Vinny Del Negro rips Baron Davis
Prior to the season, much was expected from the Los Angeles Clippers after the 2009 first-overall pick Blake Griffin was cleared to play, but they have been a disappointment as of late, which
is slowly creating a crack in the team’s chemistry.
The Clippers started the season with a disappointing fourth-straight loss and were handily defeated by the San Antonio Spurs, 97-88, on Monday 1 November, in a game they played without their
starting point guard Baron Davis.
The 31-year old guard missed the game because of a left-knee problem that has been bothering him since their training camp, and Clippers head coach Vinny Del Negro expressed his disappointment
by criticizing his starting point guard.
Del Negro, who replaced Mike Dunleavy Sr. during the off-season, said that Davis is having a problem on his left-knee because of his poor work ethic during their training camp.
"Baron has incredible amounts of talent and ability," Del Negro said. "But his focus needs to be on staying in condition and playing at a high level. And he hasn’t done that for a while,
and I know he’s frustrated with that, but there’s things he has to do to correct that."
Del Negro also said the former UCLA standout was in bad shape over the summer, but he did not focus on conditioning, which is now affecting the veteran point guard’s performance.
However, Davis quickly downplayed Del Negro’s assessment, saying that his swollen knee was not caused by poor conditioning during the off-season. According to him, he prepared for the season
as serious as the previous six years, but his body is not responding to the program anymore.
"If you have four surgeries — a torn ACL, a couple of meniscus tears — that’s just how it goes," Davis said. "My body wasn’t responding as quickly as it usually does. This summer was a dose
of reality, as far as maybe you need to start a little bit ahead of time, or just train differently.”
The 11-year NBA veteran, who is currently averaging 10.3 points and 5.7 assists over their first three games, has two years left on his five-year, $65 million deal with the Clippers.
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