Purple Reign
Starter
Written by Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News
January 12, 2006
Baron Davis Or Me: Who's A Bigger Pain
I went to the arena last night to anticipating two things:
1) To witness the Warriors get clocked by Miami, even if the Heat was slow-legged, sloppy and dazed by multiple trips with Stanford recruiting hosts to the New Century Theater after a two-night stay in San Francisco.
BINGO, bingo and (probably) bingo, though I’ll have to check the Stanford receipts for that last one.
2) To see if Mike Montgomery would react in any way to my recent hackles-raising column. To recap: I wrote that, given the Warriors horrible play of late, given his lack of chemistry with Baron and given Chris Mullin’s interest in Ron Artest, the ultimate non-Monty NBA guy, the seeds are being sewn now for when Monty becomes the next Warriors’ ex-coach.
But Montgomery had no reaction. I didn’t force it. He didn’t say anything. Fair enough. Moving on…
What did happen, though: Baron took one look at me in the pre-game locker room before launching into a rant about my apparent desire to ruin his career dating back to UCLA, and that he’ll never speak to me again and that I’m writing garbage about the Warriors and that if I think there’s any trouble between him and Montgomery I’m an idiot.
http://kingsfans.com/forums/
Well now. If you know me, you know I didn’t retreat to a corner, grab Thunder to protect me and weep silently.
I screamed back something like: I’ve written that you’re the best and most important player on this team, maybe in a decade, and that Montgomery probably isn’t up to the job of handling you, that you are tough to coach but worth every penny and more.
I said: I’ve written 10,000 positive things about you in your career, including UCLA. I’ve defended you 10,000 other times. If you don’t like that, fine, but you tell me one thing that was inaccurate about that last column.
Baron walked away, then came back and screamed some more. I screamed back. We’ve done this before, we’ll do it again.
As he said, Baron and I do have a history, which means he’s allowed to yell at me because he knows me so well and I’m allowed (in my opinion) to yell back at him because I know him well.
And in the middle of this, I did wonder: Other than Byron Scott, Baron’s last coach in New Orleans, when’s the last time in 10 years anybody yelled back at Baron?
I know Montgomery hasn’t. Mullin hasn’t. It’s not bad, guys. Try it once.
Anyway, I shouldn’t have been too surprised. I’ve been yelled at by Baron almost as often as I’ve had good conversations with him over the decade or so I’ve known him.
(I also found out later he was a little bit sick last night; but Baron’s always got a little injury or a little flu or a little something that makes him feel less than 100 percent.)
He doesn’t want to be stuck with the “coach-killer” reputation. I get that. If you’re a great player and you’re feuding with Phil Jackson or Maurice Cheeks or Pat Riley, that’s bad.
But if you're Magic Johnson and it's Paul Westhead, no biggee. If you’re Baron and you're having a quiet but obvious battle of wills with Mike Montgomery, who may not be cut out to coach in the NBA, then I think Baron ought to accept that. The league is about talent and handling talent, and he’s talented.
If Monty doesn’t like coaching Baron or quietly bristles at him—and vice-versa—it’s NOT BARON’S PROBLEM or fault. I really believe that. It’s the coach’s. And the franchise’s. Until the franchise changes coaches.
Baron’s not the easiest guy to coach. He knows how good he is. He’s very smart. And he’s INCREDIBLY stubborn, almost as stubborn as I am.
The Warriors are in some trouble. Baron isn’t the cause. He isn’t close to the cause. But he’s part of it. So is Montgomery. I’ll keep writing about it, because I’d be an idiot or a weakling not to.
I will be clear about this: If I’ve got a choice between Baron and Montgomery, I’ll take Baron every day of the week, even when he’s yelling at me. Hey, I don’t mind when smart guys yell at me. It shows me they care. Fine by me.
And if Montgomery had a choice between me and Baron?
Undecided.
January 12, 2006
Baron Davis Or Me: Who's A Bigger Pain
I went to the arena last night to anticipating two things:
1) To witness the Warriors get clocked by Miami, even if the Heat was slow-legged, sloppy and dazed by multiple trips with Stanford recruiting hosts to the New Century Theater after a two-night stay in San Francisco.
BINGO, bingo and (probably) bingo, though I’ll have to check the Stanford receipts for that last one.
2) To see if Mike Montgomery would react in any way to my recent hackles-raising column. To recap: I wrote that, given the Warriors horrible play of late, given his lack of chemistry with Baron and given Chris Mullin’s interest in Ron Artest, the ultimate non-Monty NBA guy, the seeds are being sewn now for when Monty becomes the next Warriors’ ex-coach.
But Montgomery had no reaction. I didn’t force it. He didn’t say anything. Fair enough. Moving on…
What did happen, though: Baron took one look at me in the pre-game locker room before launching into a rant about my apparent desire to ruin his career dating back to UCLA, and that he’ll never speak to me again and that I’m writing garbage about the Warriors and that if I think there’s any trouble between him and Montgomery I’m an idiot.
http://kingsfans.com/forums/
Well now. If you know me, you know I didn’t retreat to a corner, grab Thunder to protect me and weep silently.
I screamed back something like: I’ve written that you’re the best and most important player on this team, maybe in a decade, and that Montgomery probably isn’t up to the job of handling you, that you are tough to coach but worth every penny and more.
I said: I’ve written 10,000 positive things about you in your career, including UCLA. I’ve defended you 10,000 other times. If you don’t like that, fine, but you tell me one thing that was inaccurate about that last column.
Baron walked away, then came back and screamed some more. I screamed back. We’ve done this before, we’ll do it again.
As he said, Baron and I do have a history, which means he’s allowed to yell at me because he knows me so well and I’m allowed (in my opinion) to yell back at him because I know him well.
And in the middle of this, I did wonder: Other than Byron Scott, Baron’s last coach in New Orleans, when’s the last time in 10 years anybody yelled back at Baron?
I know Montgomery hasn’t. Mullin hasn’t. It’s not bad, guys. Try it once.
Anyway, I shouldn’t have been too surprised. I’ve been yelled at by Baron almost as often as I’ve had good conversations with him over the decade or so I’ve known him.
(I also found out later he was a little bit sick last night; but Baron’s always got a little injury or a little flu or a little something that makes him feel less than 100 percent.)
He doesn’t want to be stuck with the “coach-killer” reputation. I get that. If you’re a great player and you’re feuding with Phil Jackson or Maurice Cheeks or Pat Riley, that’s bad.
But if you're Magic Johnson and it's Paul Westhead, no biggee. If you’re Baron and you're having a quiet but obvious battle of wills with Mike Montgomery, who may not be cut out to coach in the NBA, then I think Baron ought to accept that. The league is about talent and handling talent, and he’s talented.
If Monty doesn’t like coaching Baron or quietly bristles at him—and vice-versa—it’s NOT BARON’S PROBLEM or fault. I really believe that. It’s the coach’s. And the franchise’s. Until the franchise changes coaches.
Baron’s not the easiest guy to coach. He knows how good he is. He’s very smart. And he’s INCREDIBLY stubborn, almost as stubborn as I am.
The Warriors are in some trouble. Baron isn’t the cause. He isn’t close to the cause. But he’s part of it. So is Montgomery. I’ll keep writing about it, because I’d be an idiot or a weakling not to.
I will be clear about this: If I’ve got a choice between Baron and Montgomery, I’ll take Baron every day of the week, even when he’s yelling at me. Hey, I don’t mind when smart guys yell at me. It shows me they care. Fine by me.
And if Montgomery had a choice between me and Baron?
Undecided.
