Baron Davis' 'The Drew' Is a Story Worth Telling
The Drew: No Excuse, Just Produce opens with a famous and true quote from Nelson Mandela about the power of sport. To paraphrase: Sport brings people together. It strengthens bonds within communities and families that are otherwise fractured. It channels anger, demands focus and—for a lucky few—rewards hard work with an unimaginably opulent lifestyle.
Baron Davis, the documentary’s director and a 13-year NBA veteran, is one of those lucky few. And none of it would be possible without South Los Angeles' Drew League, one of the country's most celebrated basketball leagues that just so happens to be located in one of its most defeated neighborhoods. Davis played his first Drew League game when he was only 13. He never stopped going back.
His film stands tall as a show of gratitude to the sport that scooped him from poverty, but this isn't a basketball story so much as an informative tale about the positive influence local institutions can have on their compromised population.
At the center of it all is a gregarious, portly man named Oris “Dino” Smiley, the Drew League’s commissioner since 1985. Amid all the gang violence, drugs and decay that’s surrounded him since he moved to South L.A. in 1963—two years before the Watts riots and three decades before the Rodney King verdict—Smiley ungrudgingly presses on inside the hurricane’s eye.
Like Davis, he’s quick to laugh and eternally grateful. Smiley’s life story carries the movie from the Drew League's valleys (the hopelessness of educational budget cuts and senseless death) to its apex—the 2011 NBA lockout, when Earth-stopping appearances by Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James lifted the league’s profile to an unprecedented height.
The dozen or so NBA players spliced through Davis’ film give it a jolt, but the actual Drew League stands credible without them. These aren’t megastar celebrities once they step into that sweltering gym. They’re members of a community. Everyone has a part to play.
Bleacher Report sat down with Davis to discuss the documentary, the current postseason and his attempt at an NBA comeback.
Bleacher Report: As someone who made such a personal film that in so many ways wound up being about your childhood, where you grew up and a sport that ultimately changed your life, what are some things you learned over the past four years making this documentary that you didn’t already know?
Baron Davis: I think for me, how important family and community is. And how to take advantage of people who are there that might not be your parents, or opportunities that are there, you know, to be around community and have that community feel, and to trust that they’ll always give you that guiding point. It’s good mentors, it’s good lessons and things learned when a community is behind an individual.
B/R: Was anything left on the cutting room floor that was particularly difficult for you to edit out of the film?
BD: There was a lot. I would say some of the aftermath of the riots and all the stuff that came about. But also how the Drew had a real impact and effect on just the temperature around the neighborhood. I thought a lot of that was left out that could’ve been added into it.
B/R: Where do you think you’d be today if the Drew League never existed?
BD: For me, it keeps me humble, keeps me grounded. It is a place I can always go back to and feel at home, so I don’t know where I would be without the Drew. It’s had such a huge impact on my life.
B/R: Have you considered filming your own journey back to the NBA?
BD: I’ve been collecting footage here and there. I’m more concerned about really playing basketball, and, you know, a lot of people are always like, "You should be documenting this, you should be documenting this." And at times, I do it for my kids, because I have young kids, and the footage that I get is more to show them some of the stuff I’m doing.
B/R: You’re 37 years old and know as well as anyone what it takes to play at the highest level. How optimistic are you that an NBA team will give you the opportunity you’re looking for in the foreseeable future?
BD: I’m confident. If I have the right summer and show what I can do, I think then [I can] get into a training camp and be able to do what I need to do.
B/R: When you look around the NBA, are there players out there who you watch and say to yourself: If this guy can get a roster spot, why can’t I?
BD: No, I think everybody who’s on a roster deserves that. I don’t need to be focusing on that. I’m just worried about trying to be the best player that I can be at this stage and to prove people wrong. That’s my only motivation. I’m not really worried about nobody else. I never have, and I never will.
B/R: Is there one Drew League player who you think deserves a shot in the NBA but has been held back for whatever reason?
BD: That’s a good question. That’s a really good question. There’s a ton of guys that I think have been there and got overlooked, but you know, you [look at] somebody like Dijon Thompson. He plays like a pro and started out in the pros, then a couple injuries really kind of allowed him to get lost in the shuffle. Somebody like that.
Then you have Casper Ware Jr. You’ve got Pooh Jeter. You’ve got Bobby Brown. You’ve got a lot of these guys that should be on somebody’s roster. All they need is an opportunity. It’s just like, basketball is so huge now, basketball is so huge that these guys have done well professionally overseas and grown names and brands for themselves. I think that’s the beauty of basketball.
B/R: What was the single greatest Drew League performance you've ever seen?
BD: Man, that’s tough. There’s been some good moments. I mean, obviously, LeBron. LeBron coming and doing what he did was just, like, that took the cake. DeMar DeRozan’s performance last year in the finals was crazy. That was memorable.
B/R: What hand did you play in bringing LeBron to the gym that day?
BD: We just linked up that day, and he wanted to get a run. He wanted to get a run, and we were just chilling, and I said, "Man, I would love for you to come play in the Drew. That’d mean the world to me." And he was like, "Let’s go!"
B/R: Who’s the one guy you most want to see at Drew League this summer who's never played there before?
BD: There’s a lot of guys that we want to see at the Drew. We always wanted to see Derrick Rose. We want to see Draymond Green and Steph Curry. Kyrie Irving. You know, whoever.
B/R: Have you reached out to any of those guys?
BD: I think they have a day job right now.
B/R: Are you watching the NBA playoffs at all?
BD: Yeah I am, you know I’ve been popping in and out.
B/R: Do you have an NBA Finals prediction?
BD: I don’t. No, I don’t have a Finals prediction. I wish I did, dude, but that’s like, no way, not right now. There’s too many good teams right now. You know, with injuries and things like that, it’s like, it’s hard to say.
There’s no real—with Steph Curry being hurt—there’s no real uncut favorite but the team that’s defending their title, so it’s the Warriors' title to defend, and I think there’s some good teams that will give them a run for their money. And it’s going to be interesting to see.
The Drew premiered April 29 on Showtime. For more information on future airings, go to SHO.com.
