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Just got confirmation from the Warriors: Baron Davis, the man who led Golden State to its first playoff berth in 13 seasons, has opted out from the final year of his deal, passing up $17.8 million in order to gain his freedom after talks about an extension went pretty much nowhere.

Where do you think he ends up? I don't think GS will sign him for more, so he's probably on the move.

Now i'm dreaming here, but wouldn't it be awesome if we could sign Davis to the FULL MLE? (Forget about Posey for now..)
He is really close friends with Paul Pierce and the rest of the guys, and has always said that he wanted to play with Paul. I don't know if a ring is Baron's goal, or if he is looking for cash, but if it's the former, he couldn't find a better place than bean town. Of course, this would be a HUGE pay cut, as he was due to make nearly 18 million. But then again, why would you throw away 18 million? It's either A) you want more money or more years, or B) you're unhappy with your team/coach. To me it's very unlikely that Baron would be able to get A) from many teams, unless he joins J-rich on the Bobcats. SO he must be unhappy with Don Nelson and his perceived future on the team.

Just a guess but I am going to imagine that Baron and his agent just saw Arenas get a 6 years and 100 mil after knee surgery and they said they have to find out what is out there.

I think this about money and not the MLE.

Beyond that GS can't just let him walk anyhow, they didn't want to give him an extension they were obviously going to try and deal him and his huge expiring deal. He is good enough to get paid still force them to make a trade that gets 50-75 mil instead.

Yeah, I figured as much about the money. But It'd be amazing to have him in Boston. He's one of my favorite players in the league. Maybe after this next contract is up, he'll start chasing rings. If he walks from GS, they'd have a ton of capspace, but it may be easier to do a sign and trade for a FA, rather than go after FAs without any idea of what you are going to get.

He's good friends with PP (supposedly). Who knows if he'd be willing, but PP should be working the phones.

Given his age and consistent injury history, other teams may be reluctant to offer anything long term. Perhaps he is willing to take the full MLE in exchange for a long-term contract? I would not personally be willing to give Posey a long-term contract, but as key as Posey was last season he is not nor will ever be the kind of talented player that Baron Davis is.

How about we get Baron, Posey and Brand to split the mid-level instead?

KG/Perk
Brand/Powe
Pierce/Posey
Ray/Giddens
Baron/Rondo

/Knick fans

If Paul Pierce were to somehow convince Baron to come here for the M L E. Then he should have his number retired right now.

No way he comes here for the MLE. Like said above, he saw the arenas offer, and said, hey, I can get more then that. And he will.

threrf23 wrote:He's good friends with PP (supposedly). Who knows if he'd be willing, but PP should be working the phones.

There isn't any supposedly... They are real life friends and I believe you can go as far to say they're childhood friends both being California natives. Hence, why Davis preferred not to leave Golden State. But, he was delusional in believing he could ever win a NBA championship with the Warriors in the immediate future. He'd to opt out with negotiations not going well from what I'd read from before. Even though, Boston previously had an interest in trading for Davis back before they would eventually acquire Ray Allen. The Celtics have as much of a chance of signing Brand (who has opted out too) as Davis which is doubtful and no. Rumor had it that Detroit has an interest in Davis but that was I think involving a possibly trade of their own Billups for him.

It would be interesting to see Davis return to the eastern conference. He and Pierce could've some classic duels if he signs with the Pistons and they move Billups.

Personally, I'm fine with a young Rondo as Boston's starting point guard. Because Davis will come with a high price tag for whichever team signs him and he isn't getting any younger and is injury prone.

The Celtics don't need Baron Davis. The chemistry is great right now why screw it up? I remember when everyone who screaming for Sam Cassell, how did that turn out? Baron Davis would need his shots.

By the way, Davis isn't going to walk away from $17.8 million to sign for $5.8 million. He is looking to get paid one final BIG contract.

