Here's a really good player preview article (Written by Bonk) for the Season Countdown on the front page of TWB. However, since you all know that Ricky got traded we couldn't run the article. Anyhow, it's really good and still worth reading... especially if you are a Ricky fan. Howl for you!



RICKY DAVIS SEASON PREVIEW by Bonk

Ricky Davis is an enigma. Some people love him. Some people hate him. Some people love him and hate him. But everyone seems to have an opinion on him.

On the one hand, he is a guy that can give you 40+ minutes, 20+ points, 5+ assists, and 5+ rebounds on any given night. In the NBA. There are not that many people on this earth that are capable of such things. By my count, there are probably about 15-20 guys that could consistently put up those types of numbers. I remember when the Wolves traded for Ricky D. in 2006, he was the only player not named Dwane or Lebron averaging 20, 5, & 5 at the time.

Pretty Ricky has the tools, the versatility, and the endurance. Ricky Dazzle also has a complete skill set. Not to sound like Stephon Marbury describing Z-Bo, but Ricky Buckets can hit the outside shot, he can finish on the fast break, drive & dish, stop & pop…you get the point. He can pretty much do it all on the offensive end. Last season, for example, he shot 47% from the field and 40% from the 3-point stripe. On top of that, he averaged 5 assists last year, and has averaged 5 rebounds (I round to the nearest whole number) in 4 of the past 6 seasons. He has a silky jump shot, explosion toward the basket, a good eye for setting up his teammates and the versatility to run the court and rebound the basketball.

Not only can Ricky put up great numbers, and bring a complete skill set to the table, but he is also a very electrifying and exciting player to watch. He has definitely thrown down more electrifying dunks than any other Wolf since he joined the squad, and although Randy Foye has gotten accolades for making a few key shots down the stretch, I would be willing to be that RD has made more clutch shots that any other Wolf in the last year and a half. But when I think back to last season, it seems like Ricky Dazzle had as many electrifying plays as the whole rest of the team not named KG COMBINED. He is a fun and exciting player to watch. His dazzling (pun intended) athleticism, his swagger, his innovation – I think he is a blast to watch.

Also, aside from the electricity he brings you on the court, he also provides some good off-court flair which I greatly appreciate. His various hairstyles keep it fresh and funky. My personal favorite was when he braided his hair to show a big star on the back of his head, and a smaller star on each side. Also, it is also a wonderful night when he takes the braids out and rocks the fro once a season. Furthermore, how many black dudes these days have the balls or audacity to rock the chops? Pretty Ricky does! I make sure to give him proper respect for the chops in the tunnel during halftime of the games, asking him where they are when he has trimmed them down. He always responds to me in the same way. By rubbing his face, giving me a little smirk and/or wink and saying “I’ll bring em back, I’ll bring em back”. Oh, and I cannot forget to mention the couple of times he has yelped back at a yelping SILENT ABABU. Now THAT is funny! One final point on the intangible off-court flair contributions that Ricky Dazzle adds to my overall Timberwolves game night experience: his wife. She is hot, she is into the games (unlike KG’s chatty & aloof wife), and she seems way cool. Trust me, I know these types of things. She sat in the same section as me last year, and I spent many a blowout loss watching her closely. She rules. She is my favorite NBA wife. And just like Ricky, she will mix it up. Curly hair one night, straight hair the next. Ghetto attire one night, classy attire the next. There is no denying that the Davis couple has STYLE.

So hearing all of these good things about Ricky, you are probably thinking, “Alright Bonk, well according to the above paragraphs, Ricky has numbers similar to DWade & Bron, an offensive arsenal as well-rounded as Kobe, and as much style as Jordan, so what’s the problem? Where are the MVP awards and championship trophies”? Don’t worry I’m getting to that. Right now. Oh, and by the way, I never said he was as good as any of the players listed above, he just shares certain positive attributes and statistical anomalies with them on occasion, that is all.

Like I said, after reading what I have written so far, an uneducated fan would be thinking that RD is destined for the Hall of Fame. This, however, is far from the case. Although Ricky possesses a high caliber skill set, and is capable of putting up huge numbers, he also has a fairly healthy list of faults.

Inconsistent is a word that is often heard in the same sentence as the words “Ricky” and “Davis”. Some guys (KG & Tim Duncan immediately come to mind) are reliable and steady, and you can be fairly certain that they will give their teams a solid and consistent performance on a near-nightly basis. Mr. Dazzle is definitely not one of them. He is the type of player who will play 40 minutes and lead your team to victory with 34 points and 10 assists one night, and then play 40 minutes while scoring 8 points on 4-17 shooting with 6 turnovers to a defeat the following game. But, keep in mind, not that many people are capable of fulfilling the first part of my last sentence. He is indeed a very talented individual. However, Ricky is far too inconsistent and his seasons hold way too many games I described in the second part of my sentence for him to be coined as a reliable alpha dog on a winning NBA team.

