The Baron Davis sucks diary

For two weeks at the end of last year Baron Davis was the best basketball player in the universe. That said, I have always been tremendously worried about his game, especially as a leader, because his genius is only in his extraordinary kinetic physicality. He is not a shooter, but he is also not many other things beside. Although he makes smart veteran plays from time to time, I don't see him doing much in the way of thinking out on the court. While this is perhaps a strength for this wack-ass chaos club, and it is by far the most entertaining and exciting form of athletic performance to watch, it also makes for an endless stream of poor judgments and missed opportunities. I can't count the number of times he made a bet regarding a play that had him do something no wise or intelligent player would do only because he could rely on his extraordinary hand and foot speed or his ability to imagine his body doing something no other player could imagine. Yet this only takes you so far. He is certainly the perfect floor leader for Nelson, but man sometimes watching him makes my head explode.

And, Atma, I understand you're trying to manage the tone of the website and the diaries by coming down hard on these 'whiny' titles, but he wouldn't have used the title if our own moderator hadn't used the same title for Nelson.

I believe there is a direct relationship between Baron's shot selection and his energy level. The more tired he gets, the more 3P happy he gets...and the worse he is at it.

Additionally, he gives up too easily when his teammates fail to execute plays, and he settles for a 3Per. This was his greatest fault when Monty was around, lack of patience to run the offense, instead choosing to go one v one from the perimeter.

He needs to reign it in one way or the other and the rest of the team needs to move the ball around. There's no point in floor spacing if it's not going to be used.

Agree w/OZ on this one. I do think BD is slightly overrated on this site and by Dub fans, in general, but after watching him in April last year, I have come to believe he is a top 5-6 point guard. The key is getting him rest.

When will Nellie realize that leaving him to suck air on the floor doesn't help in the short run and will be terrible in the long run? He should be limited to 30 min a night. Period. Otherwise, he'll continue to blow games w/crappy shots and will be out for another 20-30 games this season.

Nobody complains about his FG% when he drops 30+..

As for taking the last shot, B.Davis is the ONLY clutch player on this squad.. Remember those game-winning shots against Seattle, Dallas, and Houston?. When Monta hit that game-winner against NJ last year, Baron set him up for it.. I agree that Baron is NOT the best shooter on the team, nor does he take the best shots, but he gets everyone involved (11 ast vs LAC, 10 vs Utah),he probably has the best court IQ in the team, and he usually harasses most other PG's who guard him straight up.  

By the way, its only been 2 games into the season.. remember Dallas at the beginning of the season last year? they lost like 4 straight or somethin like that until their first win.. im not saying that the W's will do the same, but until about AT LEAST 10-15 games into the season, ill reserve judgement..

this baseline fadeaway stuff just is no good. it worked for a series last year, but... think of guys like nash and rasheed- they have dependable, high-percentage shots for the end of games. baron typically seems off-balance. you don't get anymore points for degree of difficulty. baron is a ninja, you know, he gets mad respect- but its about discipline too.

I think he's just trying too hard.  The team goes ice cold from the field and he tries to make up for it with ridiculous 3 point shots.  I just think too many of our players are not scoring effectively.  When Jackson comes back from suspension I think everything else will fall back into place.  Baron Davis does not suck.  Without Baron Davis this team loses to the Clippers by 25.

it seems like baron is not playing with the same intensity and desire that he showed at the end of the season last year. maybe it's just because it's the beginning of the season, but if we're gonna have a chance he needs to up his energy level

jackson soooooooooo bad!!!!!!!!!

Are you kidding me!  Can we all agree that we are a running, perimeter shooting team and if we play great defense, rebound, hit our shots, know matter who takes them, we are successful and if we don't then you all know. (Nellie Ball?)  WE ARE NOT a pound it inside half court offense team.

Could Baron's shot selection be better? Sure, but we are talking about the NBA.  I have been a Warrior Fan for 30 years, I am telling you from experience that we are way better off at the point than we have been since Tim Hardaway.  If I was Baron coming off the season ending run he had last season I would be creating for myself.  BTW, we are four hours away from game 3 of the season.  If he continues to consistently miss his shots by the All Star break, I will change my name to formerlythecity the Messiah!

but does that Maxim add destract you too everytime you scroll down?

i gotta go take a cold shower...

is being Baron Davis.  The way he's been playing is nothing new.  He's streaky and he takes bad shots.  If he didn't have these flaws in his game, he'd probably be better than Michael Jordan.  So give him a break, he is what he is.

He isn't going to be shooting like this forever too.  When he starts heating up like he did last year he's going to be winning alot of games pretty much on his own and everybody will be singing his praises once again.  

Look on the bright side, he's averaging 10 assists/game and 2.3 steals/game; so it's not like he's completely dogging it out there.  

Baron Davis is simply THE microcosm of the Golden State Warriors.  When he's off, things seem hopeless.  But when he's on, he's UNSTOPPABLE BABY!

however he does take shots while down in the game from 3 point land, he's done this his entire career at least while he's been in a Golden State uni.  I've always felt that if he would stop taking ill advised 3's and start taking it to the hoop we would have better games.  It just doesn't make sense to take the smallest percentage shot when down in a game, take it to the rack, make a layup, draw a foul, get to the line, get in the bonus.  These are all positives even if he's not hitting all his FTs he's still drawing fouls.  The other issue I have with Baron this season is his defense is HORRIBLE, I've seen his man get point blank layups every night because he's losing vision on his man.  All in all I'm glad to have a player on my team that can take anyone to the rim on any given possesion, I just hope that I start seeing it a lot more often and for all the 3 point attempts to go way down, it creates more efficiency, and with the lack of size and therefore lack of boards we need to be effecient shooting or we will lose most games.