"A letter to the Fans..." By Baron Davis

[mkwest]

Dear Fans,


Having recently had some time to reflect I wanted drop you all a quick note.


There’s an age old Chinese proverb which says:


“Words are just words and without heart they have no meaning.”


Today, I’d like to use this space to speak to you from my heart.


First off, I want to say how much our entire organization appreciates the way our fans stuck with us through what was a very difficult season. We can spend time referring to all the injuries, but as far as you’re all concerned, there can be no easy excuse for the tough year we had. I want you to know that we truly appreciate all of your support and thank you for hangin with us.


Secondly, I want to make sure you know that EVERYONE at the Clippers is committed to doing whatever is necessary to make sure that you don’t have to deal with another year like the one that just ended. I’m dedicating myself to that goal, and I know my teammates will do the same.


There are probably those who will read this and toss it off as just words, but I can only write these words with hope that the feeling and sentiment is conveyed.


Whether you believe us or not, please know that we’re all going to work hard to improve everyday and be a far better team than we showed this past season.


Stick with us, and trust it’ll be worth it.


Sincerely,

Baron Davis

The Crossover

[SportsFan215]

I just shed a few tears after reading that.

[JJ LoDuca]

I just spotted this too. Same ol' song and dance, BD... no progress will be made until he gets on the court next season and proves it.

[mattafact]

Oh Baron, he acts like this season hasn't happened before...and before..and BEFORE. We're used to it. We just don't like to see things made worse.

Like I was on the Livingston bandwagon when he was drafted and pre-draft too. That's an honest mistake, any team coulda been blindsided by Livingston's potential and passed over the eventual stud Harris like we did. But there's NO EXCUSE for not only drafting Korolev but PROMISING him that we would take him regardless of who's available...when NO ONE else even had him on their draft boards. Combine the Korolev pick with subbing in Ewing in Game 5 at Phoenix and that's why the Clippers are where they are today instead progressing from their surprise season when they made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs.

Baron can nothing to say that can lift up our spirits, he'll still go out and chuck way too many 3's and get hurt way too much to justify that contract. The apologies should be made from the front office and from them only. And the proper apology is to clean house completely and let new ownership steer this ship up from the ruins.

So basically, Baron, nice try. Part of what comes with being a Clipper fan is the possession of a high threshold of pain as well as a pretty good B-S detector.

Go Clippers!

[cinnamon]

I'm sure it's well-meant.
If Baron wants to talk from his heart, we just want to see him and all of the others play with heart.
We'll be watching, come fall.

[Heyvoon24]

he just doesnt want the clippers to draft ricky rubio to steal his minutes

[Sid the Squid]

Baron pulled this same stunt with the warriors after his 1st season in Oakland..He said he would call all his teammates and get them to practice together all summer..He said he'd show up for camp in the best shape of his life..Then summer came and Baron and the boys never got together for a single practice...He showed up for camp that fall looking like Black Santa...He must of been 240lbs ..

[thanumba2clippersfan]

Like most of you have said Baron has said this before and to me right now it's all talk. I like the ideas he's sharing with us but he needs to turn his words into action. We will see how dedicated he his to his word come training camp.

[scratch21]

Cute.

[jgustav1]

This season wasn't the first time Baron shot under 40% from the floor, he did it a couple of times in NO and Golden State. He has always been a high volume, poor percentage (32%) 3 point shooter over his career. Andre Miller had an awful season with the Clippers, but still managed to shoot over 40%. I just don't understand why the Clippers offered him a 5 year contract, 3 years would have been plenty given his age and productivity. This is what Golden State offered him, and they have been known to sign players to long and bad contracts, like Todd Murphy, Adonal Foyle, etc.

The guy is virtually untradeable at this point, it looks to be a long 3-4 years in Clipperville if he remains as the starting PG over that period.

[JSrose115]

better see something spectacular next season compared to that dreadful 08-09 season.

[mkwest]

Even though what is written may just end up only being words, I can respect him for coming out and owning up to his disappointing effort and to the overall poor performance from the entire team. Others who are majorly responsible for this past season prefer to defer the blame completely. I think things will be different next season. Better? We'll see, although it would be hard to do much worse. Then again, I thought that the previous season.

In preparation for the 09-10 season, Baron already knows what the deal is. He was pretty bitter when he first arrived, since he felt double-crossed. Also, to quote Corey Maggette, he was in for a rude awakening with the differences between the franchise here and the one in Oakland. He was out of shape, didn't take his health seriously with the whole Jenny Craig thing and in the end we were the ones who suffered.

I do think that he will be in better shape than he was last season. How much? We'll know in October. I am not expecting Baron to be the Baron that led the Warriors into the 2nd round. He's still going to be chucking, and settling for lower percentage shots, but hopefully he'll be able to finish more around the basket. All I want is to see is for him play like he actually gives a damn.

[mattfish]

I'm looking forward to next season. If our bigs are healthy, he can chuck up as many bad shots as he wants as long as Kaman, Camby, Z-Bo, and Jordan can grab the offensive rebounds.

[SD2042]

Even though what is written may just end up only being words, I can respect him for coming out and owning up to his disappointing effort and to the overall poor performance from the entire team. Others who are majorly responsible for this past season prefer to defer the blame completely. I think things will be different next season. Better? We'll see, although it would be hard to do much worse. Then again, I thought that the previous season.

In preparation for the 09-10 season, Baron already knows what the deal is. He was pretty bitter when he first arrived, since he felt double-crossed. Also, to quote Corey Maggette, he was in for a rude awakening with the differences between the franchise here and the one in Oakland. He was out of shape, didn't take his health seriously with the whole Jenny Craig thing and in the end we were the ones who suffered.

I do think that he will be in better shape than he was last season. How much? We'll know in October. I am not expecting Baron to be the Baron that led the Warriors into the 2nd round. He's still going to be chucking, and settling for lower percentage shots, but hopefully he'll be able to finish more around the basket. All I want is to see is for him play like he actually gives a damn.

That's what needs to happen. Too many times, too many seasons to where a team like the Clips ain't playin worth nothing b/c of issues like the front office are sittin on their hands and won't do what's neccessary to fix the team.

As for mattfish's post on BD to chuck up shots. Hell, if anything, BD needs to do a better job takin smart shots. Too many times we see players jackin 20 to 30 shots just to score 20 to 30pts on a game night basis. Each time a piss poor shooter has to take that many shots to be effective, you really are handicaping the team along with turning the ball over each time you jack a shot up.

It's past time to stop living or dying by these shots and start playing with better efficiency and cohesion if the team expects to gain back some wins and respect of the fans.