Davis A Time Bomb Say Cavalier Folk

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Akkron Daily or Beacon    
Posted on Sat, Jan. 10, 2004			
				
	Windhorst on the Cavs 

Tirade by Davis proves trade was good move Celtics likely to find out he hasn't changed his ways a bit for his new team By Brian Windhorst			
				
	BOSTON - They say the best revenge is living well. Ricky Davis isn't off to a very good start. Boston fans giggled and Davis figuratively beat his chest after he leveled a series of critical blows at his old team and town during a slow-burning tirade with the media Thursday. He did it with venom and a broad brush yet, without knowing it, he couldn't have paid the Cavaliers a greater compliment. He ripped Paul Silas' system, he tore at Jim Paxson's management style and he said something so personally insulting about owner Gordon Gund that a Celtics public relations representative immediately ended the interview. The reporters who heard the comment chose not to print it out of sensitivity, and it will not be stated here, either. Whether Davis is right about Silas or Paxson is inconsequential; the fact that he harbored these feelings while supposedly trying to be a team player in Cleveland is. And even as Davis put up 16 points and his Celtics burned the Cavaliers by 25 points Friday night, the Cavaliers are more confident than ever that they made the right move by dumping Davis, the third team to do so in his short career. Silas and Paxson publicly took the high road, but privately they shook their heads in part disgust and part pity. They know it is only a matter of time before Davis' destructive personality takes aim at his new team. Understand that overtly, Davis is not a bad guy. He's down to earth and usually soft-spoken and doesn't sport the brazen and selfish exterior attitude of a Rasheed Wallace. He did a great deal of charity work in Cleveland, and his purchase of season tickets for a group of college kids who painted messages on their chests and are now standbys at Gund Arena will be a legacy. But behind the scenes and in little ways, he can be cancerous. What's obvious is when he abandons the offense and heaves up a senseless shot. What's not is when he undercuts his coach by encouraging fellow players to go against the grain. The first issue got him pulled from games by Silas, the latter got !
 him trad

ed. In a game in Indiana in November, Davis had 10 rebounds, 12 assists and nine points in what looked like a brilliant and unselfish display of a team leader. In reality, he cost the Cavaliers the game. After Silas told his players not to leave their men under any circumstances during the Pacers' final possession, Davis told teammate Darius Miles to double-team Pacers center Jermaine O'Neal with the Cavaliers up by two points with less than 15 seconds to play. Even though Silas had warned against it, Miles listened to Davis and doubled. O'Neal then passed the ball to Miles' man, Ron Artest, who scored and was fouled by Davis as he tried to cover his mistake. Artest made the free throw, and the Cavaliers lost by a point. Silas knows such things will happen again in Boston. Celtics general manager Danny Ainge traded for Davis against coach Jim O'Brien's wishes. O'Brien's retort has been to not start him and reduce his minutes, and it looks as if he's not going to change his mind anytime soon. Davis has insisted he's changed, again, and doesn't care about his new role, just his team's success. An hour before Friday night's game, several of Davis' new teammates finally got around to asking him about that failed attempt at a triple-double last season against Utah, when he shot at the wrong basket to get a cheap rebound. ``It worked on the street,'' Davis joked with them. ``Why not the NBA?'' No, some things never change.