Paul Westphal hasn't been an NBA coach since midway into the 2000-2001 season, when he was fired by the team formerly known as the Seattle SuperSonics. He went on to coach the Pepperdine Waves, spent a season on Avery Johnson's bench in Dallas, and otherwise enjoyed life in his native Southern California.
But, he says, forget about any thoughts of a culture shock. The ball is still round. The court is still 94 feet. Players are players. Excluding a few more tattoos, what's so different?"
"I don't think there's any generation gap," Westphal said after Monday's two-hour media session at the Kings practice facility. "The Idea is to get five players who share the ball, who need to play defense, and try to make more baskets than the other team. There have always been selfish players. There have always been players who know how to sublimate their ego for the good of the team. As far as I can tell, you're still fighting that fight. You want to get more of the latter and less of the former."
Westphal, by the way, was a terrific scorer and ferocious one-handed, lefty-dunker in his day, and known for his hops. His playing style was the very antithesis of his conservative politics. (He remains a longtime friend of Rush Limbaugh). Haven't asked him about the onslaught of tattoos since his NBA head coaching days, however. i can't wait to hear his thoughts about Donte Greene's latest display: $600 worth of sketchings that stretch from the top of his left shoulder to his wrist.
As for the coach's thoughts on social networking? Forget about it. He laughed when asked whether he blogs or tweets, though he has no objection to his players doing so -- on their own time.
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