Baron Davis
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| Position | Point guard |
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| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Weight | 214 lb (97.1 kg) |
| League | NBA |
| Team | Los Angeles Clippers |
| Jersey | #1 |
| 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) Golden State Warriors (2005–2008) |
| 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 an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Los Angeles Clippers. Davis became a star at Crossroads School and UCLA. Davis was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets as the third pick in the 1999 NBA Draft.
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[edit] Early life
Davis' 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]
As a senior at Crossroads, Davis led his team to the Championship of The Beach Ball Classic tournament in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina over perennial prep powerhouse Christ The King Regional High School (Queens, New York), while earning MVP honors and a spot on the All-Tournament team along with future St. John's standout Erick Barkley at that prestigious event. That year, Davis was also named Gatorade National Player of the Year and a Parade All-American. He was also selected to play in the prestigious McDonald's All-American High School Basketball Game in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1997, playing with future NBA players Elton Brand, Shane Battier, Larry Hughes and Ron Artest, and winning the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest despite being the smallest man in the competition at 6'2".[2]
[edit] College career
After a highly contested recruiting battle that saw Kansas, Georgia Tech, Duke, and UCLA 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' 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.[3]
In Davis' 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[4].
[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, Davis scored nine points, and added five rebounds, two assists and two steals. In Davis' first year, he backed up Eddie Jones and David Wesley, but by Davis' 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 from Charlotte, North Carolina 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.[5]
[edit] Golden State 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[6]. The move created one of the more potent backcourts in the NBA with Davis and star guard Jason Richardson. It also saw Davis' 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's 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.
Davis's performance in the 2007 NBA Playoffs drew praise from basketball analysts and fans alike[who?], with a few claiming Davis to be the best player in the post-season.[7] Davis' playoff highlights included numerous acrobatic layups, a half-court three-pointer at the buzzer, and a memorable dunk over Andrei Kirilenko. The Jazz eliminated the undersized Warriors 4 games to 1.[8] Davis averaged 25.3 points, 6.5 assists, 2.9 steals, and 4.5 rebounds per game in the 2007 Playoffs.[9]
After the 2007-2008 season, in which Davis failed to guide the Warriors to the playoffs, Davis's agent Todd Ramasar claimed that Davis might opt out of his contract with the Warriors, which would have paid him $17.8 million, to pursue other options.[10] This was seen as evidence of a rift between Davis and coach Don Nelson growing after Nelson pulled Davis from a playoff elimination game against the Phoenix Suns due to Davis's poor playing and shooting (2-13 in 17 minutes; the Warriors were down 14 points when Davis left the game, losing by 6).[11][unreliable source?] [12] [13] On June 30, 2008, Davis opted out of his contract with the Golden State Warriors.[14]
[edit] Los Angeles Clippers
On July 1, 2008 Davis verbally agreed to a 5-year, $65 million dollar deal to play for the Los Angeles Clippers[15], and officially signed with the Clippers on July 10, 2008. [16] Although Davis committed to joining the Clippers with the intention of playing with Elton Brand (who had opted out of his contract but was expected to re-sign with the Clippers but later signed with the Philadelphia 76ers) Davis still signed and said that Brand's departure had no impact on his decision to come to Los Angeles.[17]
