Posted on Sun, Oct. 08, 2006

Davis putting fun back in his game
Warriors point guard took on a lot and didn't play his best last season

By Geoff Lepper
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

OAKLAND - Baron Davis has shed much more than just the 15 pounds he's no
longer carrying around his midsection.

A year after generating so much hype that then-coach Mike Montgomery
jokingly likened him to a superhero sent to save Oakland, Davis is no
longer being counted on to single-handedly undo 12 years of failure on
the Warriors' part.

And that's much more than a 15-pound psychological load off the point
guard's mind.

"You can't really put it on one person," Davis said Saturday. "This is a
team, and teams win. That's what was so evident last year."

Although Davis hasn't yet started to skip during wind sprints or pull
one of the practical jokes he was known for with the Charlotte and New
Orleans Hornets, the change in his demeanor from last season is starting
to become apparent to others on the Warriors.

"As far as just being comfortable in where he's at, and in his skin, he
shows it a lot more now," said new Warriors assistant coach Stephen
Silas, who spent three seasons with Davis in the Hornets organization.
"He's back to being the BD I know."

Part of the transformation is a conscious effort on Davis' part to have
more fun in the workplace. Over lunch in Los Angeles this summer,
13-time All-Star center Shaquille O'Neal of the Miami Heat told Davis
that he was trying too hard to be great, and needed to let the game come
to him.

"He was just like, if I just love what I do, everything else will take
its course. And I kind of took that advice and used that as motivation,
coming from one of the greats," Davis said. "He explained how once he
stopped putting pressure on himself to perform so well, that's when he
started winning that's when he started playing better and winning
championships."

Davis faced that kind of pressure and then some as a Warrior. And though
he said that he has no problem being the image of a franchise --
pointing out that in New Orleans, "every billboard in the city had my
face on it" -- there were other, more onerous demands placed on him last
season.

Not only was he Golden State's go-to player, but he also had to serve as
an on-court coach and translator for Montgomery, who had zero NBA
experience before taking over the Warriors.

It proved to be a difficult load to handle.

"BD is the kind of person who internalizes a lot of things. You can
really see it on his face when things are not going well," Silas said.
"He gets here, and there was so much pressure put on him. ... It was
definitely noticeable."

Teammate Jason Richardson got an up-close-and-personal view as Davis
tried to shoulder the myriad responsibilities.

"I think it was a lot of pressure on him, to the point where he couldn't
really perform," Richardson said. "He was worried about everybody and
all the stuff going on, so that he didn't have time to worry about his
own game. I don't think the game was fun for him."

Last season, the pick-and-roll with Davis controlling the ball was the
Warriors' most frequently called set, to the point where Montgomery's
own players began to wonder aloud about the wisdom of relying too
heavily on Davis' skills.

That won't be a problem this time around. Nelson said he's looking
forward to utilizing Davis' post-up abilities, something the Warriors
tried to exploit last season, and Davis pointed to an array of talents
he can unleash off the ball, such as popping off of screens for jumpers
or even setting screens himself.

"It's not what he's asking me to do. It's what he's not asking me to
do," Davis said. "He's not asking me to have the ball in my hand all the
time, to get a pick-and-roll every play. I'm just playing basketball."

As for the notion that Davis can't play that style, he rejects that theory.

"I've always been comfortable without the ball," Davis said. "I played
in the backcourt with David Wesley for five years, so there were two
point guards. A lot of times in Charlotte and New Orleans, I played off
the ball anyways, because I was the leading scorer. To me, it's good,
because I can do other things than try to beat my man off the dribble. I
don't need the ball to be effective."

He also doesn't need the mantle of being the franchise player, or having
the Warriors be known as "his" team.

"I'm not tripping on that at all, man. I don't care whose team it is,
that's just not where I'm at anymore," Davis said. "Whoever steps up and
becomes a leader on this team, that's whose team it is. It's not my
team. It's coach Nelson's team and I'm here to play. ... If I can
channel all of my energy on me, and focus on making myself better each
play, then I think that it's going to speak for itself."

Said Richardson: "Last year, he was kind of overloaded with trying to
make sure everyone knew this and that. Now, he's letting guys like
myself talk to the younger guys instead of it always being him, and
that's taken a lot of stress off of him."

Hey, even a superhero needs a break every now and again.