Guild Rarely Starts What He Finishes : Basketball: Career sixth man at Pepperdine, who was a standout at Marina High, accepts his reserve role.

Sometimes, Steve Guild feels like the blind date with the “good personality.”

In the Pepperdine media guide, his coach describes him as “fundamentally sound “ and “consistent in all phases of the game” and “able to find a way to get things done properly.”

Guess that pretty much rules out a glitzy nickname and the NBA.

But Guild, a former Times all-county player at Marina High and a career sixth man at Pepperdine, arrived at that realization quite some time ago. Still, a guy wouldn’t mind a throwaway superlative here or there.

“It sort of sounds like back-handed compliments, but you understand what he’s saying,” Guild said. “I’ve accepted the role and know I need to stay within my game.”

Guild, a fifth-year senior, doesn’t wow the crowd with double-pump dunks and he seldom has scored in double figures by halftime, but he definitely is appreciated. Just ask Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury, the West Coast Conference’s coach of the year after the last two seasons. He thinks there is a direct relationship between Guild’s play and the Waves’ back-to-back conference titles.

“Steve’s not flashy, but he does all those little things so well,” Asbury said. “And those are things that are necessary to win a championship.”

Need a screen? Call the Guild.

“He’s got a Division II body, an NBA mind and NFL guts,” Asbury said. “Everybody says next year’s team will be the best ever at Pepperdine because we don’t lose many guys, but I honestly can say I don’t know what we’re going to do without him.

“He understands me so well and that’s no easy feat. And he’s got the perfect temperament. He just does everything you ask of him.”

Guild, who was voted a co-captain by his teammates, is confident that at least the coach and the guys on the floor are aware of his contributions.

“I may not get the recognition, especially in terms of the statistics, but he keeps playing me,” Guild said. “And that’s the best way I know that he can say, ‘I like what you’re doing and keep it up.’ ”

The Waves have kept up all right. They’ve racked up the victories at a pace that’s almost unheard of in college basketball these days.

Guild has played in all 84 of Pepperdine’s games since his sophomore year and the Waves’ overall record during that 2 3/4-season span is 63-21. Their conference record is 35-3 and they won an incredible 38 consecutive games against league opponents--including a 6-0 record in the conference tournament--during that period.

Guild, 6-feet-6 and 205 pounds, figured he finally would get a shot at a starting spot this season, but admits he wasn’t sure where.

Junior Dana Jones, an all-conference selection last year who is averaging 16 points and has scored in double figures in every game this season, pretty much had a lock on small forward. And Damin Lopez, a 5-8 junior who earned honorable mention all-conference honors last season, was ensconced in the off-guard spot.

“Dana’s obviously going to start,” Guild said, “and Damin is just an incredible athlete, so where are they going to stick me? The (power forward) spot? I guess it just made better sense to have me coming off the bench.”

Asbury soon had convinced Guild that his value as a sixth man was more important than a chance to run out and high-five his teammates during pregame announcements.

“He’s done a good job of talking to me about it and not just jerking me in and out,” Guild said. “When we talked at the beginning of the year and he said he was planning on keeping me in that role, I was a little disappointed at first. I had spent the whole summer working really hard and starting was something I obviously wanted to to do.

“But we talked some more and I got over it. I just figured that if I got the playing time, starting wasn’t really all that important. Coach likes to point out that while I haven’t started a lot of games, I’ve finished a lot. Being on the floor at the end when the game’s on the line, well, I guess that says something about what kind of player the coach thinks you are.”

According to Asbury, it speaks volumes. He doesn’t recall being the least bit uncomfortable when he had to tell this dedicated player that he wasn’t going to get a shot at starting during his final year of college ball.

“It wasn’t hard,” Asbury said. “In his heart, Steve doesn’t care if he starts. I said, ‘Steve, let’s see, do I want you on the court for the first five minutes or the last five minutes?’

“Some kids would rather start and play two minutes than come off the bench and play 38. Steve’s a whole lot smarter than that.”

And just when Guild--who started four games as a sophomore--was completely resigned to the fact that he would never again hear his name announced before the opening tip, Lopez broke his hand.

Did Guild’s heart soar? If it did, it was no Michael Jordan leap.

“When Damin went down, we talked,” Asbury said. “I said, ‘OK, Steve, should we start you or start (Steve) Clover and have you stay in the same role we’ve had so much success with?’ He said, ‘Maybe it would be better for the team if you start Clover.’

“I’m not kidding. He’s egoless.”

Asbury, however, had already decided to make Guild, who played mostly forward off the bench, the starting off-guard. In eight games since Lopez was hurt, Guild has averaged 12 points and five rebounds. He was averaging 10 points and four rebounds as a reserve.

“The biggest adjustments have been getting mentally ready to play more minutes and thinking about initiating the offense,” Guild said. “At forward, you don’t run the offense, you just follow.

“I really worked hard on ballhandling this summer and it’s paying off. I’m bringing the ball up more to give (point guard) Bryan Parker some rest and you have to take care of it against some pretty quick guys. I’m feeling more comfortable with it all the time.”

Guild’s summertime conditioning regimen--OK, it included some boogie boarding at The Wedge--is also paying dividends these days.

“We thought Steve could really only play 25 minutes a game effectively,” Asbury said. “But now he’s just stepped up his game and he’s playing well for 30, 35, even 40 minutes.

“Maybe he can’t walk the next day in practice, but he’ll do it.”

These days, Asbury’s admiration for Guild is evident, but he recruited him only after giving him a second look. Marina Coach Steve Popovich was a teammate of Asbury’s at Wyoming and Popovich describes Guild as “the kind of player you want to have your young players around.”

Another back-hander?

“I don’t know if we would have recruited him,” Asbury said. “He’s not going to impress you with sheer athleticism.”

You don’t need to see him play at all, really. Just sit and listen to him for a minute.

“I haven’t thought much yet about playing in my last game,” he said. “I’m sure I’ll miss a lot about it, but I won’t have any regrets about being a role player.

“It’s nice to score and in high school, you scored, but you have to step back and put yourself aside. Maybe someday I’ll look back and say, ‘Gee, I didn’t score much. I could’ve scored more.’ But when you look at the whole experience, the playing and winning, it’s really been good. And I’ve grown as a person to where it’s, ‘How can I help the team?’

“Maybe that doesn’t show in the statistics, but I know what I’ve done has helped the people around me.”