I say this with full sympathy and with no malice in my heart. Part of you knew it would have to be like this, Clippers fans.
The Boston Globe is reporting that star free-agent acquisition, NBA All-Star point guard Baron Davis, could miss four to six weeks with a sprained ring finger on his left hand. Davis has an evaluation meeting with doctors on Monday to determine the severity of the injury and whether surgery is necessary.
The injury would be devastating on so many levels for the Clippers that the sheer height of this catastrophy's oblique face could give you vertigo. Not only would it represent another in a long line of Clippers' injuries that ends up costing the team massive amounts of games, but it affirms all the worst fears a Clippers fan could have about Baron Davis. As my esteemed colleague Brett Edwards likes to point out, before last season, Davis had not played more than 82 games in a season since 2002.
To put that in perspective, last year was the first time Davis was able to put in a full year's work since before we invaded Iraq. At that time, Boondocks was still a comic strip, Richard Pryor was still alive, and Colt McCoy was eight. Okay that last part I made up, but you get the drift. The guy hasn't exactly been the pearl of good health before last season and many people thought he'd revert to such injury-plagued ways on a team that lost Elton Brand in a bidding war.
After having Shaun Livingston reject a two-year offer, the Clippers might still not be desperate at point with rookie Mike Taylor looking great in preseason. But losing the guy who was supposed to be the superstar on your team? Well, we've seen this story before. Often with this very same team. Let's hope that the evaluation goes well.
