Baron Davis and the amnesty clause.. Why?

[Selby]

Go ahead and go to Miami if we amnesty him he wouldn't fit with them because he is not a great shooter, and frankly the Heat need a pure shooter at the point guard position that can nock down the three consistently.

Baron tends to step his game up to a monstrous level in the playoffs. I've been a fan of Baron since his Charlotte days, and as a Baron fan and a Cavs fan, there is no way in hell I want him going to Miami. You can say he doesn't fit all you want, but come playoff time, when Lebron puts on a disappearing act, Baron is more than capable of picking up the slack and putting up 20+ points a game. Baron could probably score more points in one playoff series than every other PG on their roster did throughout the playoffs last season. A healthy and motivated Baron Davis can be one of the better point guards in the league.

 

[AtomicDogg97]

You guys are out of your minds. The only smart thing is to use the amnesty clause on Baron Davis.

Think about it. The only goal this season should be to develop young players and lose enough games to get a high draft pick. How can Kyrie Irving develop if Davis is hogging minutes? How can we get a high pick in one of the best drafts ever if Davis is helping us win? A full season with Davis and a healthy Antoin Jamison and Anderson Varajao will have us picking around 7-10.

 

[MoFlo]

You guys are out of your minds. The only smart thing is to use the amnesty clause on Baron Davis.

Think about it. The only goal this season should be to develop young players and lose enough games to get a high draft pick. How can Kyrie Irving develop if Davis is hogging minutes? How can we get a high pick in one of the best drafts ever if Davis is helping us win? A full season with Davis and a healthy Antoin Jamison and Anderson Varajao will have us picking around 7-10.

1.) We very well could, and will see Irving & Davis play at the same time on the court. Depending on how long of a leash Byron gives Irving, he'll still get a good amount of minutes. Davis won't be "hogging" Irving's minutes at all.

2.) When Davis shoots, he shoots a lot. And not consistently well. He won't exactly propel us to new heights.

3.) It's a lottery. We can still finish with a high pick if we have the 7th-10th worst record in the league. And, the 7-10 range in what should be a very deep draft isn't bad in the least bit.

4.) Expecting a healthy Antawn Jamison at this point is like expecting a good Browns offensive line for the rest of this season.

5.) Davis, if he is indeed motivated & eager to help Kyrie (which it does seem like he is), can help Kyrie develop & be an extension of Byron out on the floor.

 

[OnTheReg]

1.) We very well could, and will see Irving & Davis play at the same time on the court. Depending on how long of a leash Byron gives Irving, he'll still get a good amount of minutes. Davis won't be "hogging" Irving's minutes at all.

2.) When Davis shoots, he shoots a lot. And not consistently well. He won't exactly propel us to new heights.

3.) It's a lottery. We can still finish with a high pick if we have the 7th-10th worst record in the league. And, the 7-10 range in what should be a very deep draft isn't bad in the least bit.

4.) Expecting a healthy Antawn Jamison at this point is like expecting a good Browns offensive line for the rest of this season.

5.) Davis, if he is indeed motivated & eager to help Kyrie (which it does seem like he is), can help Kyrie develop & be an extension of Byron out on the floor.

Agree with everything, but for point 5 we better hope Kyrie doesn't adopt some of Baron's bad habits (constant heat-checks, weight gains) but still learns enough from him to be able to get Jessica Alba into Cleveland for some games.

 

[CalBuckeyeRob]

You guys are out of your minds. The only smart thing is to use the amnesty clause on Baron Davis.

Think about it. The only goal this season should be to develop young players and lose enough games to get a high draft pick. How can Kyrie Irving develop if Davis is hogging minutes? How can we get a high pick in one of the best drafts ever if Davis is helping us win? A full season with Davis and a healthy Antoin Jamison and Anderson Varajao will have us picking around 7-10.

Has Baron Davis ever raised any team above 7-10 other teams in his career let alone this collection of rookies, scrubs, and role players? The 7th best team last year won about 1/3 of their games. I would be stunned if this team won more than 16 games in a 66 game schedule.

 

[OnTheReg]

Has Baron Davis ever raised any team above 7-10 other teams in his career let alone this collection of rookies, scrubs, and role players? The 7th best team last year won about 1/3 of their games. I would be stunned if this team won more than 16 games in a 66 game schedule.

Other than his epically awesome dismissal of #1 Dallas a few years ago, I can't recall B-Diddy ever being on anything other than middling teams. Hell, that GSW team was #8, had a great series, and then fizzled. He's a perennial lottery-dweller, which is exactly where we want to be right now.

 

[AtomicDogg97]

Someone post the Cavs record before and after the Baron Davis trade. I remember the Cavs winning significantly more games once we picked him up.

