Delonte West

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Delonte West

Position	Guard
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight	180 lb (82 kg)
Team	Boston Celtics
Nationality	United States
Born	July 26, 1983 (age 23) Washington, D.C.
College	Saint Joseph's
Draft	24th overall, 2004 Boston Celtics
Pro career	2004–present

Delonte West (born July 26, 1983 in Washington, D.C.) is an American professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the NBA.

[edit] College career

The 6' 4" (1.93 m) shooting guard played for the Saint Joseph Hawks while in college, where he teamed with Jameer Nelson to great success. West averaged 18 points and 4.7 assists per game in his junior season, and shot 41% from three-point range. His efforts helped the Hawks to go undefeated (27-0) in their regular season, and up to the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament.

[edit] NBA career

West chose to leave St. Joe's after his junior campaign and was selected by the Boston Celtics as the 24th pick in the 2004 NBA Draft. In his first season he struggled with injuries, playing a total of just 39 games, mostly coming off the bench. He averaged 4.5 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game. After making the transition to point guard in his rookie season, West was named the starting point guard at the beginning of the 2005 season by head coach Doc Rivers.

In 2005-2006, West averaged 11.8 PPG, 4.1 RPG and 4.6 APG. He is a tough defender and is known for his athletic blocks. On February 12, 2006, he was named to represent the Celtics on the sophomore team for the Rookie Challenge at NBA All-Star Weekend. Coincidentally, he replaced his college teammate Nelson, who withdrew because of injuries.

West was moved to the shooting guard spot in the 2006-2007 season, but showed signs of difficulty early in the season. He was later moved back to the point guard position. West has had some clutch shots, including a game-winning buzzer-beater against the Charlotte Bobcats on November 8, 2006, and a game-tying three pointer with 4 seconds remaining in regulation to bring the game into overtime against the New Jersey Nets on March 3, 2007. The Celtics would eventually win the game against the Nets. The next day against the Minnesota Timberwolves, West scored a career-high 31 points and made a career-high 12 free throw shots, in a double overtime Celtics victory. West scored all 31 of his points in that game during the second half, including the two overtimes. He is currently sharing starting minutes with Rajon Rondo.

[edit] External links

• Player profile @ NBA.com
• ESPN.com Player Page
• Celtics' Player Profile
• Delonte West Yahoo! Player Profile
• Delonte West fan site

2004 NBA Draft
First Round Dwight Howard | Emeka Okafor | Ben Gordon | Shaun Livingston | Devin Harris | Josh Childress | Luol Deng | Rafael Araújo | Andre Iguodala | Luke Jackson | Andris Biedriņš | Robert Swift | Sebastian Telfair | Kris Humphries | Al Jefferson | Kirk Snyder | Josh Smith | J.R. Smith | Dorell Wright | Jameer Nelson | Pavel Podkolzin | Viktor Khryapa | Sergei Monia | Delonte West | Tony Allen | Kevin Martin | Sasha Vujačić | Beno Udrih | David Harrison
Second Round Anderson Varejão | Jackson Vroman | Peter John Ramos | Lionel Chalmers | Donta Smith | Andre Emmett | Antonio Burks | Royal Ivey | Chris Duhon | Albert Miralles | Justin Reed | David Young | Viktor Sanikidze | Trevor Ariza | Tim Pickett | Bernard Robinson | Ha Seung-Jin | Pape Sow | Ricky Minard | Sergei Lishouk | Vassilis Spanoulis | Christian Drejer | Romain Sato | Matt Freije | Rickey Paulding | Luis Flores | Marcus Douthit | Sergei Karaulov | Blake Stepp | Rashad Wright