Ricky Davis Is Bad for Your Team
Ricky Davis would appear to be a good player in the NBA. He is capable of putting up between 15 and 20 points per game. He can add 3 to 5 rebounds per game. He can jump right out of the gym to deliver thunderous dunks and alley-oops. He is an all-around athletic player who seemingly would be a good addition to any team. Seemingly.
But the stats don’t add up. It seems that Ricky Davis is truly not a good addition to any team. The Ricky Davis Effect has pretty much doomed every team that he has been a part of in his NBA career. I won’t bore you with any details of anecdotal evidence, but it seems that this year, the Ricky Davis effect has taken form in Miami.
Last season, Miami had a record of 44-38, which was good enough for the fourth spot in the East heading into the playoffs. Ricky Davis was not on the team. This year, with Ricky, Miami is 11-51 so far. That is a winning percentage drop from 55% to 18%. I know what you are probably saying at this point. “How on earth could Ricky Davis be solely responsible for the downfall of the teams he plays on?” The simple answer is that I have no idea, but the statistics are too strong to ignore.
In Cleveland, in the 2003-04 campaign, Ricky Davis was traded on December 15th to the Boston Celtics. Upon his departure, the Cavaliers had a record of 6-19 for a dismal winning percentage of 24%. After his departure the Cavs went 29-28 for a winning percentage of 51%. That was LeBron James’ first year in the league. With Ricky Davis on the court, LeBron scored just over 17 points per game. When Ricky left, LeBron scored just over 22 points per game and the winning percentage speaks for itself.
Now, I know there are a lot of factors that go into a team game like NBA basketball and it seems problematic to try to link a lack of success to a single player. With these two small examples, I would agree. So, I have prepared a statistical analysis. On one hand, we have a team’s winning percentage. On the other hand we have Ricky Davis’ contributions to the team as measured by his per-game averages. I found Ricky Davis’ Points, Assists, Rebounds and Steals, converted them to per-game averages and added them up to measure Ricky’s contributions to the teams he is playing on. I split Ricky’s stats and the teams’ records in years 2003-04 (Cleveland / Boston) and 2005-06 (Boston / Minnesota) to be sure that I had The Ricky Effect tracked appropriately to account for trades during a given season.
(Click Here for the Larger Version)
So, if your team tries to bring in Ricky Davis during this or any off-season be wary. Try a letter writing campaign to your team’s front office. Email them a link to this article. Hell, tell them to ask John Lucas who was basically fired as a result of the Ricky Davis Effect.
And just for good measure, here is the Youtube Clip of Ricky Davis shooting at the wrong basket in an attempt to get himself a triple double against the Utah Jazz. Davis needed one more rebound and subsequently shot a basket off the rim at the wrong end of the court in a meaningless game where the Cavs were up by a lot already. DeShawn Stevenson fouled him hard for being a dick. Jerry Sloan might have ripped his spleen out with a spork if given the opportunity.
Ricky Davis attempts to get a triple double by knocking the ball off the rim at the wrong end of the court.
The NBA is Out Of Control
There are a whole lot of weird things going on in the NBA right now, and it just doesn’t feel right. It is crazy enough to have guys get traded at the trade deadline and have guys reshape the way a team works, like what has happened in Cleveland, Phoenix and Dallas. Then on top of that, there are all these tertiary transactions that are taking place which all seem to be effecting the playoff races going on, and it seems anti-competitive.
Here are the things that come to the top of my head.
- Brent Barry gets traded, cut, and then re-signs with the team that traded him to begin with, the San Antonio Spurs.
- Sam Cassell gets bought out and gets to go to the Celtics who have been talked about as a potential suitor for months.
- Theo Ratliff gets cut and gets to join the Pistons for the league minimum.
- Chris Webber gets bought out the year before this by the 76ers and promptly joins the Pistons.
- Dallas uses a retired playe, Keith Van Horn, to get a deal done that brought Jason Kidd into their lineup.
Now, I guess these are all technically legal under the rules the way they are set up. It just doesn’t seem right that contending teams can get players who were making a lot of money without giving anything up and then not having to pay the incoming players any significant amount of money.
I don’t know what the answer is, but why, exactly do the Celtics deserve the services of Sam Cassell? Why exactly, do the Pistons get to pick up a big man late in the season, two consecutive years in a row? Finally, how is it that someone can be part of a trade, and a short time later end up back with another team? This calls into question the validity of the games and has clear implications on the playoffs.
I feel like maybe the trade deadline needs to turn into a bigger deal so that these cuts, waivers and roster moves can’t be made up to the playoff roster deadline. Having the time difference between the two deadlines only opens up these types of inexplicable roster moves that seem shady, at times.
