From: "Dan Forant" <dforant1@xxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <Celtics@xxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: Davis A Time Bomb Say Cavalier Folk Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2004 12:23:28 -0500
So big deal. We're not looking for choir boys. Think Boston is a laid back
town? Remember how we as fans treated the wife beater from NJ? He helped
burn the Cavs. That's all I care about. Ricky's entertainment. Let's get him
on the Jerry Springer Show. I'd rather listen to him than Pierce's canned
post game offerings. I believe Cleveland gets the least amount of sunlite in
the Country. Cleveland, where the hell is Cleveland?
DanF
----- Original Message ----- From: <wayray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> 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 f!
> irst 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 m!
> ind 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.