Re: Warriors best say no to Davis' demand <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>SURPRISE ME, Baron Davis. Surprise all of us. This would be a good time to do something above and beyond your NBA reputation, which, let's face it, still hovers slightly above Ron Artest and Danny Ainge, and below Rasheed Wallace and Kobe Bryant. This would be the perfect time to silently back off of any hard-line demand for a three-year, $60million-plus extension through 2011-12 and to understand that the $34million the Warriors already have committed to you over the next two seasons is not poverty-level. This would be the ideal time to shock me and every other cynical soul currently assuming that we've already started another Boom Dizzle Nuclear Countdown. Can you do that, Baron? Can you respect the Warriors' financial restraints, embrace a big-picture future, keep going under Don Nelson, and accept much less money for a much shorter period? Can you do all that without letting your frustration build, without blowing off your summer workouts, without plotting against management and without screwing up every good thing you, Nelson and the Warriors accomplished over the final 10 weeks of the season? I wonder. I really wonder. The intriguing thing is that the calmer and healthier you are over the next season, the more you'll prove that you deserve that eventual extension. See how that works? Let's flip this around: Chris Mullin has to do something surprising, too. Mullin knows the league remains full of loud Davis critics who assume his stubbornness, fragility and contract demands will always outpace his performance. I'm not one of those doubters, but I understand that the stunts Davis pulled with Team USA during the 2002 world championships and in New Orleans under Byron Scott are as much a part of his resume as the recent 10 weeks of revelatory basketball. This is how unpopular he remains among the NBA powers: They could have named 100 new members of Team USA last week, and Davis still wouldn't have made it. Everybody in the league knew the truth, even Davis. Mullin, a quiet rebel himself, loves having Davis on his team winning games, knocking around softer stars, challenging his teammates and thumbing his nose at the league establishment. Mullin reveled in the Warriors' playoff run and the adrenaline it shot into this recently dormant franchise. Plus, Mullin has quite a history of doling out massive contracts. But Mullin also should know that he can't logically give Davis a major extension this summer, even if it changes the wonderful chemistry of the team. Davis is too risky, and the Warriors have to pay Andris Biedrins and Monta Ellis large cash by next season (unless they trade one or both). First, the Warriors have Davis under contract for at least one more season — Davis can opt out in the summer of 2008, when he would be 29 — so there's no pressure now, when Davis is at his peak negotiating strength. Davis might have as much an impact as Steve Nash, but unlike Nash, Davis is injury-prone and not known for keeping in the best of shape between seasons. In his final three Dallas campaigns, Nash played in 82, 82 and 78 regular-season games. In his past three seasons, Davis has played in 46, 54 and 63 regular-season games; he probably will never play in as many as 70 again. And if Davis opts out next summer, there won't be many teams far enough under the salary cap to sign him outright for $18million to $20million a year, and fewer still that will want to. For Davis to cash out next summer, it's likely the Warriors will either be the team that pays him or the team that arranges a sign-and-trade for him. Either way: no clear reason to re-up him now. And if he wants to walk away next summer, say, to the Lakers or Knicks for the midlevel salary-cap exception — $14million per season less than he'd be asking of the Warriors — fine, he can be the first NBA superstar ever to do that. So what's the market force that impels the Warriors to give Davis the big deal this summer? It's his mood. That's it. Baron's mood, and the craving to keep this season's run going into next season. You don't hand out $64million, on top of $34million already owed, just to prevent a meltdown. You pay that to somebody who has proven he can lead at any price.</div> http://www.insidebayarea.com/warriors/ci_6019051
Re: Warriors best say no to Davis' demand Boy, I hope he pulls a Bonzi Wells and ends up going somewhere for the MLE. I would laugh.
Re: Warriors best say no to Davis' demand Baron Davis having a great contract year and demanding a ridiculous amount of money? Nooooo...
Re: Warriors best say no to Davis' demand <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CelticBalla32 @ Jun 1 2007, 02:21 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Baron Davis having a great contract year and demanding a ridiculous amount of money? Nooooo...</div>Oh come on CB32, he's just doing this because he's typically a great player. It's not like he would play harder for a contract. That's ridiculous.
Re: Warriors best say no to Davis' demand This is BS. The NBA is a business and players ask for what they think they're worth. If he thinks he's worth that maximum dollar extension and thinks he can get it elsewhere, then he shouldn't cheat himself to please anyone.
Re: Warriors best say no to Davis' demand <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Mobruler @ Jun 1 2007, 04:54 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>This is BS. The NBA is a business and players ask for what they think they're worth. If he thinks he's worth that maximum dollar extension and thinks he can get it elsewhere, then he shouldn't cheat himself to please anyone.</div>Some team (Golden State) shouldn't screw themselves just to get some player that is consistently injured and might be able to lead a team. Maybe.
Re: Warriors best say no to Davis' demand Well of course. Both parties should do what is best for them. If Davis can get something that makes him happier on the opehn market and Golden State isn't comfortable with matching it, then that's what should happen.
