Career
A 6"7" (198 cm) shooting guard/small forward from Villanova University, West was selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round of the 1989 National Basketball Association Draft. He was the last of the original roster to remain on the team The following season, he averaged a career high 19.3 points per game.
During the 1993 offseason, the Timberwolves made shooting guard Isaiah Rider their first round draft pick and made him the starter at the position.
West was moved to small forward, where his numbers declined significantly. In 1995, he broke Tony Campbell"s team-record 4,888 points to become the Timberwolves" all-time leading scorer (a distinction now held by Kevin Garnett).
The following offseason, the team drafted Garnett, and West was moved to the bench, starting just 16 games. He returned to the starting lineup for the 1996-1997 season when Rider was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers, which would be his last season as a starter.
By the mid-1990s, injuries had begun to take their toll on West, and he was traded to the Vancouver Grizzlies in exchange for Anthony Peeler after the 1997-1998 National Basketball Association season.
West provided a veteran presence for the struggling young Grizzlies, but he saw very limited playing time, and he finally retired from the National Basketball Association in 2001. He had tallied career totals of 6,477 points, 1,670 rebounds, and 1,292 assists. In the late 1990s, West suffered from depression and alcoholism, for which he sought treatment.
After the National Basketball Association, West spent two years coaching at a high school in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, and two years as an athletic director at a high school in Wheeling, West Virginia.
West was an assistant coach for the Duquesne University women"s basketball team for one season. West was named an assistant coach for the Villanova Wildcats, replacing Editor Pinckney on October 5, 2007.
In 2012, West joined the coaching staff of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the National Basketball Association Doctorate-League. On July 9, 2015, West was announced as the men"s basketball head coach at Penn State Altoona.
