<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">OAKLAND - Between the swollen left knee of the Warriors' Baron Davis, the painful left foot of the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets' Chris Paul and the various irritable body parts of the Los Angeles Clippers' Sam Cassell, the race for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot may turn into a literal battle of attrition. Is it a case of whichever point guard stays the healthiest for the longest clinches a postseason berth? "It's probably going to be like that," Warriors guard Jason Richardson. "They're all hurt. Sam's still playing, Chris Paul's still playing, Baron's still playing. It's pretty much who can fight through it. If I had to bet, I'd bet on Baron. He's going to get there (to the end)." Cassell has been on the bench for nine of the Clippers' 13 games his month with groin, abdominal and, most recently, back ailments. Paul has not yet missed any games due to the stress reaction in his left foot, but he no longer practices and will need a screw surgically implanted in his foot after the season. Davis, of course, is gimping around on a knee that underwent an arthroscopic cleanup procedure on Feb. 13. Warriors coach Don Nelson isn't necessarily buying the premise, pointing out that the Clippers had won four straight through the weekend despite the absence not only of Cassell but also young Shaun Livingston, who was being groomed to take over for Cassell before absolutely shredding his left knee last month. "I think the Clippers are playing their best ball and Sam hasn't been in," Nelson said. "The guy they picked up (Jason Hart, late of the Sacramento Kings) has really helped them." But even though the Clippers might be able to survive without their top two quarterbacks, it's been abundantly clear since Davis' return on March 5 how much he means to the Warriors. Heading into Monday's game against the San Antonio Spurs, the Warriors had won seven of their last nine games with Davis, and lost badly in Portland the one time he sat out. Despite the back-to-back situation, Davis played 20 minutes in the first half Monday against the Spurs, second on the team behind only Stephen Jackson. "I couldn't imagine playing on it," said Richardson, who went through similar problems after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery of his own on Aug. 22. "It shows his willingness to play through and help this team win, especially when it's coming to crunch time at the end of the season. He's in the training room night and day." Said Warriors forward Matt Barnes: "He just has something that needs time to heal. And he has no time right now."</div> Source
Davis is/was hurt, again? No waiii! I love Baron Davis' heart. He's so key to this team, yet realistically we'd probably only expect 60 or so games a year from him.
<div class="quote_poster">custodianrules2 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Davis is/was hurt, again? No waiii! I love Baron Davis' heart. He's so key to this team, yet realistically we'd probably only expect 60 or so games a year from him.</div> It's probably more like 40-50 games of Baron at 100% and 20-10 games of Baron maybe below 85% or so... It's tough trying to win enough with his health sketchiness, especially if he's the main player for the team. What to do? I am not sure. It's up to Mullin for me these days. He understands Baron's potential trade value, I'd imagine, better than me.
Yeah, I think if he's a key in a trade that brings you a legit non-undersized frontline player, you have to make that deal. The Warriors are a worse team when Baron is not on the court, but I don't see him ever leading them to a championship or deep playoff run either. As Clif said, he's only playing fewer than 50 games at 100% as it is, and each year he's only going to get older. His injury problems seem to be chronic and if anything they'll get worse, not better. If a great deal isn't there, then you keep him, but I'd be making calls.
Well, I'm a huge fan of Boom Dizzle. I don't care what people say -- I know he has his shortcomings -- health, outside shooting, occaisionally attitude -- but EVERYONE has their shortcomings, and you have to weigh their pros and cons, and in Baron's case he has SINGLE-HANDEDLY won games for this team all year. Dropping 34 pts, 15 ast, 9 reb, and 4 stl against Washington, when it was a make-or-break game, I mean that was pure willpower. He's awesome. With that said, what the Warriors have is GUARDS -- what they don't have is any POWER FORWARDS (besides Powell but Nellie refuses to play him at the PF for some mind-boggling reason). Harrington is flat-footed, can't rebound well, and will never block a shots. He is an awesome outside shooter, so he should play SF instead. If the Warriors could get Gasol for Baron, then I'd have to do it (as long as Nellie plays him alongside Beans and not one at a time).
<div class="quote_poster">AlleyOop Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Well, I'm a huge fan of Boom Dizzle. I don't care what people say -- I know he has his shortcomings -- health, outside shooting, occaisionally attitude -- but EVERYONE has their shortcomings, and you have to weigh their pros and cons, and in Baron's case he has SINGLE-HANDEDLY won games for this team all year. Dropping 34 pts, 15 ast, 9 reb, and 4 stl against Washington, when it was a make-or-break game, I mean that was pure willpower. He's awesome. With that said, what the Warriors have is GUARDS -- what they don't have is any POWER FORWARDS (besides Powell but Nellie refuses to play him at the PF for some mind-boggling reason). Harrington is flat-footed, can't rebound well, and will never block a shots. He is an awesome outside shooter, so he should play SF instead. If the Warriors could get Gasol for Baron, then I'd have to do it (as long as Nellie plays him alongside Beans and not one at a time).</div> Yeah Gasol, KG, and players along those lines are the types of players I'd expect the Warriors to get if they decided to trade Baron. It would be rather pointless to do a Jamison type of deal with Baron just to get rid of cap space since his contract expires soon. But I would definitley look into trading for a Gasol or KG.
