SFGate
Hollywood won't happen for Davis
Bruce Jenkins
Sunday, April 27, 2008
There are times when you'd love to know what Baron Davis is thinking.
This is one of the most willful, high-profile players in the NBA, and
he can be properly forthright with the media, but you always sense
he's holding back a little, saving his most incisive thoughts for the
select company of his inner circle.
As he watches the playoffs, for instance, does he entertain any notion
of playing elsewhere?
He's got the card, if he wants to play it. Davis can opt out of the
final season of his Warriors contract, leaving behind some $17 million
in the process, and become an unrestricted free agent. It seems
logical that he'd press for a multi-year deal, but vice president
Chris Mullin has left every indication of dismissing such a request -
and rightly so. It would be foolish and unrealistic to expect Davis,
in his early 30s, to play several injury-free seasons in peak form.
Put aside the likely scenario of Davis playing another season with the
Warriors, then checking the market for a career-finishing deal. What
if he's feeling the wanderlust right now? You figure he'd be after two
things: a team more likely to succeed than the Warriors and close
proximity to the rich, celebrity-laden life he has enjoyed for so many
years.
Just for the sake of argument, forget salary-cap considerations and
view it strictly from a basketball sense. The man's options are
startlingly bleak.
First, all the teams he can rule out:
-- That annoying collection of mediocre (or worse) teams in the
Eastern Conference. At this stage of his life, Davis isn't leaving
California for any franchise without title hopes - including the New
York Knicks. Davis' act would play handsomely in that town (there's an
awful lot of Walt Frazier in him), but the horribly mismanaged
franchise is years away from contention.
-- Potentially intriguing Eastern teams such as the 76ers (Andre
Miller mans the point), Pistons (Chauncey Billups), Wizards (too many
knuckleheads who want the ball) and Celtics, who wouldn't dare mess
with their admirable chemistry.
-- The dregs of the Western Conference: Seattle, Minnesota, Memphis
and Sacramento.
-- The L.A. angle. This is huge for Davis, who would love to finish
his career in his home town, but there's no way he'd be serious about
the Clippers. They're an eternal joke. Davis knows too well that as
soon as a Clippers game ends at Staples Center, it's only a matter of
time before they clear out the rubble and make way for the real L.A.
team - especially next year. The Lakers could actually use a superstar
at the point, but Davis represents too much personality to lay on Kobe
Bryant. And they both know it.
-- The rest of the West. Whether it's because of a solid point guard
or a finisher at crunch time, Davis would find obstacles in Denver,
Utah, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, New Orleans and Phoenix. In
Portland, where management seems to be building a powerhouse, Brandon
Roy is the point guard of the future.
That leaves just two teams: Orlando, where Dwight Howard could really
use someone like Davis, and Cleveland, where LeBron James would
probably give up half his salary for such a luxury. Then again, here
are two cities with absolutely zero going on, at least by Baron's
standards. He'd also be the No. 2 attraction behind either of those
great young stars, with only feint hopes of earning a championship
ring.
I'd put money on Davis returning to the Warriors without envy,
bitterness or resignation. Not that he'd tell us about, anyway.
Suns setting fast
There's a bottom-line aspect to the Phoenix-San Antonio series, and
that's the overall superiority of the Spurs. It wouldn't matter if the
Suns had Shawn Marion, Kurt Thomas and a healthy Grant Hill. They
don't have anything close to the Spurs' coaching, go-to options (at
least five very good ones) or defensive mind-set. The Spurs' only real
question was age-related fatigue, and so far, they have looked
unbeatably fresh.
Not that any such reality appeases an angry fan base in Phoenix. The
Shaquille O'Neal trade not only backfired, it put the Suns in a salary-
cap hole for next year. Coach Mike D'Antoni may have been assigned the
unfair burden of adjusting to Shaq on the fly, but how could he claim
to be baffled by the Spurs' 3-0 edge in the series? (It's no mystery
at all to general manager Steve Kerr: "It's the defense.")
The Suns have a long road back to elite-caliber ball, but they should
pay serious attention to a recent comment by the Celtics' Kevin
Garnett. "We have a no-layup policy," he said. "And if you do come in
there, you pay a price."
Random thoughts
Chris Paul has been nothing short of a revelation in just his third
year, prompting many to ask: Outside of Magic Johnson, when has a
young point guard been so influential, so soon? Perhaps they're
forgetting Oscar Robertson, who in just his second season (for
Cincinnati, 1961-62) averaged a triple-double. In his third season, he
willed Cincinnati into a seventh game of the Eastern finals against
the most star-laden team in NBA history (when Bill Russell's Boston
Celtics had Bob Cousy and John Havlicek). By Robertson's fourth year,
in a world revolving around Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, he was MVP
of the league. ... It's bothersome to think that if Davis left the
Warriors, or got less playing time to save his body, it would become
Monta Ellis' team. Make no mistake, Ellis is sensational, one of the
quickest and most entertaining players in recent history. But he's
very young, not even close to Davis as a leader. Just can't see him
staring down the league's elite at crunch time, night after night. ...
Good stuff from Dirk Nowitzki, basically saving Dallas' season with 32
points and 19 rebounds in Game 3 against New Orleans. Nowitzki might
not be a scrapper, but he plays hurt, takes a nightly pounding and
never shies away from the big shot. Avery Johnson needs more of that
if he hopes to keep his job.
Rasheed Wallace set the tone for Detroit's malaise, whimsically
eavesdropping on the 76ers' huddle in the final minute of Game 1.
That's right before Wallace missed a 4-footer that would have tied it.
That team isn't good enough to just turn it on at will, and when
Rasheed's off-kilter, professionalism is just a rumor. ... Can't wait
to see LeBron silence the annoying DeShawn Stevenson for the summer.
It's coming. Stevenson just doesn't know when. ... That series would
be ending today if Cleveland had anything close to a team. Wow, that
was a bad trade - at the time, and especially now. ... That's class:
All season, Garnett has insisted that Paul Pierce be the last Celtic
to take the floor during pregame introductions. And when he's asked to
participate in a postgame news conference, Garnett invariably brings a
teammate with him. ... Scene from late last spring: Bryant does a top-
to-bottom rip job on the Lakers' organization, stamping GM Mitch
Kupchak as the lamest guy in town. Danny Ainge, pre-deals, is fending
off savage criticism on the Boston talk shows. Find me somebody who,
right then, targeted those two as leading candidates for 2008
Executive of the Year.
E-mail Bruce Jenkins at bjenkins DeleteThis @sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/27/SPDE10BKT6.DTL
This article appeared on page D - 7 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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