Who is to Blame for the Clippers Woes: Baron Davis

It has been well documented;the Los Angeles Clippers are a failing organization. 

It is almost as if anything and everything that touches the Clippers in any way, shape, or form, begins a slow steady decsent to a bitter state of constant failure.

Last season everything went wrong. 

Despite mentioning how he would like to pair up with another star or else he’d leave, Elton Brand opted to sign in Philly. Corey Maggette has also been let go and replaced with Zach Randolph, possibly one of the more disliked figures in the league.

Then the NBA lottery ping pongs bounced in favor of the Clippers.

L.A. landed the number one pick and chose Blake Griffin; hope was renewed in Tinsel town. 

Even after Griffin suffered an injury in the pre-season, hope still runs high with Chris Kaman. 

Kaman is returning to his old form since being back from a injury. And with young guns like Eric Gordon and Al Thornton shaping to be the quality players, L.A. had every reason to be excited.

So why are the Clippers so awful? 

Why are they celebrating a three-game winning streak early in the season when two of games were against Memphis and Minnesota? 

Who is at fault?

Most pundits and Clippers fans will immediately point to head coach Mike Dunleavy. 

He doesn't appear to have a charismatic relationship with his players and the players seem to have given up on their head coach.

But Dunleavy has a successful track record with the Portland Trailblazers in the late '90s and Los Angeles Lakers in the early '90s.  

These past seasons should warrant more merit than should they suggest an early dismissal and strong doubt in his abilities.

Dunleavy can also motivate his players. 

He coaches X's and O's and tries to have his players play up to their potential, but the players and more so the veterans—ahem, a particular veteran—really need to show more motivation when they play to re-ignite this franchise.

But all this aside, let's get to the root of really who is at fault here.

Who is this veteran? The answer is obvious; Baron "the Murderer" Davis.

Baron Davis is killing the Los Angeles Clippers franchise. 

I repeat,he is absolutely taking a knife and going Charles Manson over Donald Sterling’s prime possession.

Let’s start this discussion with his salary:

Baron Davis is set to earn $12.1 million this season, a number that will increase to a whopping $14.75 million in 2013. 

He is set to earn more money than anyone in Clippers history, even per the league averages at the time. 

More,again per the percentage of league salary and more than Clipper greats Loy Vaught, Danny Manning, Elton Brand, and Lamar Odom ever made while donning the perky red and blue.

Okay, well what about Davis' stats?

Baron Davis’ actual averages don’t look earth shatteringly awful at first glance. 

Last season he averaged around 15 points per game while dishing out almost eight dimes per contest. This season his numbers are, thus far, hovering around the same. 

Fifteen and eight for your starting point guard isn’t great for someone making his kind of salary, but it’s something you can live with if you're Coach Dunleavy.

The crucial number to examine is not the averages, but the percentages.

Baron Davis shot 37 percent from the field last season (shooting 39.5 percent so far this season) and 30 percent from beyond the arc.

Look at those numbers closer;37 percent. 

To put all of this in perspective, no one in the last 30 seasons of this league has a shot a lower percentage from the field than Baron Davis’ 37 percent last season (attempting at least 900 shots). 

This list includes notable poor field-goal shooters during that span such as: Jamaal Crawford, Stephon Marbury, Allen Iverson, Antoine Walker, Kenny Anderson, Nick Anderson, Jason Williams, and Jason Kidd.

Yes, Baron Davis is a worse shooter than all of the above.

The worse part is, it hasn’t gotten better throughout his career. 

Baron Davis never shot more than 43.9 percent from the field in his 12-year career. He may go down as one of the worse percentage shooters in league history.

But that's not what's sad; what's sad is, Baron Davis loves shooting and will continue to shoot as long as he has the ball in his hands. 

Davis has jacked around 16 shots a game, a number that is riding steady thus far this season in L.A.

Baron Davis has also demonstrated an obvious lack of motivation. 

Whether Dunleavy is at fault is questionable, but there’s a reason B-Diddy was run out of Charlotte and New Orleans and eventually not re-signed by Golden State.

So, Baron Davis is the problem,what’s the solution?

The Clippers need to unload this cancer by any means necessary.

Baron Davis is being paid too much to simply have his carcass sit on the end of the bench.

It would be difficult for L.A. to trade Davis considering his injury history, salary, age, and overall play.

One possibility could be Indiana if they are looking to make a playoff run this season.

A possible deal could be sending Davis along with DeAndre Jordan and Mardy Collins to Indy for T.J. Ford and Jeff Foster.

Indiana would pair up a Jim O’Brien style point guard with a defensive minded three-point happy team. 

Baron also would add enough offensive talent to a team that severely lacks capable scorers outside of Danny Granger.

On the other side, L.A. would gain a capable starting point guard in T.J. Ford and another serviceable big-man with a soon to be expiring contract in Jeff Foster.

In reality though, Indiana would probably say no first to this trade, especially if they are skeptical about their future with Baron Davis and his albatross of a salary.

Are there any other teams really willing to acquire Baron Davis? Probably not.

The Clippers cannot progress though with Davis on their roster being paid as much as he is and shooting 16 times per game at sub 40 percent.

The real solution;buy-out!

These two words have been seldom been used in Donald Sterling’s regime as owner. 

Mr. Sterling would rather a player or coach(see Dunleavy) play out their contract than terminate them prematurely. 

Donald has to take a page out of other owners’ books though.

The Pacers had enough with testy point guard Jamaal Tinsley and opted to negotiate a less than financially favorable buy-out just to keep him off the roster. 

Portland didn’t even want to deal with Steve Francis for one moment after they acquired him in the Zach Randolph draft-day deal with New York several years ago. 

The Blazers bought out Francis’ three-year $32 million contract for $31 million! Portland only saved $1 million over the course of the contract, but clearly it was worthwhile just to unload Stevie who is currently not part of a franchise.

Donald Sterling needs to look at some of these scenarios and change his stingy ways to an extent. 

The LA Clippers should be able to afford and negotiate a somewhat favorable buy out to unload Baron Davis.

In the end, if unloading Baron Davis continues to be the looming concern, but it boils down to management unwilling to negotiate a buy-out for him, then maybe we have a new person to blame for the Clippers’ misfortunes; Donald Sterling.