David West may wear the meanest frown in the NBA, but he sure knows how to go out with pure class. At least on twitter.
Despite painfully getting blown out by the Miami Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, and despite all the tense and chippy moments he and the Indiana Pacers have had against them throughout the series, West wasn’t too proud to give a strong shout out to the Heat for having the kind of resolve he hopes to build within himself and his own team:
Given the bond he has formed with his Pacers teammates, it will be interesting to see what West decides to do as an unrestricted free agent in the upcoming summer. All indications point to the likelihood of staying right where he is, but he will be a desired commodity around the league after performing well in the playoffs and displaying the type of grit and toughness that most teams heavily covet. That means money will be flying at him, and at the age of 32, it may be the final big contract he signs as an NBA player.
On a side note, Roy Hibbert – who has been making headlines over the past few days for all the wrong reasons – left the court immediately after the contest without bothering to shake hands with any of the Heat members, and Baron Davis took notice:
While it’s understandable to take a loss of this magnitude very hard as a player, he certainly could learn how to better handle such situations from his teammate West [Edit: upon closer look on replay, West was actually the very first player to leave the floor without shaking anyone’s hands. Apparently, Hibbert did learn from West]. Hopefully, Hibbert will take the upcoming summer to reflect on the unfortunate ways he behaved down the stretch of this series and show that he is better than that as he continues to blossom into dominant center in the league.
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Bad sportmanship but the celtics do it all the time and nobody says anything about it.
David West also walked straight to the locker room. So did Larry Bird and nearly every player until they made a big deal about JBJ doing it a few years ago. This is not little league baseball.
Thanks for pointing that out. I had to go back to the end of the game to see if what you said is true, and he was actually the first player to head straight for the tunnel. Left so quickly I never even caught it during live play. And here I was, praising the guy for his maturity. Sigh.
And no, this is not little league baseball, this is NBA basketball, where professional athletes get paid millions to be professional.
If you’re going to make a point to say it’s NBA basketball and professional athletes get paid millions to be professional, then why in the hell are you further promoting the career of Baron Davis. The guy spent 12 years doing his amazing unprofessional impression of a chaise lounge.