The Return Of An L.A. Bruin

by Nestor on Jul 6, 2008 7:00 AM PDT in Basketball

The return of Baron Davis was a blockbuster news not just in Southern California, but it also sent shockwaves up and down the Pacific Coast if not the entire NBA. It generated a lot of passionate discussion here on BN taking in the povs of Lakers, Warriors and of course Clippers fan.

BD's decision to come home surprised a lot of folks around the country, but it wasn't shocker to those who already knew about Baron's pull towards Los Angeles. According to Art Thompson III of CBS Sportsline.com Baron wanted to come home to LA via Clippers as early as 2002. But when that didn't work out, it didn't damper his passion for coming home:

[H]e never let his passion die for wanting to play in his hometown of Los Angeles. Not even when a midseason trade in 2005 moved him from New Orleans (where the Hornets had relocated in 2002-03) to the Golden State Warriors, a mere 55-minute flight from Oakland to Los Angeles or a $140 car trip, with today's gas prices.
So when the news broke late Tuesday that Davis had agreed to a five-year, $65 million contract to sign with the Clippers -- after opting out of the final year of his contract with the Warriors and leaving $17,810,000 on the table -- many might have been surprised. But not me.

And no, this isn't the first time when Baron has gone with LA (on in our case UCLA):

Baron never has been one to go with the popular sway. Not back in 1997, when the current trend in Southern California was for the blue-chip basketball players to accept scholarships out of state, like to North Carolina, Duke or Syracuse. Not B. He stayed home to attend school and play basketball at UCLA, which had a good but not great program at the time.

Not only did Baron signed up to play for UCLA team which back then (even though coming off a national championship in 95) was as established as Howland's program, he signed up for a UCLA program which was on cruise control (to nowhere) "without a coach" (in his own words).

And to this day Baron remains "fiercely loyal" to his Bruin roots:

Big-time producer Cash Warren, the son of actor and former UCLA basketball star Mike Warren, is a close friend of Davis. Cash and B go back to the time when they attended Crossroads High in Santa Monica. They've already collaborated on one major project, with more sure to come.

B's workout partner and part-time trainer? Rico Hines, who was his teammate at UCLA.

Baron's agent? Another former UCLA teammate and friend, Todd Ramasar, who is no lackey by any stretch of the imagination but an astute businessman, looking out for his client's best interests.

I don't really know much about the business acumen of Ramasar. I don't care much for Rico Hines either. But how Baron has gone out of his way to raise UCLA's profile, to lead on tough issues, and to talk up our alma mater in person whenever UCLA visits Bay Area schools or every chance he gets, means a lot to me. Plus as always there are these memories:

As I have said before, I have never really thought much about the Clippers. But Baron in a Clippers uniform will mean something to me as a fanatic of UCLA (not just UCLA hoops).

Every time Baron shines in the Staples Center as the home town kid, not only will mean good things for LA Clippers, it will also raise the profile of UCLA Athletics and drive home the point, which school's community (students, alums, and fans) truly represent the heart and soul of Los Angeles. Not to mention with JF in Blue and Gold, RW ready to unleash his talents in the next level, and DC, JH and the new core of Bruin guards getting ready for 08-09, there will also be no doubt left among future recruits out West (and in the nation) which school has the title of "Point Guard U."

Once again ... welcome home Baron.

GO BRUINS.

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The more I hear

The more stoked I am about Baron coming home. I remember when Baron was available, and he ended up being one of the many top notch players that Kupchak couldn’t land (before Gasol). Getting to see Baron on local TV now is going to be fantastic, and I have no doubt he will improve the Clips. He may even be enough to change the culture of losing that has come to be acceptable over there, such is the strength of his personality.

by Tydides on Jul 6, 2008 10:26 AM PDT 0 recs

As much as I love BD...

...I wonder how long it’ll be until he bails or Dunleavy is shown the door. As you noted, Baron has a pretty strong personality, both on and off the court.

My girlfriend is a Los Angeleno and a big Clips fan, so I hear my fair share of Clips basketball (on the plus side, she’s a Clips fan and not a Lakers fan, so it makes it much easier getting good tickets at the Oracle when she wants to see a game).

