Davis to learn NBA fate today
The dress rehearsals are finally over. Now it’s just a matter of who, when and where for Glen Davis.
Glen Davis, LSU’s two-time All-Southeastern Conference power forward and the league’s 2006 Player of the Year, is projected to be selected at some point during tonight’s NBA draft.
Until the call comes, Glen Davis will nervously wait and wonder, and he’ll have plenty of company.
As the two-round, 60-selection draft unfolds starting at 6:30 p.m. (ESPN), Glen Davis will be surrounded by his family and friends, along with his mentor, Collis Temple, former teammates and LSU coaches John Brady and Butch Pierre.
“It’s going to be a big night and I’m glad my family and the people closest to me can be there to share it with me,” Glen Davis said earlier this week. “I’m ready for this next step, ready to see where I need to head and get to work.”
Where Glen Davis lands in the draft has been a mystery and his ambiguous status has emerged as one of the more intriguing twists of the draft.
Once pegged as a possible second-round pick at best, Glen Davis’ stock has risen, then dipped, leveled off and at times left prognosticators woozy — with the 6-foot-9, 285-pounder projected to go anywhere from as early as the 17th pick to the middle of the second round.
Three teams that seemed to have developed the strongest interest in Glen Davis are Philadelphia, New Jersey and Dallas. Glen Davis also lists Miami, Golden State and Utah as possibilities.
The 76ers own three first-round picks and the eighth spot in the second round. Glen Davis was in Philadelphia Wednesday for a second workout. The Sixers were the only club that invited him back for an encore.
“We wanted to spend time talking to him,” Philadelphia General Manager Billy King said. “We wanted to get a chance to visit with him more. We wanted to talk about his workouts, see what he’s learned from the workouts.”
Dallas doesn’t have any first-round picks, but is sitting on three second-round selections.
The Mavericks blazed to the NBA’s best regular-season record (67-15) in 2006-07, but lost to Golden State in the opening round of the playoffs.
New Jersey is the most intriguing of the three teams that have honed in on Glen Davis. The Nets own just one pick in the draft — the 17th overall selection — making whoever they pick immediately vital.
With three established NBA stars in Vince Carter, Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson, New Jersey could afford for a player like Glen Davis to take time and develop.
As up-in-the air as where Glen Davis’ draft status is, the consensus is that he will get a call from somebody tonight.
And most experts seem to think he can contribute at the NBA level if he maintains his current weight of 285-290 pounds and doesn’t balloon back up to the 340-360 range he carried at times in his LSU career.
“I think he could go toward the end of the first round in the 20s or be taken early in the second round, depending on what happens in the early stages,” ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said.
“Regardless of where he’s picked, I think he can score in the NBA. He’s got really good hands, great feet for a kid his size and a very good feel for the game. He’s not a great athlete and he doesn’t really elevate, and because of those two things, he’ll have some issues on the defensive end. But I think Glen can have a nice career in the NBA if he’s willing to work hard and manage his weight.”
Glen Davis’ well-documented battle with the bulge throughout his college career has never deterred him from producing big statistics.
He was the SEC Freshman of the Year in 2005, the league’s MVP as a sophomore and last season grabbed a career-best 10.4 rebounds per game.
After LSU charged to the 2006 Final Four, the Tigers tumbled to a 17-15 record in Glen Davis’ junior season but he insists that he still made progress as a player and learned about himself when times weren’t as good.
“I got better as a basketball player and I learned how to cope with not having everything go my way,” he said. “I went through a lot of adversity off the court last year, but I think I showed that I’ve got a gladiator mentality.”
Glen Davis’ on-court skills are uncommon for a player his size.
Surprisingly nimble with a sneaky-quick first step, Glen Davis was unstoppable on the interior at the college level. During a hectic workout schedule this month, Glen Davis reportedly outplayed opponents like Josh McRoberts (Duke), Al Thornton (Florida State) and Carl Landry (Purdue) — power forwards generally projected to be picked before him.
That doesn’t surprise Brady, who said Glen Davis is still evolving as a player.
“Regardless of his size, Glen Davis has great foot quickness and the ability to move very well laterally,” Brady said. “I think he’ll surprise people with how well he moves and I think he can guard the three-spot in the NBA. He’s got better ball skills than a lot of people realize and he’s a good jump shooter. With the combination of the right team and the right coach, I think Glen can play at the three-man at the next level and surprise a lot of people.”
What might also motivate Glen Davis is the lingering doubt from his detractors.
Rarely criticized as a prep star at University High or during his three-year LSU stint, Glen Davis has parlayed his chunky frame and charismatic personality into icon status as “Big Baby.”
Now the weight has become a source of debate and concern, but the person who has been Glen Davis’ steadiest and most important influence doesn’t think he will shrink away from the challenge.
“What’s amazing about Glen is how much he’s had to overcome and endure as a young person just to be the basketball player he is,” said Temple, Glen Davis’ AAU coach and a father figure throughout his teenage years.
“To accomplish what he has is amazing and it’s taken a lot of focus and motivation and that’s what he’ll do now that he’s getting so close to something he’s dreamed about since he was 10 years old.”
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