The Cavs only goal right now is to develop young players and lose games. Davis is an obstacle to both.

 

[sailfish]

Someone post the Cavs record before and after the Baron Davis trade. I remember the Cavs winning significantly more games once we picked him up.

The Cavs only goal right now is to develop young players and lose games. Davis is an obstacle to both.

The point you raise is both interesting & valid, which I'll get to in a minute. It took a little digging, but thanks to basketball reference I was able to check the Cavaliers record with & without Baron Davis. The results are pretty eye opening.

First, Baron missed 9 games total, 3 for a bereavement leave following his grandmother's death. He played in 15 games, which means that he played in 62.5% of the games for which he was a Cavalier.

Secondly, the team's record in the games that Davis played is as follows:

Without BD: 13-54 (.194)
With BD: 6-9 (.400)

31% of our wins came in games that Davis played in, even though he only played in 18% of our games. So, he made a BIG difference in the won-loss column.

If the Cavaliers are looking to optimize draft positioning then, the stats don't lie, they're clearly better off without Baron Davis on the team.

 

[Mdog1]

15 games is not a valid sample size, and we did go on a historic streak in the time before Baron was here. Also we started off at nearly .500 so our record was just all over last year. If we take out the 7-9 start and the 6-9 we were with Baron our record was 6-45 or .117 so our goal should be clear. Only play the middle games of the season.

 

[Oasis]

As long as BD accepts a mentoring role, I see no reason to amnesty him at this time. Yes, he's a chucker, and with Twan on the court with him the other three guys may as well just stand around twidling their thumbs on offense, but he can (potentially) serve a very useful purpose instructing Kyrie.

With nearly half the teams significantly under the cap next summer, there may be a spending spree, and Baron's expiring in '12-'13 may prove very attractive as hopefully many teams will once again be up against the cap.

Also, I don't want to take even the slightest chance that we amnesty him and he somehow ends up in Miami. It's improbable that they would actually be awarded him--but not completely impossible. A healthy and motivated BD with that crew annihilates everyone--especially in a shortened season.

 

[The Voice]

Baron Davis is the biggest fan drawer on the Cavs, I don't think that he will be amnesty clause'd. I don't seeing Gilbert cutting a guy that's putting butt's in seats and increasing TV ratings.

 

[QuadrupleDouble]

Those win numbers with BD are skewed also because we had Mo sitting for some reason before the trade. Maybe we would have had a better record had we not sat him for a mysterious injury that healed once he hit the ground in LA and started playing like the Mo we knew

I also get a halfie thinking about that Mavs series against the Warriors. Granted that Warriors team had some real talent, but imagine if we sneak in as an 8 seed and knock off the Heat. Just went to full mast. That would be worth another year of rebuilding right there

 

[Triumph36]

Baron Davis is the biggest fan drawer on the Cavs, I don't think that he will be amnesty clause'd. I don't seeing Gilbert cutting a guy that's putting butt's in seats and increasing TV ratings.

wat?

a 32yo Baron Davis doesn't excite anyone.

 

[Selby]

Has Baron Davis ever raised any team above 7-10 other teams in his career let alone this collection of rookies, scrubs, and role players? The 7th best team last year won about 1/3 of their games. I would be stunned if this team won more than 16 games in a 66 game schedule.

You could argue the Charlotte Hornets in 2002. The second best player on that roster was Jamal Mashburn, and he was injured throughout the regular season and playoffs, not to mention he was past his prime at that point. David Wesley was above average I suppose, and Elden Campbell wasn't terrible despite being so old. But I'd say that 2002 Hornets team was worse than the 2007 Warriors team. The starting 5 was Baron, Wesley, Mashburn, PJ Brown, and Campbell. Guys off the bench were Lee Nailon, Jamaal Magloire, and Tractor Traylor. Baron carried that team when they beat the Magic in the first round.

 

[Randolphkeys]

The Bay Area was electric during the We Believe season. They got hot at the end of the season, after Nellie basically told the press that the season was over. This place is hoops crazy and deserves a good run. I'm making it a point to go to more games this year.

It's important to remember that B-Diddy was finally healthy after doing his usual "I can play myself into shape" thing for a few months. Davis also spent long stretches playing off the ball with Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes playing a point forward position offensively. Davis is lethal posting up smaller guards, which he can become part of his repertoire playing shooting guard. Baron isn't a guy who leads by example, but he always acts like a coach on the floor, telling younger players where they should be and how they can improve.

Now that Baron and Byron Scott have patched up their differences, it sounds like Byron is excited to work with Baron at shooting guard. I hope we get to see it.