Merged: Another Crazy Thought: Baron Davis

This isn't about fiscal responsibility and not wanting burden Paul Allen with the luxury tax.

If the Blazers wanted to trade for Baron's bloated 12+ million a year deal, that means they need to either match it with similar contracts or a combination of cap space and contracts, and since there aren't a whole lot of contracts that make up that difference you'd probably have to mortgage all of your cap-space and a couple of solid rotation players (Blake + Outlaw, plus all cap space) just to get him -- Basically Baron would be our one and only off-season 'impact' acquisition, and we'd still have a massive hole at backup power forward.

Now comes the tricky part; you've got a guy with a terrible history of shutting it down and being unable to complete a season, if he tanks again or goes on the shelf for an extended period you're now out your supposed go-to-guy and minus all of the players you gave up to get him ... not only that you're stuck with him because nobody would be so foolish as to trade anything of value for a busted down, overpaid, 30+ year old point guard with four years left on his contract.

People aren't opposed to Davis for the reasons you seem to think, most are opposed to Davis because there's a better than fifty percent chance he'll only be available for two-thirds of a season any given year.

 

Thanks BJM, It's nice to hear from knowledgeable fans who have actually seen Baron play and know more about him than the majority on this board. I think if Baron was surrounded with all the young talent we have and the potential to go deep into the playoffs he would be a big piece of the puzzle. He just doesn't come off as a Prima Dona when you watch him play. As far as him being into his films and off the court issues, think about all the publicity he would get if he was on a winning team going deep into the playoffs. Also I remember when he was at UCLA he was an above average defender. That will put him in the good grace's of Nate. The guy also is a freakish athlete in that he does things you would never expect him to do ( Like the dunk in the Dallas playoff series ). I remember him throwing it down and attacking the rim in his career.

Also, like you said, the guy lives for the big shot. He has been on so many crappy teams that he hasn't had the chance to really show what he could do if he were on a 55+ win team.

As far as injuries, I think in Portland he wouldn't have to play 40 plus minutes like he has in the past. I think with all of our depth we could keep his minutes down during the season and ramp them up in the playoffs. Also I think he is an inteligent human, being it BBIQ, Politics, his documentry on gang violence in LA. I have always thought he comes off as a very inteligent guy who uses his celebirty to talk about things he is involved with.

Not to bash on Outlaw, but really, does anybody really think he is a playoff caliber type who will ever do more than what he did this year in the playoffs ? Compare him to Joel, Pryz stepped up his game in the playoffs. We need more players who are vocal leaders as well as performers. We need more veterans who will get the call down the stretch because they are veterans and not Rookies or 2-3 yr type players. Face it, that is the way the NBA is ran, like it or not. Blake, Outlaw, maybe Rudy, Batum, Greg these guys are still young and they will not get the calls when we need them. Blake is maxed out as far as potential and if that is what you are getting, NO thanks. He would be a good B/U , but that is all he is.

I think it is very clear that Nate wants a vet PG, somebody who he can trust. It will be a long time till Bayless or any other rookie we draft is able to play the way Nate wants his PG to play. I bet the first thing he said to KP after we were knocked out and KP and Nate started talking about the season, Nate said get me a Vet PG !!

 

OK, time for a reality check.

Miller and Davis both came into the league the same season, so we have a nice level playing field to compare them.

For their careers:

APG are almost identical.
PPG - Davis has average 2.3 points higher, but with a much lower FG%.
Defense - Miller all the way.
Durability - Miller has averaged an amazing 81.5 games a season, while Davis has averaged 67.

Davis does have one big advantage over Miller - his skill at grabbing the spotlight! As I said before, I am less down on Davis than many people here....but claims that he is better than Miller are based on hype, not substance.

 

Seriously, comparing the two through stats. It's all about a system and what players fit in that system. It's not that I dislike Miller, it's just that he is a horrible fit with Brandon. Miller would be great with the 2nd unit because he could dish out dime's and not be counted on for offense.

