Baron Davis
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| Position | Point guard |
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| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Weight | 215 lb (98 kg) |
| League | NBA |
| Team | Golden State Warriors |
| Jersey | #5 |
| Born | April 13, 1979 Los Angeles, California |
| Nationality | American |
| College | UCLA |
| Draft | 3rd overall, 1999 Charlotte Hornets |
| Pro career | 1999–present |
| Former teams | Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets (1999–2005) |
| Awards | Two-time All-Star Playstation Skills Challenge Third Team All-NBA 2003-2004 |
| Official profile | Info Page |
Baron Walter Louis Davis (born April 13, 1979 in Los Angeles, California) is a professional basketball player currently playing at point guard for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association. Davis became a star at Crossroads School and UCLA. Baron was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets as the number three pick in the 1999 NBA Draft.
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[edit] Early life
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Davis's grandmother and guardian, Lela Nicholson, was instrumental in pushing him to play basketball. With her encouragement, he eventually earned a basketball scholarship to play at Crossroads School, a prestigious private school in Santa Monica, California, where he rubbed elbows with the children of some of California's elite (his classmate was actress Kate Hudson).[1]
At Crossroads School, the charismatic Davis became a budding star, growing a surprising five inches between his sophomore and junior seasons, going from 5'10" (1.78 m) to 6'3" (1.91 m) in that span.[citation needed] Now able to dunk the basketball, Davis used his trademark explosiveness and skills to rack up numerous honors on the basketball court, including leading his team to the Championship over perennial prep powerhouse Christ The King High School (Queens, New York) at the prestigious Beach Ball Classic tournament in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. While also being named Gatorade Player of the Year and a Parade All-American, perhaps the highlight of his season was his selection to the prestigious McDonald's All-American High School Basketball Game in 1997 (where he won the Slam Dunk Contest despite being the shortest player in the competition), playing with future NBA players Elton Brand, Shane Battier, Larry Hughes and Ron Artest. The summer before his freshman season Baron was selected as a member of the USA Basketball Junior Select Team preparing to compete in the Hoop Summit game. In a 97-90 victory over an International Select Team, he tallied nine points and five assists.
[edit] College career
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This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2008) |
After a highly contested recruiting battle that saw Kansas, Georgia Tech and UCLA (among other schools) in hot pursuit for his services, Davis selected UCLA as his school of choice, so that he could play in front of his family and friends. During this time, Davis was involved in a minor scandal pertaining to his driving a 1991 Chevy Blazer that was a gift from his sister, then a UCLA employee. The car was sold to her by a member of Jim Harrick's family. At the time, Harrick was the UCLA men's basketball coach, presenting both a conflict of interest and a potential recruiting violation, since rumor had it that the car was purchased below market value. The incident was cleared up when it was discovered that Davis's sister had, in fact, bought the car at the listed blue-book price. Davis then enrolled at UCLA in 1997 without problem. In 1998, Davis was named the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and made the All-American Third Team by his sophomore year in 1999.[2]
In Davis's two years at UCLA, he averaged 13.6 points and 5.1 assists for the Bruins. While coming down from a dunk during an NCAA Tournament game his freshman year, he injured his knee and tore his Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Surprisingly, though, he made a full recovery the next season and seemed to have regained nearly all of the speed, quickness, and explosiveness he had before the injury while doing enough on the basketball court to warrant his declaring for the 1999 NBA Draft after his sophomore campaign.
[edit] NBA career
[edit] Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets
Davis was the third pick in the 1999 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets. In his NBA debut, a 100-86 win over the Orlando Magic, Baron scored nine points, and added five rebounds, two assists and two steals. In Davis's first year, he backed up Eddie Jones and David Wesley, but by Davis's second year he started all 82 games for the Hornets. Davis would lead Charlotte to the second round of the playoffs in back-to-back years, the first being a sweep of the Miami Heat in the 2001 NBA Playoffs and the next year defeating the Orlando Magic. In the summer of 2002 the Charlotte Hornets moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. Davis would lead the Hornets back to the playoffs, but the next two years were first round exits. Injuries would plague Davis for much of his tenure in New Orleans, although he made the NBA All-Star teams in 2002 and 2004.
He played for the US national team in the 2002 FIBA World Championship.[3]
[edit] Warriors
On February 24, 2005, Davis was traded from the Hornets to the Golden State Warriors for guard Speedy Claxton and veteran forward Dale Davis after tension with the Hornets coaching staff and several nagging injuries. The move created one of the more potent backcourts in the NBA with Davis and star guard Jason Richardson. It also saw Davis's return to California where he craved to return to since his college days in UCLA.
After two seasons in which the Warriors underachieved under coach Mike Montgomery, the Warriors hired former coach Don Nelson for the 2006-2007 season. His high scoring offensive system was designed to fit Davis uptempo style. Although Davis suffered through knee soreness and underwent surgery during the season, he still led the Warriors to their first playoffs since 1994. The Warriors swept the regular season series against the Mavericks 3-0 giving them an advantage and won the series against the top seeded Dallas Mavericks 4-2, making them the 1st No. 8 seed to beat a No.1 seed since the NBA changed the 1st round from a 5-game series to a 7-game series. It was numerically the largest upset in the history of the NBA playoffs, with the 67-15 Mavericks having a record of 25 games better than the 42-40 Warriors. Davis averaged 25 points in the series. In the following series, against the Utah Jazz, the Warriors' run ended in 5 games.
