Were the seeds of Baron Davis' departure sown when Chris Webber got to the Warriors?

July 3, 6:06 PMGolden State Warriors ExaminerMatt Steinmetz

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Baron Davis 

This couldn’t all be Chris Webber’s fault, could it?

That might be a stretch, but you could make a case that when the Warriors signed Webber to a contract in late January, it was the first dagger Baron Davis felt from the organization and coach Don Nelson.

It would end with Davis verbally agreeing to join the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday. 

Chris Webber 

The Warriors signed Webber in the midst of coming off consecutive wins to the New Orleans Hornets and Charlotte Bobcats. The win against the Hornets came on the road.

After the Warriors’ blowout home win against Charlotte, they were looking at a five-day break, a quirk in the schedule that players had been pointing to since earlier in the season.

But since Webber was newly acquired, Nelson decided to hold what he termed a “mini-camp” for the new player to get adjusted to the team and vice versa. The problem was that none of the Warriors’ players was crazy about the five straight days of practice. Least of all Davis.

Nelson did give each of his veterans a day off during that period.

But the problem wasn't just that the Warriors were practicing; it was what they were practicing. From the get-go Nelson wanted to give Webber a lot of freedom and even began trying to run the offense through him at times.

No doubt Nelson gave this a conscientious try because he knew the Warriors needed another playmaker to take pressure off Davis.

Still, Davis wasn’t too crazy about all this. Also, Nelson inserted Webber immediately into the starting lineup after the “mini-camp,” but the Warriors lost a home game to the Chicago Bulls in which Chicago was missing three starters.

The Webber experiment, of course, didn’t last very long. But maybe for Davis, it had lingering effects.