Baron could play off of Roy and if he gets double-teamed he can kick it out to Davis, Webster, etc.

Disagree on defense, it's not that Baron is a great defender, It's that Miller's D is below average. I watched all of Philly's playoff games and zoomed in on Miller. Great mid-range, good penatrator but could NOT create his own shot and would give the ball up in the few minutes of the game. Like I said, great assist man, but BRoy is gonna have the ball in the 4th Q. So why would you have a horrible 3pt shooter and someone who can't create his own shot ??

That is what he is

 

If you look at Miller's career usage rate of 20 to 23 compared to Davis' rate of 25 to 30 I'm not sure where you're getting the notion that Davis would be able to play off-ball with Brandon. Furthermore Miller has already proved that he can coexist with a ball dominant wing in Andre Iguodala whose game bears a lot of similarities to Brandon's.

I have to ask, which Andre Miller are you watching? The only Andre Miller I'm aware of that plays in the NBA was assisted on 30% of his shots last season and has consistently been one of the best post-up guards in the league, not to mention he possesses the ability to penetrate and get to the rim and either finish at a high percentage or get fouled at a high percentage.

http://www.82games.com/0809/08PHI1.HTM
http://www.82games.com/0809/08LAC1.HTM

Go ahead and follow these links and tell me what it is that you are seeing that I'm not.

 

Fancy getting Baron Davis AND Ricky Rubio?

Davis + the #1 for ?

Part of it would simply be cap room, but the rest? Include Blake so the Clippers don't just have Taylor at PG. Hell, include all three of our current PGs. Throw in Outlaw. Buy Milwaukee's #10 pick and throw that in there.

Now I look at it, it doesn't look like we have enough, unless maybe Washington doesn't want its #5 and we can get it for Outlaw (and Blake?) and throw that in.

Here we go:

Portland gets:
Baron Davis plus $9M of contracts (Bell, Songaila, Pecherov) + THE NUMBER ONE PICK (our cap room covers the overflow)
gives up:
Outlaw, Bayless, Blake, Sergio, a shitload of picks, our caproom and some of PAM

Clippers get:
Ridnour (bleh, but short contract) and Sergio (could finally get to show his stuff), the #5 and the #10. Oh, and throw in $3M.
get rid of:
Baron Davis's humungous contract. Oh, and the #1 pick.

Wizards get:
Outlaw and Bayless (and throw in a second rounder or 4 plus $3M)
get rid of:
$5.6M of dead wood and the #5.

Bucks get:
Steve Blake (again! But this time Skiles is coaching) plus the #24 and maybe some PAM too.
get rid of:
Ridnour and Bell ($9.8M) - that means they clear at least $5M off their cap which they're desparate to do to sign Sessions or Villenueva. (Blake is insurance in case they lose Sessions). Oh, and the #10 pick - they also save money by dropping 14 places in the draft.

I know, I know, too complicated ever to happen. But it sort of makes sense to everyone.
Portland: Get Rubio (might even get something out of swapping with Memphis so they get Griffin - could include that as a sweetener for the other teams) who can grow behind Davis. Bring over Koponen as third PG.
Clippers: unload Davis, get servicable PGs (I bet Clippers fans would love Sergio) and still get the #5 and #10 - they actually need volume of players rather than players at one particular position.
Washington: they want to reload to win now. Outlaw could be a very valuable scorer, and they might not've got a better player at #5 than Bayless.
Bucks: want to offload their pick to save salary to re-sign RFAs. Voila!

Hey, KP's done more complicated maneuvers before...

 

Why in God's name would the Clippers do all that wrangling to unload Davis and also give up Rubio? Secondly, why would Rubio pay his huge buyout to come over if he was going to be stuck behind Davis, and Thirdly, this obsession with B-diddy isn't healthy

 

Absolutely not.