Mike D'Antoni suggested the other day that Baron Davis's first spin as a Knick would come soon, but that it would likely come in very brief stints, even if he started. Yesterday, D'Antoni wouldn't rule out that tonight against the Cavaliers might mark Davis's debut, and that appears to still be a possibility. Alan Hahn sets the scene:
What remains to be seen is if he dresses for tonight's game in Cleveland, where he could get some spot minutes just to begin the process of acclimating to game conditions. It is believed Davis will get into a game sometime during this four game road trip. What needs to be accepted is that he will have some rust to shake off along the way, so fans -- and certain pundits -- need to view this accordingly and not as some instant solution. With very little practice time during this compressed season, finding Davis minutes during games may be the only way to get him ready.
That last point is interesting. With so little time to practice, it kind of makes sense to just sneak Baron into real-life game action and hope nobody forces him to run around too much. Hahn's sooooo right about giving Davis time to grind off the rust and get comfortable, but we all know folks are going to be losing their minds over his every move. Let us at P&T do our best to be patient.
Meanwhile, everybody guessed that Todd Ramasar's "8-10 weeks" prognosis when announcing Baron's back injury in Cleveland was exaggerated with purpose, but bringing the guy back onto the court just over five weeks later IN Cleveland would seem a tad uncouth, no?