Baron Davis's performance in the 2007 NBA Playoffs has drawn praise from basketball analysts and fans alike, with a few claiming Davis to be the best player in the post-season.[4] Davis's playoff highlights included numerous acrobatic layups, a half-court three-pointer at the buzzer, and a memorable dunk over Andrei Kirilenko.[5] In fact, Davis's one-handed jam over Kirilenko occupied half, or five of the top ten plays, on ESPN's SportsCenter that evening. Yet, the Utah Jazz eliminated the undersized Warriors 4 games to 1.[6] Davis averaged 25.3 points, 6.5 assists, 2.9 steals, and 4.5 rebounds per game in the 2007 Playoffs.[7]
After the 2007-2008 season, in which he failed to guide the Warriors to the playoffs, Baron Davis' agent Todd Ramasar claimed that he may opt out of his current contract, that would pay him $17.8 million, to pursue other options.[8] This was seen as an alleged rift was growing between Davis and coach Don Nelson, with Nelson pulling Davis out of one of the last games of the 2007-2008 season while fighting for a playoff spot, due to Davis shooting 2-13 in the first half.[9]
[edit] Profile
Davis is an all-purpose point guard who can score, pass and drive the lane. In addition, Baron is one of the more powerful point guards in the league, allowing him to grab and secure rebounds, and then advance up the court. His physical strength, scoring ability, and playmaking skills make him a seldom seen triple-double threat. While Davis is an above-average passer and play maker, he is also seen as a shoot-first type of player, with statistically low shooting percentages and seen as having a poor shot selection.[10] In the last few years, Davis has attempted 7.1 three point shots per game, while only making 32.5% of them. The biggest knock on Davis has been his injury problems, which have caused him to miss 115 games over the last four years — despite not missing a single game his first two seasons. During the 2005-2006 season, Davis was limited to 54 games with several injuries. Despite the injuries he collected nearly 9 assists per game, second best in the NBA. However, Davis managed to stay healthy at the end of the 06-07 season through the Warriors playoff run. His terrific play continued into the 07-08 season, unfortunatley as a team they did not make the playoffs. Surprisingly, Davis was able to play every single game during the season. Davis recorded a career-high 19 assists on January 11, 2008.
[edit] Other
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- Baron Davis is the godfather to Harlem Caron Taylor, the son of rapper The Game. The Game rapped about this relationship[11] on his song "Like Father, Like Son" on his debut 2005 album, The Documentary.
- He played basketball at Crossroads high school with Cash Warren, movie producer and husband to Jessica Alba.
- Davis played with former UCLA teammate Matt Barnes on his current Warriors team.
- He is currently working on the recent independent film "Made in America" as the movie producer, Davis distinguished himself beyond the court. Aside from keeping busy as a NBA superstar and movie producer, Davis and high school buddy Cash Warren, formed a production company called Verso Entertainment.[12] Through this collaboration, they also became one of the founders of IBeatYou, a social competition site designed to pit members of the community against one another.
- Baron Davis is a member of the Screen Actor's Guild. He earned his membership by appearing in movies such as "The Cookout" and guest-starring on the ABC Family show, "Lincoln Heights".[13]
[edit] References
- ^ Baron Davis Bio. Baron Davis official website.
- ^ Emmons, Mark. "Warriors' leader Baron Davis has a Hollywood story", San Jose Mercury News, 2007-05-06. Archived from the original on 2007-05-09.
- ^ USA Basketball: Men's World Championship Team History -- 2002. Archived from the original on 2007-07-14.
- ^ Kerr, Steve (May 12, 2007). Greatest playoff show on earth?. NBA Experts Blog. Yahoo! Sports.
- ^ Baron Davis slams over Andrei Kirilenko!. YouTube. (uploaded by NBA.com).
- ^ NBA Basketball 2007 Playoffs. CBSSports.com.
- ^ Baron Davis Info Page. NBA.com.
- ^ RealGM: Wiretap Archives: Agent Says Baron May Opt Out
- ^ http://www.basketballpass.com/golden-state-warriors/don-nelson-vs-baron-davis/
- ^ http://hoopshype.com/players/baron_davis.htm
- ^ XXL Magazine | Features | 2005 | April | The Game
- ^ McKinley, Jesse. "He Shoots! He Scores! He Makes Movies!", The New York Times, 2008-02-24. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
- ^ NBA.com Baron Davis’ Setting the Screen
[edit] External links
- Baron Davis - official site
- Baron Davis - Social Competition site
- Baron Davis's MySpace
- Baron Davis - Blog
- Player Profile @ NBA.com
- Baron Davis player profile at ESPN.com
- Baron Davis at the Internet Movie Database
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