Monday, March 1, 1999
If Baron Davis abdicates now, his Bruin legacy won’t be
secure
COLUMN: NBA beckons, but sophomore should return for another
year
Saturday afternoon at Pauley Pavilion was Senior Day for the
most storied college basketball program in history.
Hopefully it was not the day the NBA killed UCLA.
What a scene for the crime. John Wooden sitting in his customary
courtside seat. An overflow student section finally getting a
chance to rush the court, even if it was before the game.
And then there was dunk after dunk after dunk. Mix in a
game-saving three-pointer and some Pistol Pete-like passes and
Saturday was the perfect stage for Baron Davis’ Pauley finale.
Oh, for the days when leaving school as a junior for the NBA
raised eyebrows around the nation.
It’s true, UCLA has seen its share of stars leave Westwood
before their senior years, including the greatest of them all, Lew
Alcindor. But he left after winning three-straight national
championships, and finished his final season without a loss.
Nobody doubts that Davis has the talent to excel at the next
level.
Given the way he has played the last two months, he has the
ability and maturity to become a bona fide star in the NBA. If he
does enter the draft, he very well may be the first point guard
selected.
But the allure of another season in Westwood has to tempt him.
As great a player as he has been, his legacy as a Bruin is far from
intact.
He could be the best player to ever wear the blue and gold, but
he isn’t yet.
That assumes another year in Pauley.
Davis could cement his UCLA legacy by returning for his junior
year.
Not only would he be a sure-fire first-team All-American and
Player of the Year favorite, but the Bruins would be favored to win
the Pac-10 and national championships. And of course, all the money
in the NBA cannot buy a national championship banner.
The critics say that he better take the money the NBA has to
offer and run. And why not? As a likely top 10 pick, Davis would be
guaranteed a three-year multimillion dollar contract. What other
job has that kind of security?
Those same critics point to his surgically-repaired knee and
raise the obvious questions as to how it might withstand another
collegiate season. The better question is, if it can’t withstand a
collegiate season, than how could it withstand an 82-game NBA
season?
The Baron’s knee is not a problem. It is stronger than ever, as
he demonstrated against Washington this weekend, and may be
better-suited to the healing process than another season at UCLA.
The possibility of injury always threatens, but as Davis himself
says, his game is much more "grounded" now, and seemingly less
prone to the injury that he suffered last March against
Michigan.
Memories of Keith Van Horn and Tim Duncan dance in the heads of
underclassmen as much as the dollar signs thrown out by the NBA. I
could never criticize a player who opts to leave school to fulfill
a childhood dream, but that dream is nothing new. It drove the
spirits of Bill Walton and Alcindor, when even three years with the
Wizard of Westwood was not enough to fully prepare for professional
basketball.
The professional game may be younger now and filled with stars
under the age of 25. But you cannot convince me that Tim Duncan
would give up his degree from Wake Forest and the universal praise
he received for staying in school for another few million dollars.
A decade from now no one will even remember that money he passed on
after spurning the experts to return for his junior and senior
seasons. He may have been a senior citizen by rookie standards in
the NBA today, but all he did was unanimously win the Rookie of the
Year award and play in the All-Star Game.
Baron Davis began to walk off the floor at Pauley Saturday
afternoon after sparking the Bruins to their twenty-first win. He
reached down and touched the circle at center court and it seemed
like only yesterday that he was jumping up and down and hugging
J.R. Henderson before the tip of his first collegiate game.
Four years of college goes by in a blink for most students.
Davis’ two years as a Bruin seem to have lasted an eternity,
beginning with the academic disqualification of Schea Cotton and
the suspensions of Jelani McCoy and Kris Johnson, followed by the
emotional roller coaster of last season and then the stirring upset
of Michigan in the tournament, which also saw the end of his
freshman year after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament. The
off-season seemed to last a year itself.
And then this year, with only two upperclassmen in the
basketball program, Davis made his return and then some, elevating
himself from a scouting dilemma to first-round NBA draft choice,
and leading a team that has at times started four freshmen to over
twenty wins in one of the nations’ toughest conferences.
If indeed it all ended Saturday, then he certainly went out in
style.
But to return for another year, win the first conference title
in three years, and possibly a national title? That defies
style.
We will have to wait until after the NCAA Tournament to find out
for sure, but for now I’ll deal with remembering those impressions
of Davis soaring over 7-foot Todd MacCullogh.
I just hope there are a few more tricks left in his bag.
Street would like to announce that he will return to the Daily
Bruin for his senior year. Please send comments to
[email protected].
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