Glen "A Little Less Big" Baby Davis

As the second round of the 2007 NBA Draft was winding down I had to comment on the Celtics' newest acquisitions. After absolutely killing the Gabe Pruitt pick, I wrote the following about Glen Davis:

At some point I also most definitely questioned Davis' ability to get in shape because A) he couldn't do it in college, B) he would get some real money with his contract, C) in addition he would get a per diem and D) I assumed the NBA had post game spreads. If a guy can't lose weight as he tries to situate himself for a financial windfall how can anyone expect him to do it once he gets that money?

In my defense Davis was freaking huge at LSU. Just watch the clip below: Update I originally posted the wrong YouTube clip below. The updated one now has Big Baby looking very big.

Bonus points for the unnecessary swearing. But let's not lose sight of the fact that Davis is outrageously big at that moment, a year and a couple of months before he was drafted. Flash forward to December and Davis is slowly making himself a staple of the Celtics' rotation. And the experts are noticing. David Thorpe's take:

John Hollinger? Check out his Rookie Per Watch. If you are too lazy to click on that line and you must know, Davis is #1. Although shame on you.

Thorpe joins a long list of people - Jeff Van Gundy and Tommy Heinsohn just to name a few others - who have talked about the things Davis could do on a basketball court if he dropped some weight. That may be true. But it should also take into account the fact that Davis has already slimmed down a fairly significant amount. He is headed in the right direction.

Long story short I was wrong about Davis. He is better on defense than I thought. In addition his offensive repertoire is far more advanced that a lot of guys' games when they come into the league. Davis also has quick feet, good hands and an understanding of where he should be on the court. More on him in a future post...