Waiting To Explode

By TIM KAWAKAMI

Jan. 7, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

PHOENIX — Baron Davis, going slow? Isn’t that against the laws of physics and the nature of those booster-rocket legs?

Hyper-competitive, hyper-quick, gregarious, thunder-dunking, born-for-the- NBA’s-open-floors Baron Davis . . . biding his time? Being patient?

Handling backup point guard duties while 1999 rookie class standouts Steve Francis and Lamar Odom race all night, putting up big numbers and crazy shots?

The same guy who blasted off over Kevin Garnett on Dec. 15, throwing down a roundhouse tomahawk slam so staggering that it still has his coach, Paul Silas, shaking his head and murmuring?

“Oh, I didn’t know he had those kinds of things in him, you know?” Silas said this week. “He’s made some dunks over people that are astonishing. The things he can do. . . .

“But he’s in a winning situation and it’s a team concept and he has to play within that structure, sacrifice individual goals for the betterment of the team.”

So, as a surprise to most who saw him levitate through two seasons at UCLA and his high-flying career at Santa Monica Crossroads High, when the Charlotte Hornets come to Staples Center tonight to play the Lakers in Davis’ L.A. homecoming, Davis probably will be the second or third player off the bench.

He is about the sixth or seventh offensive option for this forward- and veteran-dominated playoff-quality team.

Twenty minutes a game and 6.2 points is not exactly how he envisioned it when he left UCLA and landed as the No. 3 pick overall last spring.

“I came in with, not a selfish attitude, but with an attitude of wanting to start and wanting to be rookie of the year and all that,” Davis said, an hour before Charlotte’s loss to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday to kick off a western swing.

“But I’m not really disappointed I’m not dominating or anything. I’m just happy being on a winning team. I just know I have a longer road than some of the other rookies, guys like Lamar and Steve. I mean, they’ve come and they’re the man.

“Even though I’m not getting the 38-40 minutes, and not getting the stats or whatever, that doesn’t really matter. Because this team is working toward something down the road, and that’s the playoffs.”

Davis nodded when asked if his friends and family in L.A. ask him why he isn’t playing more. He said he bought 30 tickets for tonight’s game and expects many other friends to be in attendance.

But he said, for now, he can be patient and soak in tonight’s “dream come true” of playing an NBA game in L.A.

Interestingly, one person Davis clearly holds dear is former UCLA coach Jim Harrick, who recruited Davis to UCLA but was fired after filing a false expense report before Davis began attending the school.

Davis says he has kept in touch with Harrick as the coach moved to Rhode Island for two years--coaching Odom last season--and now at Georgia.

“Love him to death. Love . . . him . . . to . . . death,” Davis said. “I mean, that was my man, Coach Harrick.

“He was just an honest guy, a down-to-earth guy. That was something I respected and that my family respected. He never beat around the bush or lollygagged. He was just straightforward. Told me how he felt all the time. I mean, you can’t help but respect that.

“And during the whole recruiting process, with him, Coach [Lorenzo] Romar, we just had a special type of bond.”

Davis said he does wonder what might have happened if Harrick had not left UCLA before he got there.

“I wish I could’ve played for him,” Davis said. “I mean, I think that would’ve been a joyous thing. We could’ve accomplished a lot.

“That’s not taking away anything from [Steve] Lavin. I had a great time while I was there. I had an opportunity to do some things that I think opened my game up and helped me to get to where I’m at.”

But Davis points to Harrick’s two tournament trips at Rhode Island and shakes his head.

“That guy can flat-out coach,” Davis said. “It’s a shame what happened to him. But as you see when he moved on, I mean . . . he’s had nothing but success. Good things happen to good people.”

Davis says he keeps in close contact with all his friends at UCLA, talking with Earl Watson, who has taken Davis’ spot as the lead guard, and Rico Hines and others two or three times a week.

And Davis fiercely defends the team from critics, saying he believes that Watson will soon make the adjustment from complementary player to a dominant guard, just in time for a tournament run.

Though UCLA is visiting the Washington schools this week, Davis said he’s hoping to catch the team when it plays at North Carolina later this month.

For Davis now, the best things for himself are in the long-range future.

Said Mike Gminski, a Hornet broadcaster and 14-year NBA player: “Baron’s done exactly what Paul has needed of him. There might be a little frustration on his part because he sees other rookies who are putting up better numbers. But that’s not what we need him for.

“He’s not in Chicago, where there’s no talent, or in Houston, where things have fallen apart and he’s got to put up big numbers. So I think in the long run, being here is going to benefit him more because he can come along slowly.”

Though he has gotten more playing time lately, mostly because of Eddie Jones’ elbow injury, Davis gets 10 minutes a half playing behind veteran David Wesley and deferring to Anthony Mason, Elden Campbell, Bobby Phills, Derrick Coleman and Jones when he’s on the floor.

“I’m learning the NBA way the right way,” Davis said. “I’m not getting thrown into the fire.

‘I mean, [Odom and Francis] are doing a tremendous job and I tip my hat to them. But I think that being around a lot of veterans who’ve won at different levels and who have been around a lot, you tend to go slower, and the slower you go, the more you pick up on things.

“Those guys are really putting up great numbers, but I think I’m learning more about the game. I might not have the stats or the highlights--well, I’ve got a couple--but I’m learning.

“I think the process has been learning, but I’m picking up a whole lot of things instead of just up and down, up and down.”

Said all-star point guard Jason Kidd of the Suns: “For a rookie, he definitely has the tools. But as a rookie, you’ve got to pay your dues and you’ve got to learn the hard way, sometimes.”

Davis says he tries to supply as much energy as he can when he’s on the floor but consciously ratchets his wilder tendencies down a notch or two. In the loss to Phoenix, Davis played 25 minutes, including a long stretch at the point (defending Kidd) with Wesley at the shooting guard, and scored seven points with three assists.

Davis averaged 5.1 assists during his UCLA career, and in part-time play, is averaging 3.9 assists so far this season. But he’s also shooting only 41% from the field and is only seven for 41 from three-point distance.

“I love his passing right now,” Silas said. “He’s got to work on that 15-footer. Once he gets that down solid, I think there’s no stopping him.”

Said Jones, who knew Davis from their days going head to head in the UCLA summer pickup games: “I love to see him run up and down the floor. He’s massive [in the upper body] to be a point guard, but incredibly slick and smooth.

“You know, he has the personality of a West Coast player. You don’t see his style in the Eastern Conference much. You see Allen Iverson, Stephon [Marbury]. . . . But you don’t see that a lot in this conference.

“He has that incredible way about him, getting himself to the basket. Personally, I think he’s a better passer than a lot of these guys throughout the league.”

Davis said he has been too busy to fly any of his family to North Carolina for visits, but he did finagle a fast trip for himself recently that helped ease the homesickness.

“I surprised my grandmother on New Year’s Day,” Davis said. “I popped up at night, but I had to come right back.

“She didn’t know what to expect. I just knocked on the door and walked in. She was like, ‘Boy, you’re going to get into trouble!’ ”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Davis’ Numbers

Baron Davis’ per-game statistics in his rookie season with the Charlotte Hornets:

Minutes: 19.6

Field-Goal Percentage: .410

Three-Point Percentage: .170

Free-Throw Percentage: .585

Points: 6.2

High game: 13

Rebounds: 2.2