This Baron Is Feeling Powerful About Future

Baron Davis can’t let go.

He has Magic Johnson’s charity game on tap this weekend, and training camp is only two months away. But there are no basketball thoughts that make him feel as good as the memories of the 2001 NBA playoffs.

He waited his turn as a rookie, but at the end of his second season it all came at once. Success. Off-the-court attention. And it turned out the hardest part was answering questions from a woman in glasses, ducking verbal jabs from “The Weakest Link” host Anne Robinson.

With Davis leading the way, the Charlotte Hornets blasted the Miami Heat out of the first round, then battled the Milwaukee Bucks through seven games.

“Ahhhhh, man,” Davis said. “The playoffs were just a wonderful thing. To be on the court down the stretch with the game on the line--that’s like the ultimate feeling. The ultimate feeling.”

He waited a full season to get the feeling, which is like waiting at the mailbox for a letter in these broadband Internet access days.

But his pattern is worth noting amid the stampede of players rushing out of high school directly to the NBA.

Hopefully the kids will download this information: Here was a guy who played two seasons at UCLA and was picked by the Hornets with the third choice in the 1999 draft, yet he spent most of his rookie season on the bench.

Hornet Coach Paul Silas told Davis he would start at some point in the season, but point guard David Wesley was in the midst of a career season, and Eddie Jones wasn’t about to get bumped from the two-guard spot.

Davis didn’t get one start, and he had to be content with his 19 minutes a game.

“That whole first year was just a teaching tool and a way for me to grow both on the court and off,” Davis said.

He accepted it as part of the business. He also made a vow when he returned to Los Angeles to begin his off-season workouts: “When I come back to Charlotte after the summer’s over, there will be no ifs, ands or buts about it.”

“I had a lot of anger built up in me,” Davis said. “I wanted to prove to them that I can shoot the ball, I can make the guys on my team better.”

In other words, do all of the things that the Charlotte coaching staff wondered if he could do.

He got a break with the sign-and-trade deal that sent Jones and Anthony Mason to the Heat for P.J. Brown and Jamal Mashburn.

Davis started all 82 games last season, scoring 13.8 points a game--more than double his rookie average. He also ranked 11th in the league in assists with 7.3.

His performance makes the old cliches come forward. As he says, “Patience is definitely a virtue.”

But when it comes to his 2001 playoff performance, the only appropriate phrase comes from the hip-hop lexicon: Davis blew up.

He averaged 20.3 points, shot 55% and averaged three steals against the Heat. His shooting and scoring dipped against the Bucks (to 47% and 16.7 points), but his assists increased by one to 6.1, and he cut down his turnovers.

The NBA, always eager to push a new star at the first sign of promise, put Davis on a special edition of “The Weakest Link” that aired during the NBA Finals.

“That was pretty scary,” Davis said. “I was on TV. I knew millions of people were watching me. I was in a suit. I was nervous.”

One thing he makes sure to find time for is the Midsummer Night’s Magic game. Unlike some players who come and go (or don’t show at all, such as Allen Iverson last year), Davis has participated in each of the three games since he was drafted.

“Magic has been a mentor to me ever since I was in 10th grade,” said Davis, who met Johnson during summer pickup games at UCLA’s men’s gym.

“My first experience, he came up to me. He said, ‘Hey, what’s up, Baron?’ He knew my name. For a kid in 10th grade, meeting Magic Johnson. . . .

“While we were up there, he had me in drills, he made sure that I played all the time, coached me, encouraged me.

“I feel it’s a must that I [play in the game] out of respect and out of my love for him.”

A focus of this year’s game is encouraging men to get checked for hypertension, diabetes, cholesterol and prostate and lung cancer, and there will be health screenings at the Watts Community Health Center, the Magic Johnson Theaters and at Staples Center before Sunday’s game.

Up next for Davis, in the first week of September, is a trip to Australia to compete in the Goodwill Games. The U.S. team will also feature Kenyon Martin, Mike Miller, Rashard Lewis, Shawn Marion, Jermaine O’Neal and Andre Miller.

Davis is aware that several members of last year’s Olympic team in Sydney, Australia seemed to lag during the NBA regular season. But he plans to rest and be ready to go when the season begins. His leg finally feels back to full strength for the first time since he tore a ligament as a freshman at UCLA. He has two rounds of playoff experience.

“I’m looking for this to be my breakout year,” Davis said. “Last year was me feeling my way, feeling things out. Now I have full control. I’ve always been confident in myself, now I know this is my team, this is how we’re going to run it.”

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J.A. Adande can be reached at ja.adande@latimes.com.