Although I have described the versatility of high-level skills that Ricky’s repertoire contains, it is only fair to discuss his flaws as well. His defense is average at best. He loses his man and seems to lapse on D far too often. His defense often seems uninspired and aloof. That does not even tell the whole story, however. The most painful thing about his defense is that at times, he looks like a great defender. That is the thing that kills me, and the thing about Ricky that pains many a fan. He can play great defense. He can drop 30 points on any given night. He can do virtually everything on the basketball court at a very high level. However, he only does these things sporadically. Anyway, back to his defense. When he is focused and zoned in, he can be a great one-on-one defensive player. I remember a few home games last year, at home against the Clippers versus Sam Cassell is the first game that comes to mind, where coach switched him on the hot man during the second half, and he locked them down. It seems like when they switch it up and when Ricky knows that a big defensive effort is really needed, he can definitely do it. The problem is, a majority of the time, he does not give the type of effort or focus that is necessary to be a good defender in this league. He is far too sporadic defensively, I can not think of another Timberwolf player in the last 10 years who has been as notorious as Ricky for completely losing track of his man on a defensive possession. He is notorious for this, and that is not the type of attribute that top tier players are notorious for.

I described Ricky’s personality above as exciting and entertaining. However, there are often two sides to a good story, and there is another side to this attribute of Ricky’s as well. Sometimes his enigmatic personality causes problems, such as when he left the bench in the 2nd half of our hotly contested game versus Detroit last January. The spineless Dwane Casey later described Ricky’s exit as a “bathroom break”, and he would not give reason as to why Ricky has not allowed to re-enter the game, citing that he had a rough first half. Um, coach, with all due respect, the game went into double OT, Ricky was clearly your 2nd best player on the team at the time, and your best player was ejected in said game. He was needed on the court, so his exit and subsequent benching was much deeper than a “bathroom break”, and Ricky not returning to the game because he “had a rough first half”. This became evident when Ricky Buckets was suspended for the next game. And it became even more evident when Casey was fired a few days later, with some of the main reasons being his lack of discipline and his lack of control over the team. There have been grumblings that Ricky versus Casey was a huge underlying problem throughout the first half of the 06-07 season, and that Ricky’s poor attitude and lack of respect for the coach or the discipline of the team was the man reason Dwane Casey was fired. Other rumors have also pinpointed RD as a huge problem-child behind the scenes, with Ricky being described as a guy who promotes slacking, selfishness, and general dissention among team lines. These are all rumors, however, and you can very seldomly get any of Ricky’s teammates, past or present, to say anything negative about him. Therefore, I primarily dismiss these as what they are: rumors. However, it is still somewhat of a concern, especially considering the fragile and diminishing team chemistry the Timberwolves had last season.

So what should we expect from RDazzle in the upcoming 07-08 season? That is a great question. While the Timberwolves are pinning their marketing and long-term hopes on the likes of Al Jeff, Randy Foye, and Corey Brewer, RD comes into the season with the best NBA resume’ of the bunch to date. Not only that, he is 27 years old, which is viewed as the beginning of a typical NBA players “prime”. Also, he is on the last remaining year of his current contract, and although I often downplay this aspect of motivation among professional athletes, he may have extra focus and ambition based on the fact that this is his “contract year”. I personally think the Ricky D could show us his best year ever. He does not have to take a backseat to anyone, he is entering his prime, and he is playing in a contract year. He carries a very versatile and complete skill set, and basically has all of the tools necessary to be a top-notch player in the NBA. There are many reasons to believe Ricky Dazzle could have a very fruitful season. On the other hand, where he fits in with the current Timberwolves squad is a bit of a question mark. It is cloudy to see how Taylor, McHale, and Whitman view him fitting into this teams plans. Also, he is enigmatic and streaky, so it is hard to gauge how effective and how consistent he can truly be. He has never been given “alpha dog” status before, so it is still uncertain if and how he can handle that. But that is why they play the games, and no matter how it turns out, following Ricky Dazzle this season will, as always, be an entertaining journey.

Thanks dude. Yeah I was bummed when he got traded, mostly cuz I liked his flair, but also cuz I had JUST finished my only article...and it was about him.

Anyway, I know its kinda long, but yall should check out the 5th paragraph for sure, where I give props to his wife, his afro, his chops, & his interaction with SILENT ABABU....

BonK wrote:

Haha yeah, I definitely agree. Such good memories...