He is mad at GS so I'm guessing he signs with LA Clippers after they let Maggette go elsewhere.

im quite happy with a possible future all star and a definite candidate for future DPOY races in rondo thanks

that being said, no supposedly to it as bonsai said, pierce and b diddy ARE very good friends, more than the usual "im friends with this guy i met because were both nba players" or "i met this guy playing all star camps in HS"

you could do some research on the near BFFs pretty easily

all starts with inglewood

Honestly, **** this idea. We just won an NBA title with Rondo as the starting PG. Do you really want to kill the confidence of our franchise PG for the next 10+ years so we can bring in Baron Davis to take over his spot? This is **** nonsense...

Don't get me wrong, I like Davis. This is just a horrible idea.

Bove, this is a slim chance Rondo will ever be as good as Baron Davis is now. It wouldn't kill his confidence to come off the bench, it'd make him a more dangerous player. But I tell you what, if were do by some stroke of extreme luck end up with Davis, he and Rondo can Roller-duel for the starting spot.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fDlaVqVz17g

Wanting Rondo over Baron Davis is kind of like wanting Big Al over Garnett. The difference is that Davis is older, has chronic injury trouble (his back, right?), can be kind of a chucker, and is fat. But if you could get him for the MLE, you'd have to do it.

We'd probably have to trade Ray Allen to make the numbers work, either to GS or in a 3-team deal where we get Baron Davis.

There are teams with expiring contracts (Portland, New York) that can offer the Warriors more attractive packages.

On the off chance that, because of his injury and effort issues, we could get Davis for the MLE, he could play with Rondo in a 2-point guard lineup - and it might open up trade possibilities for Ray Allen. Hate to reward the guy for his season with a ticket out of town, but Davis/Pierce/Kirilenko/Garnett/Perkins would be a better offensive and defensive unit than we have now. Which is saying something.

He and Pierce also do that annual charity event in California that was formerly ran by "Magic" Johnson.

Another reason I see no chance nor a point in going after Davis, if I'm Ainge, is that you've a young point guard in Rondo that you traded away two other players, Telfair and West, to further show your confidence in him to run a team. Rondo has helped the Celtics win a NBA championship and proved his detractors wrong. Not to mention, Ainge has said or all but said that Pruitt will get a strong look next season to see what they have in him as a player and potential back up point guard.

Ainge has priorities elsewhere. He has no time to get sidetracked for a player that isn't necessarily at the top of his to do list. That should be Posey.

andy582 wrote:On the off chance that, because of his injury and effort issues, we could get Davis for the MLE, he could play with Rondo in a 2-point guard lineup - and it might open up trade possibilities for Ray Allen. Hate to reward the guy for his season with a ticket out of town, but Davis/Pierce/Kirilenko/Garnett/Perkins would be a better offensive and defensive unit than we have now. Which is saying something.

Didn't Boston already do so with Cassell? That is, he was rewarded by being a part of a championship team despite showing loyalty initially to the Clippers. He could've stuck it out but, instead, jumped ship in favor of a ring. If it didn't matter to him where he went beyond the Clippers. He would've signed with Denver this season not Boston.

I thought Kirilenko was with Utah. Damn. Ainge is fast. The ninth of July hasn't even gotten here, yet.

ummm, no.
baron is a me-first, shoot-first player.

pierce is buddies with brand as well... Sign and trade scal for brand, lol

...Baron ain't signing for the MLE...he opted out to force a sign and trade-my guess is he'll end up in Miami in exchange for Shawn Marion...

People seem to think that - I'm not saying we could sign Baron for the MLE - but people here seem to think that signing him for the MLE would mean we would have to get rid of Rondo.

I can't believe how much you guys underrate Baron Davis. Now, I don't think we are going to get him, but if he was our starting point guard we would absolutely annihilate teams. Baron Davis has amazing talent, and we would have 4 all-stars starting. He would have a ton of assists, and the way he can drive to the basket would open things up for our team even more-so.