Baron Davis was a tough cover — there's no doubt about it. He holds a career average of 16.1 points per game, including three seasons in which he poured in more than 20 per night. He wasn't the most efficient three-point scorer, but you certainly had to respect his shot. He was always capable of dropping defenders with an ankle-breaking array of handles. And you didn't want to get in his way at the rim, despite his 6-foot-3 frame.
But why is this relevant today, at a point in time when Davis has been off the NBA hardwood for nearly 10 years and is over 40 years old? Because he apparently still can't be checked by the man who just called himself the greatest defensive player in league history.
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"As far as ranking him, I think he is one of the best of his era. Can Draymond Green guard me? Absolutely not," Davis told Dorrell Wright on the latest episoe of the "Dubs Talk" podcast (via Grant Liffmann of NBC Sports). "He couldn't stop me in the summer league at UCLA two years ago, he got mad at me. I was locking him up, I was saying I was the 'Baby Draymond'. He kept calling fouls but he can't score on me. He tried to post me up, and I kept yelling "I'm Baby Draymond!" and he was getting pissed.
"...But he can't guard me. Not even right now bro."
While Davis may have been joking in this particular instance, he still isn't quite sure that Green can truly be considered the GOAT defensive player. But, as a counter to that view, he also wouldn't expect him to say anything else. After all, you've got to be as confident as possible and think higher of yourself than anyone else, right?
"As far as ranking him defensively, I think in his era, he is one of the primary guys. All time? No, I don't think so," Davis said. "When you start talking about all-time, it's like, there ain't no stats for that s--t! You really got to say though, if you're the greatest defender of all-time, I mean you're 6-foot-8, would you have been able to stop Tim Duncan? Would you have been able to stop Dirk Nowitzki? Would you have been able to stop Tracy McGrady? Would you have been able to stop [Michael] Jordan?
"The greatest defender of all-time is a lot, but I like Draymond Green because he putting a lot on it. He made those statements for himself, ain't for nobody else but for him."
Davis added that what Green is doing right now — averaging 1.4 steals and 0.8 blocks per game while ranking fourth in the league in defensive box plus/minus (2.6) — is more than enough to allow him to make such claims. As Davis sees it, "he's not supposed to say [he's] not" the best defender ever. That would be like James Harden saying that he's not the MVP at this point in time... what good would that do?
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But to be the greatest of all time, Davis thinks he's got to show a little bit more... including getting past the 41-year-old Davis himself, which apparently wouldn't be the case. Do I smell an offseason game of 1-on-1 coming?
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