Warriors' Davis has grown up on, off the court

OAKLAND – Baron Davis is at a point in his basketball career, in his life, really, where he is thinking about his legacy. He says this without hesitation.

Too much of the early part of his career was wasted. That's his fault. Davis takes the hit.

Too much of his entire career was ruined. Injuries happen. Can't do anything about that.

He is 28 years old, in his ninth season in the NBA, in his third full season with the Golden State Warriors, who visit the Kings tonight. He was probably never more respected and certainly never more feared as an opponent. He had the thunderclap 2007 playoffs – 25.3 points, 6.5 assists, 40.5 minutes, 51.3 percent from the field, the dunk of that and most any season by posterizing Utah's Andrei Kirilenko – and on the spot went from the best player on an incidental team that barely squeezed into the postseason to the embodiment of the aggressive, emotional, anything-is-possible Warriors.

So he doesn't even wait for the question to finish.

"Do you feel like you've matur...?" Do you feel like you've matured?

"A lot," Davis said. "A lot." "What have you learned?" "To grow out of it."

To get past things.

George Shinn, the owner of the Hornets, once compared Davis' presence in Charlotte and New Orleans to a poison. On the marquee, an All-Star in 2002 and '04 and such a part of the future that Shinn committed $85 million to him with a six-year extension in 2002, Davis had dropped to fire-sale status by February 2005, traded to Golden State for Speedy Claxton and Dale Davis.

And the injuries. After playing all 82 games his first three seasons out of UCLA, Davis made at least 60 just two times the next five campaigns, missing nearly one-third of the potential regular-season appearances. Surgery on the right knee in 2003. Bruised Achilles' tendon in 2004-05. Sprained right ankle in 2006. Surgery on the left knee in 2007.

Bruised reputation most all the time.

"I'm sure it bothers him, but the truth is the truth," said teammate Al Harrington, a close friend. "If he's injured often, then that's what it is.

"But at the same time, I've been around him for the last five years. I've closely watched him in the summer time, and he's always doing things to stay healthy. He really puts the work in. Sometimes, you run into bad luck."

Davis made a commitment to conditioning the past few offseasons in particular, arriving at camp looking as slim as he was in his college days. There were other less visible changes about the same time, most notably distancing himself from the unwanted influence of some friends of his youth from South Central Los Angeles.

"When you come from where I came from and you come into a lot of money, then a lot of people come out of the woodwork," Davis said. "Those weren't the best people to have around. When you're young, you allow that to happen. You feel a sense of guilt for your success. But you also want to help change people that you feel have potential and talent. But those people are there for a reason, and that's to really become takers.

"I've just become more well-rounded as far as what I want out of life. Coming into the league, it was really all about basketball and it was all about being real and keeping it real with my friends from my neighborhood. I just kind of walled myself off from the rest of the world and from challenging myself to be more than just a basketball player.

"I was just so caught up into going back to my community and going back to my neighborhood and doing as much as I could there that I wasn't allowing myself to soak up all my resources or utilize all my resources. A lot of times, you just get tunnel vision. When you're in the league, sometimes you have people around that just make you feel good. Now, I've opened myself up to having those friends in my life that challenge me every day and force me to be more."

This season, he is averaging 24.4 points and 8.8 assists and along the way hosting dinners with civic and business leaders in San Francisco to promote a plan to recognize outstanding teachers, part of his work with the Baron Davis Foundation. He is a leader of the Warriors, the one who plays to the spotlight as teammates chuckle about his Hollywood persona, the L.A. kid with infectious energy in the good times, though a brooding attitude in the bad. One of his teammates, Stephen Jackson, calls Davis a big brother.

"I can remember back when he would take a back seat to let other people lead," said Paul Silas, Davis' first NBA coach, back in the previous lifetime in Charlotte. "Now, he's the guy. Everybody looks to him for leadership. They look for him to pat them on the back. Whatever's needed, they look to him to provide it. And he does.

"I'll give you an example. When he first came to the (Hornets), he had the bandanas on and the hip-hop clothes and all that kinda stuff. So then I was coaching in Cleveland, and he came in after the game, into the wives' room, and he had on a nice suit and a tie and what not, and I just hugged him. I said, 'Oh my God, man. Look at you.' He said, 'I'm growing up, coach.' That did my heart all the good in the world. He was no longer subjected to his surroundings. He knew where he fit and what he had to do."

Legacy stuff.

"Baron is one of the smartest players and people that I've ever met," Silas said. "He is brilliant in that he is very perceptive. You have to come at him straight. He learns very quickly. When I had him early, he was more emotional, I think, than he is now. He's really grounded now.

Silas says Davis has learned what to do and how to act – as a person and as a player.

"He knows exactly where he fits," Silas said. "I don't think he really understood where he fit before. He was listening to a lot of different people about what he should and should not do. I think now, he knows himself how he fits, what he should do, what he should not do. He knows he has leadership qualities.

"When I had him, he wasn't ready to be the leader I knew he would become. But he has become a leader now. It's just great to see how he has matured into that."

Matured into it at this point in his career. At this point in his life, really.