And, from what I’ve seen, heard, and read, Dunleavy likes to run a much slower, structured offense that runs through EB at the low post. Baron, though, in his NBA career has not reached his potential playing in that kind of structured system (as he did in Charlotte, New Orleans, and Golden State under Montgomery). B.Diddy really didn’t explode as an elite NBA playmaker until he was given free reign by Nellie. So I’m kind of concerned that the Clips’ style of ball is going to hamper the Bearded One we have all grown to love at UCLA and in the Bay Area.

Another concern I have is that Baron has a pretty forceful personality. By all accounts, the Warriors was his team. He was the star, the number one scoring option, the face of the franchise. With the Clips, with Brand in the fold, that won’t be the case. It’s Elton’s team, he’s the veteran leader with the team, he’s been the face of the franchise. I know this is the same kind of concerns people raised when Ray Allen and KG joined Paul Pierce in Boston; that each guy was a strong personality and wanted the ball in their hands all the time. That worked out pretty well for Boston, though.

So, I think this Baron-Brand-(possibly) Maggette experiment is contingent on how much Baron has matured between his more headstrong days with Charlotte and New Orleans and now. I hope he has and I hope the Clips do very well.

But for now, there’s no real way to know. I’m sure everything will be all good the first season or two, when everyone is playing nice with each other. I’m just a bit concerned about how things will be in a few seasons if the Clips, despite having the talent on paper, aren’t getting it done (I’m pretty sure Boston would have been a toxic situation had the Celtics not won so much; winning is a remarkable cure for whatever ails a team).

Finally, assuming that Maggette stays, that would lead to a line-up of something like: Baron (PG), Maggette/Gordon (SG), Maggette/Thornton (SF), Brand (PF), and Kaman©. Now, except for Thornton and Gordon, all of those guys have had some singificant injury problems, especially Baron. Given the frightful lack of depth (Q. Ross, Mobley, Knight are nice guards, but they’re never going to get it done, and given Livingston’s catastrophic injury, who knows when and how well he’ll come back), I really worry about what could happen in LA if one of the big name guys goes down. Boston succeeded because they had great depth off the bench. Clips, not so much.

Hopefully it all comes together for the Clips and these conerns never become an issue, although I hate to see an asshole cheap-wad like Sterling win anything; jackasses shouldn’t be rewarded for punishing fans for so long.

Just some thoughts.

by norcald503 on Jul 6, 2008 11:23 AM PDT up 0 recs

A couple of things

On BD and Dunleavy: Yes, they have contrasting styles that would seemingly clash. However, a more important precedent is there in the way that Dunleavy handled Cassell and Mobley when they came to the Clips. Cassell was firmly entrenched as the leader from day one and pretty much had the green light to play his game his own way, with some healthy input from time to time. MD’s record with some of the guys he inherited (Maggette, Wilcox) isn’t so good, but there shouldn’t be a problem with BD unless, as nc503 insightfully points out, things don’t go very well—and yes, would the Celtics be so unified if Bynum and Ariza had been healthy and the Lakers had won? That being said, it seems like Brand and BD have an agreement to follow the Celtics model and duplicate the cooperation of Garnett and Pierce in order to try to win.

And that’s a big difference in the Clipper and Laker approach. Dunleavy expects to win with preparation and defense, a bit like a guy we all know at UCLA. With Brand and Kaman, the Clips will have the necessary inside presence to play good interior defense and let teams beat them from the perimeter. The trick with Dunleavy and BD will be to see how Dunleavy gets BD to buy into playing defense. Led by Garnett and coached expertly by Thibodeau, Pierce and Ray Allen and all of the Celtics bought into a tough defensive philosophy, and came away with a title. (Which the Bruins will do eventually under BH.) The approach will be very different from Nellyball. My guess is that Dunleavy will welcome BD’s offensive creativity, and one of the most exciting things is the way that a great PG like BD can manufacture easy baskets for Brand and Kaman. If Chris Paul can do it for Tyson Chandler, then BD can do a lot of damage with two guys who have actual offensive skills.

—Secondly, Maggette will not be a Clipper. The first domino in this whole deal was Maggette opting out of his contract. In the second, the Clips had to renounce his rights, and Brand had to opt out as well, in order the the Clips to make a deal with BD. That being said, until it’s all finalized (1st chance July 9) they can reverse engineer it and turn it into a sign-and-trade for Maggette, to go somewhere, somehow, as I outlined further down on the thread. But Maggette won’t be playing for the Clips next season.

