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Authored by Christopher Reina - 1st July, 2008 - 10:18 pm
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“..It was savage.”
This was the quote Warriors’ radio play-by-play announcer blurted out when Baron Davis completed his famous dunk on Andrei Kirilenko during the 2007 Playoffs.
Baron’s three and a half year run in Golden State was certainly that, and as quickly as he became the most important member of the Warriors since Rick Barry, he flees to his hometown of Los Angeles in a cycle just under 24 hours.
The Warriors were 142-132 with Baron, and in the four and a half years before he arrived they had only won 129 games.
We will see what comes out over the next few days because both sides will have very different angles and do a ton of talking.
Was it the lowball extension offer where he'd only pick up an additional two seasons?
I suggested here in a piece I wrote for the Oakland Tribune back in late April that a front-loaded contract where Baron would make $17.8 million in 08-09 and then decrease his annual salary by $1.8 million each following season, a decrease of 10.5 percent, the maximum allowable under CBA rules would be the best solution for keeping Baron with the Warriors.
This was a suggestion that presumed keeping Baron when he was well into his 30s was something the Warriors were entertaining. Did the Warriors not even want Baron around beyond 08-09 at all?
There will be a lot of spin, but this appears to be a simple equation of Baron wanting to work in Los Angeles and maximize his star potential there.
He very well could end up doing for the Clippers what he did for the Warriors: make them a primary attraction in a town where they have been overlooked for years. He was Golden State's savior, and doing that in L.A. for the Clippers must have presented an irresistible level of temptation.
The Clippers will continue to be the JV team of the Staples Center, but their games will become events due to Baron’s style of play and charisma.
But how good will the Clippers be over the length of his five-year contract?
They went on a lengthy playoff run during the 05-06 season, barely missed the playoffs in 06-07, and then were decimated by injuries last year.
Baron Davis, Elton Brand, and Chris Kaman make up a nice big three, but there is little else surrounding them, and Golden State’s core is decidedly younger and more talented. It is a stretch to imagine the 08-09 Clippers winning 48 games and being anything more than a fringe playoff team.
This deal brings relevance and a chance to the Clippers but little more than that.
Maybe Eric Gordon becomes Monta Ellis with a 3-point shot as his running mate?
Maybe Al Thornton blossoms into a non-defense playing Steven Jackson?
Most importantly, maybe Elton Brand is finally discussed among the league’s best players?
But, I believe his best chance at playing meaningful basketball would have been staying with the Warriors and either letting the young core develop or consolidating that core to make a play at an All-Star big the way they attempted to do for Kevin Garnett.
Or, he could have simply joined the Lakers for the mid-level exception. He would have essentially been guaranteed a title sometime over the next few years and could have parlayed playing in front of that Staples Center crowd into a successful post-basketball career to make a large portion of that money back.
The Clippers are a half measure, but I certainly don’t blame him for it, and I commend Mike Dunleavy/Elgin Bayor/Neil Olshey/Donald Sterling for taking advantage of the opportunity at a relatively reasonable price.
Grade for Baron: B-
Grade for Clippers: A
For the Warriors, they are really left with nothing but cap room, which isn’t the worst thing in the world.
Signing the injury-prone Gilbert Arenas to a max deal would be a short-sighted reactionary move and fortunately not something that is probable.
They have a great young core, and Baron simply divorced himself this summer instead of next summer.
But how will this supposedly great young core look when they are not getting the wide open shots that a Baron Davis creates?
Monta Ellis looks extremely legit as a scoring combo guard, but he doesn’t look nearly as magical when he’s not paired beside Baron. Finding an elite point guard, or even a starting caliber one is extremely difficult and is practically impossible this offseason.
They will be a lottery team next season, and maybe they get lucky with a Ricky Rubio or Brandon Jennings.
What hurts about Baron leaving is not that he’s gone, but the manner in which he left because they were unable to even recoup value for him via a sign-and-trade.
A week ago we read Geoff Lepper’s article about a possible trade with the Pistons for Chauncey Billups and Rasheed Wallace and were thinking that would be an interesting trade regardless of whether Baron wanted to stay or not.
That option isn’t there; signing a Josh Smith is unlikely, and signing a Ben Gordon or trading for a Kirk Hinrich is doable but would be ill advised.
Stare downs are risky and don’t always turn out right, but the Warriors at least made the correct move in not handing over the franchise to Baron.
Grade for Warriors: C+ |
