Principled Shilling

So last week, Yardbarker set up this conference call with Baron Davis and a bunch of internet luminaries. It's part of their push to get B-Zadiddio X-9WHAT, one of their athlete-bloggers, into the All-Star Game. Melo, too, but Baron needs more help than Mr. Anthony.

(The absolute and total hightlight was Skeets asking Baron about the fedora. For reasons beyond me, the audio couldn't be released to us, so The Jones reenacted their moment of triumph and managed to make it EVEN BETTER.)

I'm all for this, but not because I like playing the shill. Really, in the same way we've often said "I'd love to see [Kirilenko or whomever] on the Suns," I'd like to see the NBA's finest doing a little of the Golden State thing. The two questions and answers I got from the call get to the heart of this matter.

Shoals: What's the biggest misconception people have about Nellieball?

Baron Davis: The biggest misconception is just like people call it "streetball". You hear that a lot: "Y'all just out there playing streeball, y'all just out there playing streetball." But there's a method to our madness. People don't think that we play the traditional game of basketball. But if you look at our stats, we pass the ball well, we have a good assist-to-turnover ratio. Guys share the ball, we run our plays. We're a good executing team, especially down the stretch. And we make a lot of good halftime adjustments

BS: Have you talked to players around the league who wish they could play in this system, because of the combination of sound basketball and having a ton of fun with sound basketball?

BD: Oh yeah. Every time we play against people, they're like "man, y'all have so much fun." That's like the first thing people ask: "What's it like playing for Nellie?" It's great, of course.

Now, I know that the point guard position is just one man. And that despite all the quarterback analogies, they're not nearly as in command of the offense's direction, especially in an All-Star Game. But look, we've seen how Nash and Kidd can leave their imprint on an ASG or the Olympics. What a great PG contributes is feel. Golden State falters without Davis; anyone can tell that, while Nellie's the architect, Baron makes it actual.

Not sure we'd get to see Tim Duncan doing his best Matt Barnes, but if Davis can bring that feel to the West, we might learn a lot. My interest is strictly in the science.