I was checking out True Hoop's Thursday Bullets when I came across an interesting Al Jefferson quote from a Steve Aschburner column.
Big Al described his relationship with Ricky Davis as such:
"Rick was one of the greatest teammates that you could have, especially off the court. When I was a rookie, he gave me the ball even when a lot of other guys didn't. I can't wait to show him how good I, uh, improved."
Now this led to numerous questions:
- Davis is a great teammate, especially off the court? That could mean anything. Keep in mind Big Al was not 21 when he played with Davis. And if Jefferson used a fake ID I'm pretty sure that would have gotten out. Let's just pretend that Davis showed up at Jefferson's hotel room with 6 strippers and introduced Big Al and Kendrick Perkins to the concept of body shots. I'm kidding. But you have to admit that Davis' reputation makes that kind of story entirely plausible.
- It's great that Jefferson speaks highly of Davis. But isn't the bigger issue how he will mesh with Mark Blount? I'm not entirely convinced by the following Jefferson quote,
"Me and Mark had a good relationship. He was the one I would always talk to. . . . We're good."
- Does Davis actually go by Rick? Reminds me of a story. Angus King, former governor of Maine, used to teach a class on leadership at my college. I never took it, partly because it filled up so quickly. But one of my friends, a guy named Bobby, did. Well after one class they had an exchange that went something like this:
Bobby: 21
King: Isn't it about time you started going by Bob?
Similarly Rick Davis does sound better. At the very least it is infinitely cooler.