By Sam Amico
ProBasketballNews.com
When it comes to elite NBA point guards, you already know the names. There's veterans like New Jersey's Jason Kidd and Phoenix's Steve Nash, youngsters like New Orleans' Chris Paul and Utah's Deron Williams.
But did you know that Golden State's Baron Davis is among the league leaders in scoring (21.5 ppg) and assists (7.9 apg), and second overall in steals (2.48 spg)? I knew Davis was good, but didn't realize how good until I looked it up.
Or how about this endorsement: "He is the catalyst that keeps that team running. As he goes, that whole team goes."
Those words come from none other than
Cleveland's LeBron James. And James and his
poor Cavaliers witnessed Davis' mastery firsthand
on Dec. 23, as Davis turned the Warriors' 105-96
victory into 48 minutes of garbage time. Davis
finished with 27 points, 10 assists, five rebounds
and about a dozen high fives to teammates --
who seemed thrilled just to be on the floor with
him.
Something else you may not have known about
Davis: He's only 28. I say "only" because it seems
like he's been in the league forever, having been
drafted with the No. 3 overall pick by the Hornets
back in 1999.
Davis regularly led the Hornets to the playoffs when they were still in Charlotte, when their future in the city was doubtful and their fans didn't care. Support for the team was nonexistent, but Davis always played hard and remained upbeat. That alone says something about his professionalism.
Then last season, Davis returned from an injury late in the season to catapult the Warriors to their first playoff appearance in 13 years. You know the story from there, as the Warriors played a breathtaking, up-tempo brand of basketball to become the first No. 8 seed to knock off a No. 1 (Dallas) in a seven-game series.
Davis is 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, a bulldozer of a point guard with a powerful upper body and tree trunks for legs. He would probably make a nice linebacker for some NFL team.
He's quick and strong, gutsy with tons of endurance.
In last year's playoffs, he often spent every minute of all four quarters on the court. He did the same against the Cavs the other night -- despite the fact he was listed as doubtful before the game with a thigh bruise. Davis and the Warriors also played the previous night in New Jersey.
Even Warriors coach Don Nelson wasn't sure if Davis would play against Cleveland. But there Davis was, playing all 48 minutes and not missing a beat.
"Shows what I know," Nelson said with a smile.
On the downside, Davis has been injury-prone and isn't exactly a lockdown defender (most of his steals come from stepping in passing lanes). And it could be argued that Stephen Jackson is the team's real MVP, as the Warriors are 16-6 with him the lineup and 0-6 without.
Then again, Jackson and other up-and-coming Warriors -- guard Monta Ellis, forward Al Harrington, and even center Andris Biedrins -- have played the best basketball of their careers with Davis in the lineup. That sort of thing doesn't happen by accident.
FOUR MORE WARRIORS NOTES
• Nelson on the Warriors' early season: "I don't know if we're any good or not. We're able to win some games, put on a bad performance one night and a pretty good one the next. It's hard to get a read on our team."
• Ellis and Harrington struggled mightily in the playoffs last season, but each has been better-than-solid this year. Ellis is averaging 16.5 points and shooting about 50 percent from the field. Harrington is at 14.3 points and hitting nearly 80 percent of his free throws. Also, at 6-9, he is a deadly 3-point shooter and is the one Warrior who can be counted on to regularly crash the boards.
• Meanwhile, Biedrins leads the league in field-goal percentage (.632). On the other hand, the rim cringes with fear anytime he shoots a free throw, as he's hitting a measly 64 percent from the line.
• Finally, neither of the Warriors' rookies have guarded much more than the water cooler this season -- with both forward Brandan Wright and guard Marco Belinelli being planted firmly on the end of the bench. The team still likes their potential, but it wouldn't be shocking if the Warriors made a move for a veteran soon. The bench is very thin.
CAVS STUFF
• Cleveland is said to be in the market for a point guard, and boy, could the Cavs really use one. Philadelphia's Andre Miller reportedly could be had for some expiring contracts and a draft pick. Brian Windhorst of the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal wrote that the Cavs are indeed interested. "The Cavs have some expiring contracts, but would probably need to put together a multiplayer deal to acquire Miller," Windhorst wrote.
• Brutally honest TNT analyst Charles Barkley said that the Cavs' ability to reach the Finals last season was "one of the biggest flukes in basketball history." Barkley didn't stop there. "If they make the playoffs this year, they're one and done," he said. Right now, the Cavs are making it difficult not to believe him.
• I asked Cavs guard Daniel Gibson to make a case for LeBron James as league MVP. Gibson just looked and at me and laughed. "You saw what we did without him, didn't you?" he asked.
• None of this is intended to trash the Cavs. But how much longer will fans (not to mention James) be able to tolerate their jekyll-and-hyde routine? As Terry Pluto wrote in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Cavs seem to have come down with a nasty case of "the Disease of Me" after winning the Eastern Conference last season.
RANDOM STUFF
• Who is the NBA's hottest team? If you said the Boston Celtics, you'd be wrong. The correct answer is the Detroit Pistons, who have won five straight (including a road win over the Celtics). Offensively, the Pistons are as balanced and cohesive as they've ever been, maybe more. "Our defense is getting to be extremely solid too," said coach Flip Saunders.
• What's happened to the Orlando Magic? They've won just four of their previous 12 games, and ONE of their last SIX. The losing spell includes home defeats to Atlanta and Memphis. "It's ridiculous, it's embarrassing and I feel badly for our fans," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said after a home loss to Utah in which the Magic trailed by as many as 20 points.
• It may be time to start mentioning Allen Iverson in your league MVP debates. Iverson has scored 30 or more points in six of the past eight games, and the Nuggets are starting to look like a serious Western Conference contender because of it. San Antonio, Phoenix and Dallas are still the favorites out West, but I wouldn't want to be playing the Nuggets, Warriors or Lakers in the first round of the playoffs.
• Miami may be looking to make a trade for Memphis guard Mike Miller, according to Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News. "With Alonzo Mourning suffering what figures to be a career-ending knee injury, the Heat might also try to expand the deal to include (Grizzlies center) Stromile Swift," Lawrence wrote.
• Congratulations to former NBA star Larry Johnson (Hornets, Knicks), who just received a bachelor's degree in social studies from UNLV. Johnson entered the draft after his junior year of college, but promised his mother he'd go back to finish.
HELP WANTED
Available veteran free agents who could help your team:
PG - Earl Boykins; Eddie Gill; John Lucas III.
SG - Tarence Kinsey; Bernard Robinson; Penny Hardaway.
SF - Ruben Patterson; Ronald Dupree; DerMarr Johnson.
PF - Chris Webber; P.J. Brown; Mike Sweetney; Danny Fortson.
C - Dale Davis; Kelvin Cato; Michael Olowokandi.
Sam Amico is the editor of ProBasketballNews.com. Contact him or subscribe to his free NBA e-mail newsletter at amico@probasketballnews.com.
