Progress seen in big project

Assistant coach Clifford Ray has a job on his hands. The task: Turn Glen "Big Baby" Davis into an NBA player. The observation to date: So far, so good, but much work needs to be done.

No one knows that more than Glen Davis, the likable rook out of LSU who has started to get some meaningful minutes for Doc Rivers and the Celtics. He's not a threat to unseat Kendrick Perkins - or even Scot Pollard - but he is making it harder and harder for Rivers not to play him because of a combination of energy, effort, and talent. The kid knows how to play.

"He has a high basketball IQ," Rivers said yesterday of Glen Davis, who had 9 points and 7 rebounds (along with 6 fouls) in 21 impactful minutes last Sunday against the Cavaliers.

Rivers has entrusted Ray with the "big man" chores because, as the coach noted, "Clifford has been through the wars, both as a player and coach." Last year, Ray worked extensively with Perkins after having worked earlier in Orlando with Dwight Howard. This year, Ray's attention is directed more toward Glen Davis, who packs around 290 pounds onto his 6-foot-9-inch frame.

"Glen needs people in his ear," said Rivers, who occasionally will be that guy. "Cliff is that guy."

During games, Ray sits in the second row and can be seen encouraging Glen Davis when the rook is on the floor. But it's the work at practice that Glen Davis points to as opening his eyes about the whys and wherefores of the NBA.

"He has helped me tremendously," Glen Davis said. "He's added fuel to my fire as far as the way to work, how to work. He's changed my work ethic. I always had one, but it never had enough diesel in it. He put enough diesel in to make it burn and burn consistently.

"That's what it's all about. He has helped me a lot in terms of the mental aspect of approaching things every day."

It remains to be seen whether Rivers will turn to Glen Davis more now that he's seen what the kid can do. Eight days ago in Cleveland, Glen Davis really gave the Celtics a boost coming off the bench (8 points, 2 rebounds in only six minutes) after not playing in the game before, the miracle win in Charlotte. The coach said yesterday that opponents and matchups will determine his moves.

"It's big by committee, and that's not going to change," Rivers said. "There will be nights where Glen has great matchups and we need his energy. There will be nights when I like the size of Pollard [who had a decent stint against the Bobcats in the game Glen Davis watched]."

Glen Davis has appeared in 11 of the Celtics' 16 games. All but three of those have been stretches of nine minutes or less - and there was a one-minute cameo against Indiana Nov. 13. But when he plays, well, let's just say Glen Davis gets his money's worth out there.

In the three games in which he has gone more than nine minutes, he's fouled out of two and picked up five fouls in the third (the Knick blowout, when he played 31 minutes). Kevin Garnett said after Sunday's game (in which Glen Davis fouled out) that "Big Baby is the personality of the Boston Celtics. He has an aura around him which follows him which he carries on and off the court. It just so happens that he's a rookie, so watch out, y'all."

Glen Davis got three fouls against the Cavs last Sunday, but Rivers kept him in the game. The coach said two of the calls (for trying to take a charge) were bad and that Glen Davis would have played even more had the rook caught a break from the officials. But rookies don't get those breaks, which is an article of faith in the NBA.

"He will not avoid it. He's doing a pretty good job and is getting fouls called on him," Rivers said. "He's physical. He's quick. He's active. Both of those charges were not very good calls. The problem is, you keep taking charges and officials think you can't give them all to him. I say, why not? If he's there, it's a charge.

"Unfortunately for him, I just want him to play with the intensity he plays at because it's infectious and it helps our unit."

That's fine with Glen Davis.

"I do what I have to do for the team to succeed," he said. "If that's what they need me to do, I'm willing to do it, every game, for 82 games, to go out there and lay it on the line.

"That's got to be my main focus. Go day by day, enjoy the journey, and help in whatever way I can."