NBA 33 over 30 - Part 3

Here’s the third part in the NBA 33 over 30 series where I look at 33 players in the NBA over the age of 30 who are still balling hard. These old guys could teach the young ones a thing or two.

Rashard Lewis

DOB – 8 August, 1979

The 6″10 sharpshooter has gone from the basement of the NBA to its ceiling this season. Last season he played for the Wizards and now he’s on the Heat. Conversely, his on-court role has been inversely proportional to that. Last season he played 28 games and averaged 7.8 points in 26 minutes per game. This season with the Heat he is averaging 4.3 points in 12.6 minutes per game. This season the Miami Heat have looked to shore up their perimeter and give their team a two pronged attack with the acquisition of Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen but the former hasn’t been used too much. In his first 15 games with the Heat, he played double digit minutes in 14 of them. Since then his role has dropped drastically but he is not fazed.

“It’s something I signed up for,” he said. “I know there’s a lot of talent on this team. They pretty much have the same team they won a championship with. Here, you’ve just got to basically wait your turn. I played earlier in the year, but I’m sure my name will be called again. I just got to be ready to go. I’m not offended at all. We’ve got a lot of guys on this team that could play. If you look around the locker room, I think everybody can play a lot of minutes or even start on another team. If I’m not putting myself in position to be available, then I’m not going to have as much confidence in putting those shots up. I’m just trying to be more conscious of it, to give myself to get more opportunities. It’s all about the opportunities I put myself in to help my teammates.”

Don’t be fooled by his non-use though. Remember Robert Horry and his 3 point heroics? It’s usually the bench players who make those crucial shots down the stretch in big games because the stars are usually well defended. Lewis is built in the same mould and come play-off time, you can expect to see more of him. The Heat haven’t even utilized Mike Miller and James Jones, those two are deadly sharpshooters too.

Miami’s coach Spoelstra has said “The opportunity we’ve given Rashard is different than what he’s had before. He’s proven more in the past in this league. He’s a multiyear All-Star. But he helped bolster an already deep championship team. He’s been willing to sacrifice minutes and his role. He’s been terrific and sees the big picture. He’s going to be a big part of what we do.’’ Expect his role to be a crucial one once the Heat get into the playoffs.

David West

DOB – 29 August 1980

The Indiana Pacers are an incredibly efficient defensive squad. It is said that defense wins championships, and the Pacers have that front well stacked. But they need to have dependable options on offense if they are to go deep in the playoffs. They have found a dependable presence in David West who is playing like an all star.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him play as well as he’s playing right now,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said of West. “He’s just carrying us, (and) not just on offense. On offense it’s obvious what his efficiencies (are) — field goal percentage, shot making, all those things — but he’s really leading us on the defensive end and from a determination standpoint, too. He’s got such tremendous will to win these games. A lot of times it just comes down to that, and that’s contagious.”

West is averaging 17.2 points with 7.6 rebounds and 3 assists in 33.3 minutes of action. With the comeback of Danny Granger, the load on West will be lighter and he will be able to pick and choose his spots better.

Lamar Odom

DOB – 6 November, 1979

“Slowly but surely, it’s coming,” Odom said. “I’ve just got to keep taking my time. I’m getting better in practice. All I can do is keep plugging away game by game.”

In a lot of ways Lamar Odom’s live events have followed Murphy’s Law, ‘Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong.’ He lost his mother at the age of 12. His grandmother died in 2004. His six month old son, Jayden, died in his crib of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. His 24 year old cousin was shot dead and two days later he witnessed the death of a 15 year old pedestrian by a motorcycle driver who skidded off after hitting Odom’s SUV. It was plain to see that he was struggling last season with the Mavericks after uprooting himself from Los Angles. The Candyman had a woeful season last year but this season he has come back in Los Angles, albeit for a different team.

It was just in 2011 that Odom was the Sixth Man of the Year. And it was only a few days ago that Odom had a resurgence as he scored 18 points, grabbed 6 boards and dished out 2 assists in the Clippers’ win over the Jazz. “Matt Barnes said he went to the hot tub time machine tonight,” Chris Paul said. “He came out, and there was that Lamar Odom that everybody around here has grown to know and love. With the spirit that he has, you have no choice but to be happy for him. That’s my guy. I’ve been waiting for him to do this because we know he’s capable of it, and we hope there’s more to come. All season long we’ve been yelling at him to shoot it. Now he’s starting to shoot it. At the end of the day, you have the confidence in yourself and we all have the utmost confidence in him. Out of a timeout, we drew up a play for him, and I’m one of the guys who is always telling him to shoot it. You’re always open, shoot it. If he gets it going like this for us now, it just makes us that much more dangerous.”

Right he is. For a struggling player the best situation to be in is where the team is pretty good without him and is still banking on the player to regain his past form. Odom seems to be on the verge of doing just that.

Metta World Peace

DOB – 13 November, 1979

“The main thing is for you to shoot,” said World Peace of his shooting slump. “When the ball goes into the rim and it wobbles out, you really can’t say nothing about those. When the ball hits the back of the rim, as a shooter that’s an easy adjustment. When you get the next two, most likely the next look will go in. It will average out. It’ll come back around and shots will start falling.”

Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. Maybe World Peace is right, like the time he was right at the beginning of the season when he said “With the way the Lakers are looking this year, I don’t see anybody getting past us this year at all.” Oh no wait, he was wrong.

Regardless of the woes of the Lakers, World Peace has been contributing even though he’s shooting 39.5% this season. He’s averaging 12.7 points with 5.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists. He needs to pick up on his ball movement and become more consistent with his defense for the Lakers to go into the postseason. And if he could avoid punching or elbowing people around, that would help the Lakers too.

Elton Brand

DOB – 11 March, 1979

“I’m not worried about starting,” Brand said. “I like to finish. I’ve started some games and didn’t sniff the court in the fourth quarter. I’d rather just keep the minutes how they are. We’re winning, and I’m fine with that.”

Elton Brand has sacrificed his career stats for being part of a Mavericks team which he believes in. Last season he averaged 11 points with Philly, this season he’s averaging 7.7 while playing 6.6 fewer minutes per game. His career average is still at 17.7. Of the 51 games he’s played for the Mavericks this season, he’s started in only 16 of them.

“One game I might need to get 20 points and 10 rebounds. I might need to do something like that, but there might be a game where I just have to focus on defense. [The coaches] might say, ‘We need this guy stopped in the post’ or whatever. There might be a game where I just set picks, or a game where I just talk to the young guys on how to do something on the court. I think it’s a game-by-game basis this year, and I’m just looking to get some wins,” Brand said.

Fortunately, Brand plays for Rick Carlisle. The man who abruptly switched his lineups in the playoffs over and over again to adjust to his opponents and finally won the championship in 2011. One of the favourite quotes of coach Rick is ‘I prefer the folly of enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom.’ It may be folly to believe that Brand still has it in him, but his tenacity is still there and with the Mavericks he has a chance to make a deep impact in a smaller way.