Baron Davis had fun in the Garden last year against the Knicks, this year he'll be having fun with them. |
Davis, once healthy, completely alters the Knicks lineup. He gives them a consistent point guard, who, at times last year, showed that he can still hang with the young guns of this day. Most importantly he pushes inconsistent, but talented guard Toney Douglas, to the sixth man spot, where he can focus more on stroking the three instead of running the offense. They Knicks also signed the skeleton of Mike Bibby who can relieve the two for 10-15 solid minutes of smart, albeit slow, basketball. Baron Davis is still a solid point guard in the NBA, especially when he's focused. Going to LA was one of the worst decisions Baron ever made, but once he was given a chance to throw monster alley-oops to the high-flying Blake Griffin he seemed to regain his focus and get back to his high level of play. He continued to play solidly for the Cavs, averaging 13.1 pts and 6.7 assists, including a couple solid performances against the Knicks. Davis should be completely committed to New York once he returns in a month from now. BD knows that New York is on the cusp of winning a title, and as crazy as it seems, he might just be the final piece of the puzzle.
Think about it now. The Knicks have probably the best starting front court trio in the league. Tyson Chandler dominates the middle, Amar'e scores in the post and Carmelo simply embarrasses opponents in any way possible. After signing of Davis, their back court gets depth with Landry Fields and Iman Shumpert at the 2 and Davis, Douglas and Bibby at the point. They definitely have more depth than their league foe, the Miami Heat, whose only bench player is really Mike Miller. Especially in a season where the NBA is going to be playing back-to-backs like it's going out of style, depth is vital. More importunely and different from Davis' past, he doesn't have to be the star. Davis doesn't have to go out there and stuff it in people's faces and score 40 points. All he has to do is run D'Antoni's offense; simply dish it and let the big boys do the work, all while enjoying the win column abuse. It's the last go around for BD and he will surely be focused and ready to give the Knicks a solid chance to win it all.
Now, Davis is due to sit out a month with a back injury. Ok, well, if BD doesn't regain full health then expect this whole "what if" scenario to go to waste. If for some reason he isn't focused, which I highly doubt, then the same will be true. But the Knicks needed to take this risk, and I'm pretty sure they're going to be rewarded, unless Baron's really that done or really that arrogant.
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