As movie trailers go, it was phenomenal. In some parts of Hollywood, that's all you need.
For 18 minutes in their first preseason game, Baron Davis gave Clippers fans, and the league, a quick glimpse of what the team could become this year: fast, exciting, high-scoring, dangerous.
Then Davis hurt his finger, Tim Thomas pulled a groin muscle, and Marcus Camby bruised his right heel.
Talk about a tease.
"The potential of this team is great,"
Davis said. "We could definitely be a playoff team. But the difference with this team, and other teams I've played on, is we already had an identity, we had an identity established. With this team, we've yet to find that identity because we have yet to all play together."
"The first two weeks of camp, we started off on a great note, then guys started falling off one by one."
The result was one of the most uneven exhibition seasons in the NBA. The first few games filled with exciting play and optimism, the last half with poor decision-making, defense and uncertainty over just how long those injuries would linger.
On most teams, that wouldn't be as big of an issue. But with nine of the 14 players on the opening night roster new to the team, training camp was supposed to provide answers, not generate more questions.
"This was the time we needed just to get an understanding of each other, figure out where guys like to get the ball, just get in a comfort zone with each other on the court,"
Thomas said. "Now it's probably going to (take) about 10 or 15 games, but once we figure that stuff out, we should be all right."
So, on the eve of their regular season opener, the same questions the team opened training camp with remain.
How well can Camby and Chris Kaman play together? Will Davis be able to transform the normally half-court oriented Clippers into the run-and-gun, fast-breaking teams he steered up in Golden State? How much will Elton Brand's presence be missed?
Davis, who dabbles as a movie producer and rubs elbows with enough celebrities to speak their lingo rather fluently, was in a good enough mood to translate the issue into Hollywood terms.
Asked what TV show the Clippers training camp compared to, he joked, "Lost."
"You've got 11 strangers on an island who are trying to figure it out ... ."
Actually, that's more like the set-up for the reality show, "Survivor,"
which seems equally appropriate.
If these early season nicks and bruises heal in time, the Clippers could be a dangerous team. Head coach Mike Dunleavy has compared Davis to Lakers great Magic Johnson without batting an eyelash on more than one occasion.
With Davis pushing the ball up court; athletic swingmen like Al Thornton, Ricky Davis and rookie Eric Gordon who excel in the open court; four players capable of shooting over 40 percent from behind the 3-point arc; and two 7-foot centers in Camby and Kaman, Thomas said this year's team reminds him a lot of the Steve Nash-led Phoenix Suns teams he played on.
"I was telling Baron the other night that he's one of the three or four point guards in this league I'd want to play with,"
Thomas said. "He's such a strong point guard, he can post up, create his own shot. And anytime you're in a pick-and-roll situation with him, he's aggressive and similar to playing with Steve where you can pretty much sit back, wait for the ball and be wide open."
That script took its first steps out of the development stages Sunday when Thomas and Davis were able to participate in practice. They did a bit more Monday, but a determination on their release date probably won't come until later today or Wednesday morning. Camby's role is still unfilled.
Until then, the trailer will have to suffice.