I don’t mean to go too far out on Clips minutiae on BN, and it obviously wouldn’t be happening if Baron Davis wasn’t involved and that wasn’t one of the most significant UCLA professional “returns” in memory. But you’ll all feel free to ignore this, I’m sure. And the haters can draw the Bill Walton Clipper parallel, but I’ll choose to see that as a reminder that every Bruin has the deepest sympathy for the injury travails of one of our all-timers, and it just raises hopes that BD can stay healthy and excell, prosper and make the campus, alumni, and the city proud.

by citizen zhiv on Jul 6, 2008 6:47 PM PDT up 0 recs

Pretty insightful stuff...

...and since you’re more versed with the Clips than I, I defer to your take on it. The one other thing I’d worry about, and perhaps you can speak more on it, is the Clips depth. I mean, I just don’t think Q. Ross, Mobley, and the rest of the Clips bench is worth much of anything.

I like that BD made it through all 82 games for, IIRC, the first time in his career. But given his previous track record of breaking down, I’d guard against getting too excited, just b/c of the high possibility of losing a key guy or two and the season totally going into the toilet (read: Miami).

by norcald503 on Jul 6, 2008 9:17 PM PDT up 0 recs

Always a possibility...

With a team like the Clips, or any team that doesn’t have institutionalized success, you have to hope to keep building the foundation. That’s the slow progress that the Clips have made in the last five years or so, with lots of steps backwards, and a few forward as well. Here at BN we want to see UCLA football do the same thing, and we just saw Howland make it seem like anything is possible. Now that the Bruins have restored the basic institutional strength of the program, they can lose the #3 and #4 picks in the NBA draft, a freshman and a sophomore, and they are still going to be an extremely tough basketball team. And when you have a good program and a good coach and fans, etc., you have guys like Morgan show up on a team that has Holiday. But it starts with players like Mata-Real.

Clipper depth is problematic, but that’s the trick of the NBA in general and the “star constellation” like you see with the Celtics. Players like Garnett and Pierce (and Brand and BD) can help you find a PJ Brown and pick up James Posey. But that’s one of the things about the Sign and Trade scenario—the Clippers would get back the mid-level exception and still retain Bird rights not just to Brand, but to Livingston as well.

Mobley and Thomas are okay components on the Clipper roster-Mobley plays defense, has veteran savvy and isn’t quite done, and Thomas can do okay in limited minutes (but the worst ever as a starting PF, just painful). Gordon will be a big factor-Mobley will be the fifth option and starter until Gordon shows that he can play, and having a guy like Gordon who can actually hit a shot will be a big step forward. If Livingston can come back and play, that would be huge (if they can figure out how to sign him). QRoss will not be back, but will be replaced by Marcus Williams, who is promising. Knight is okay (again, you don’t want him as your starter, ever), and Liv would help at backup PG, but they might need another PG. The frontline backups are where things get interesting—Paul Davis (low publicity major injury last year), Josh Powell (decent PF), and personal favorite funky Nick Fazekas, rounded out by draft pick project DeAndre Jordan. In general, lots of rebounding and heft on the bench, which should look a whole lot better with Brand eating up minutes, but badly in search of somebody who can come in and hit a shot. Maggette will be badly missed, but as a price to get Baron Davis, that’s the way it goes. Should be interesting to see the next set of chess moves in the upcoming week.

by citizen zhiv on Jul 6, 2008 10:11 PM PDT up 0 recs

I really hope Brand resigns with the Clips

not that I’d blame him for going to the Warriors (you can’t really blame a guy when there’s a $20 million difference), but I’d like to see BD back in the playoffs and possibly in a 2nd round.

by ryebreadraz on Jul 6, 2008 11:06 AM PDT 0 recs

Awesome highlight reel

It’s been a while since I’ve watched some Baron highlights from his time as a Bruin. Great stuff – he remains, I’d have to say, the most dazzling athlete I’ve seen play for UCLA.

by Dexter Fishmore on Jul 6, 2008 12:51 PM PDT 0 recs

I really can't help...