[edit] NBA career statistics
| Legend | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
[edit] Regular season
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999–00 | Charlotte | 82 | 0 | 18.6 | .420 | .225 | .634 | 2.0 | 3.8 | 1.2 | .2 | 5.9 |
| 2000–01 | Charlotte | 82 | 82 | 38.9 | .427 | .310 | .677 | 5.0 | 7.3 | 2.1 | .4 | 13.8 |
| 2001–02 | Charlotte | 82 | 82 | 40.5 | .417 | .356 | .580 | 4.3 | 8.5 | 2.1 | .6 | 18.1 |
| 2002–03 | New Orleans | 50 | 47 | 37.8 | .416 | .350 | .710 | 3.7 | 6.4 | 1.8 | .4 | 17.1 |
| 2003–04 | New Orleans | 67 | 66 | 40.1 | .395 | .321 | .673 | 4.3 | 7.5 | 2.4 | .4 | 22.9 |
| 2004–05 | New Orleans | 18 | 13 | 32.9 | .366 | .321 | .771 | 3.7 | 7.2 | 1.7 | .2 | 18.9 |
| 2004–05 | Golden State | 28 | 19 | 35.3 | .401 | .341 | .755 | 3.9 | 8.3 | 1.8 | .4 | 19.5 |
| 2005–06 | Golden State | 54 | 48 | 36.5 | .389 | .315 | .675 | 4.4 | 8.9 | 1.6 | .3 | 17.9 |
| 2006–07 | Golden State | 63 | 62 | 35.3 | .439 | .304 | .745 | 4.4 | 8.1 | 2.1 | .5 | 20.1 |
| 2007–08 | Golden State | 82 | 82 | 39.0 | .426 | .330 | .750 | 4.7 | 7.6 | 2.3 | .5 | 21.8 |
| Career | 608 | 501 | 35.5 | .414 | .325 | .692 | 4.1 | 7.2 | 2.0 | .4 | 17.1 | |
| All-Star | 2 | 0 | 14.5 | .286 | .111 | .000 | .5 | 6.0 | .5 | .0 | 4.5 |
[edit] Playoffs
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999–00 | Charlotte | 4 | 0 | 14.3 | .435 | .167 | .500 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.0 | .0 | 5.8 |
| 2000–01 | Charlotte | 10 | 10 | 39.7 | .480 | .400 | .714 | 4.4 | 5.8 | 2.8 | .5 | 17.8 |
| 2001–02 | Charlotte | 9 | 9 | 44.6 | .378 | .339 | .597 | 7.0 | 7.9 | 3.6 | .6 | 22.6 |
| 2002–03 | New Orleans | 5 | 5 | 38.8 | .446 | .343 | .727 | 3.6 | 8.4 | 1.4 | .4 | 20.4 |
| 2003–04 | New Orleans | 7 | 7 | 37.1 | .377 | .327 | .758 | 4.1 | 7.0 | 1.6 | .7 | 18.1 |
| 2006–07 | Golden State | 11 | 11 | 40.5 | .513 | .373 | .770 | 4.5 | 6.5 | 2.9 | .6 | 25.3 |
| Career | 46 | 42 | 38.1 | .440 | .353 | .703 | 4.6 | 6.5 | 2.5 | .5 | 19.8 |
[edit] Other
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Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (November 2007) |
- Davis is the godfather to Harlem Caron Taylor, the son of rapper The Game. The Game rapped about this relationship[18] 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 former 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.[19] Through this collaboration, they also became one of the founders of IBeatYou,[20] a social competition site designed to pit members of the community against one another.
- 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".[21]
[edit] References
- ^ "Baron Davis Bio". Baron Davis official website.
- ^ JockBio: Baron Davis Biography
- ^ Emmons, Mark (2007-05-06). "Warriors' leader Baron Davis has a Hollywood story", San Jose Mercury News. Archived from the original on 2007-05-09.
- ^ Baron Davis, UCLA
- ^ "USA Basketball: Men's World Championship Team History -- 2002". Archived from the original on 2007-07-14.
- ^ ESPN - Baron Davis going back to home state as Warrior - NBA
- ^ Kerr, Steve (May 12, 2007). "Greatest playoff show on earth?". NBA Experts Blog. Yahoo! Sports.
- ^ "NBA Basketball 2007 Playoffs". CBSSports.com.
- ^ "Baron Davis Info Page". NBA.com.
- ^ RealGM: Wiretap Archives: Agent Says Baron May Opt Out
- ^ Don Nelson makes huge mistake by sitting Baron Davis - Golden State Warriors News
- ^ Stoudemire, Nash lead Suns as they eliminate Warriors
- ^ WHAT GIVES, GUYS? Nelson says there's no problem, Davis says very little
- ^ Baron Davis Opts Out of Warriors Contract
- ^ ESPN - Davis verbally agrees to go to Clippers, leave Warriors - NBA
- ^ ""Davis signs with Clippers"". ESPN (2008-07-10).
- ^ Turner, Broderick (2008-07-11). "Baron Davis says he didn't waver on Clippers despite Brand's Decision", Press Enterprise.
- ^ XXL Magazine | Features | 2005 | April | The Game
- ^ McKinley, Jesse (2008-02-24). "He Shoots! He Scores! He Makes Movies!", The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
- ^ ibeatyou. challenge the world
- ^ NBA.com Baron Davis’ Setting the Screen
[edit] External links
- Baron Davis - official site
- Player Profile @ NBA.com
- Baron Davis player profile at ESPN.com
- Baron Davis at the Internet Movie Database
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