The Clippers are having some tough luck getting their newly acquired players onto the floor at the same time. First it was Marcus Camby, who missed the first week of training camp with the proverbial "flu-like symptoms" (which never made sense to me; either dude has the flu or he doesn't.) And now it's Baron Davis, who, after Monday's practice, looked a little drained and will not travel with the team for their pre-season game tonight against Oklahoma City.
I don't mean to further dampen the spirits of Clippers fans here, but with Baron Davis, you can pretty much expect these things to happen. Not him getting sick; it happened to Camby and it could happen to anyone. But it's possible that Baron's busy life away from basketball is what caused him to get run down in the first place.
The preceding 24 hours, Baron was a speaker at a "Women for Obama" rally on the UCLA campus, and then headed out to Dodger Stadium to take in Game 3 of the NLCS. It's good to see Baron embracing the fact that he's back home in L.A. by supporting the community, but during basketball season, maybe he should take it down a notch. Training camp is an extremely stressful time on the body anyway, as players try to work themselves back into NBA shape after five months off. And it's probably taking more of a toll on Baron, considering he recently took up the Jenny Craig diet as a way to trim some of the off-season fat. The diet plan is great, but between that and the physical demands of training camp, maybe Baron doesn't need to be spreading himself too thin by running all over town to different events.
Davis has only played a full 82-game season once over the last six seasons, and that was last year when, coincidentally, he was up for a new contract. The pre-season is a time for players to get used to their new teams and new players. For fans of the Clippers, it's also a time to get used to your newly acquired superstar missing time. Because you can bank on it happening plenty more as the season continues.