But be disappointed. As a Bay Area guy, losing him really hurt the Warriors, and it’s kind of a shocking move for most of us fans. But I understand his motive, and I’m glad he’s so fervent in his love for UCLA…at least on that much we can agree.

by Centric on Jul 6, 2008 3:03 PM PDT 0 recs

All Good--great highlights!

Thanks for that, Nestor. And Tydides is coming around to a little bit of basic hoop acceptance and admiration, especially for a great Bruin. Never in doubt. I’ll apologize for getting testy in the heat of the first salvos in this exciting new era.

For despairing Warrior (Bruin) fans, it’s also a question of acceptance, but there are still plenty of opportunities for the negative to become a positive. GSW didn’t want to give BD a generous longterm deal (ignoring the Steve Nash precedent, I would say), which is fine, and now they have some nice capspace and flexibility. By making the big offer to Brand they get into discussions with David Falk, who engineered this entire scenario, and they can still come out of it all in pretty good shape. Brand and BD will play together on the Clippers, that’s one thing that will happen for sure—BD didn’t do this deal without an idea of Brand’s chess moves.

But the way for Brand to make the most money is if Falk and the GMs go back and turn BD’s new deal into an elaborate sign-and-trade, so that the Clips retain EB’s Bird rights and they can spend some extra money on him (the Clips get to keep their MLE in that scenario too). That may be why things are taking so long. EB and BD are going to the Clippers, Maggette is up for grabs, and it seems like Falk is hanging out waiting to see who wants in on the deal.

The Warriors need to replace BD, and one of the simplest deals is for Maggette to go to Chicago, Hinrich to GSW, and then you’re done. Isn’t that better than just signing Maggette, when GSW already has a bunch of wings? But Nelly and the Warriors could wind up with Shawn Marion, Chauncey Billups, or Rasheed Wallace if they play their cards right.

And then, after the dust is settled, we will get to see some great basketball in Staples.

Just one question: what’s the backstory on Rico Hines? I just saw the story that said that BD’s new fitness regimen, with Hines as a collaborator, helped him play all 82 games this year. Don’t know much else. And I was surprised to see in that same story that “Cash,” known previously as BD’s good Crossroads buddy who is Alba’s boyfriend, is actually Mike Warren’s son.

by citizen zhiv on Jul 6, 2008 6:27 PM PDT 0 recs

Clips have a long way to go

And I mean a LONG way to go before we can mention admiration in the same sentence as the Clips. There’s just way too much inertia with a stiff like Sterling signing the checks. If anyone can do it, it’s Baron. He got the Warriors – the Warriors – back into the playoff picture and actually knocked off the top seed in one fell swoop. The Clips have had talent before. They need the right mentality. Baron can bring that mentality. Let’s see if Dumbleavy can make it work (having Brand would obviously help that cause as well).

by Tydides on Jul 6, 2008 6:44 PM PDT up 0 recs

Good enough

Just meant to say admiration for Baron Davis. No, don’t expect admiration for the Clips to come easy.

I wouldn’t worry about Sterling so much anymore. There are still some hiccups, but Dunleavy has completely changed the culture of the Clips.

Dunleavy is far from perfect, and he’s no Phil Jackson. He’s no Ben Howland either, although there are some real similarities between Dunleavy and Howland. As I mentioned above, they both stress preparation and defense. That takes care of a lot of things, right off the bat. They’re not quite so deep inside the game as Phil, who can be just awesome—although I don’t quite get why PJ underplayed our semi-Bruin, Ariza, when Pierce was killing the Lakers. Howland has taken the UCLA program back to the very highest level, but there can still be some in-game and personnel questions from time to time. There are some real similarities with Dunleavy, who I would say is lesser in his strengths, and more stubborn and dense in his weaknesses. Plus Dunleavy has to, yes, deal with Sterling.

Just so that no one is alarmed, let me finish by saying that I have all sorts of problems with Dunleavy, while I have no problems at all with Howland. One makes me nuts, the other I truly admire.

by citizen zhiv on Jul 6, 2008 6:56 PM PDT up 0 recs

I know that Mike has been with the Clips a while

but to me his enduring moment (until he reaches a greater one) was the Game 7 collapse in 2000 against the Lakers when he was coaching an absolutely loaded Blazer team. That was about as complete a meltdown I have ever seen, both on the court and on the sidelines.

by Tydides on Jul 6, 2008 9:18 PM PDT up 0 recs