talk at some point. I was thinking about it, but I’ve never been one of those guys to go to (the front office) and impose myself on what they’re doing. I just sort of stayed at bay. I spoke about this before, but just sort of some of those comments in that press conference and things said about Roy. I don’t care whether or not they’re true or untrue, I don’t operate like that. So that kind of threw me off just in terms of the feeling. But at some point we will (talk) I imagine to clear the air, but I’ve got no ill feelings or ill will.This wasn’t an emotional decision about how I feel or how my heart was feeling.

This was a basketball thing. I wanted to be part of the Spurs. I wanted to learn. We get to share a locker room with four Hall of Fame guys. Every day, on bus rides, watch them prep and watch them warm up. Watch them mentally break stuff down and mentally figuring stuff out after all these years and still having the passion to do it. That’s just something that’s so unique and something I’m really relishing being around. Watching these guys do it every day is really some next level stuff.

Q: I watched the last game you started when Tim Duncan got rest, so what exactly is your role here?

A: It’s just to be part of the group. Obviously there are nights where T’s going to sit. We don’t necessarily know when. It’s just a part of the way things are done. It’s just to be prepared, and when we’re at full strength it’s to be part of that second unit and hopefully change the game when we’re on the floor.

Q: This is your first new team in four years. How is the adjustment different now than it was in 2011 when you joined the Pacers?

A: The role was different. When I was going to Indy, it was about stepping in, recovering from an injury, being a starter, etc. Coming here it was about finding a role and fitting in and learning the system and trying to be a part of a group that’s been together for a long, long time. In Indy, it was a bunch of young guys, and my job was to come in there and be a veteran, hopefully add some leadership. Sort of the same thing here but the leadership piece. …There’s a difference and then obviously what everything means here. Every single day is necessary. It’s about getting our group better.

I came here for camp, and I was the guy they would say, ‘Hey, you’ve got to do this!’ And I enjoyed it, not having a clue at times because I haven’t been in that position in forever. That gave me a little bit of energy in having to be taught what to do, how to screen. It was like, ‘Damn, I feel like a rookie.’ Because I didn’t know anything coming here. From that standpoint the opportunity to learn and embracing it and just enjoying the ride so far.

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Follow Star reporter Candace Buckner on Twitter: @CandaceDBuckner.