Honorary Warriors For Life & Warriors Villains For Life
The concept is simple. There are some players who are not in the Warriors organization, but Warriors fans will still root for anyway (as long as no Warriors interests are at stake). So they are not a part of Dub Nation, but they still are welcomed into Dub Nation. This is very often because they are former Warriors players, but not always.
More details are included in our master list of all those voted Honorary Warriors For Life so far. More details are included in our master list of all those voted Honorary Warriors For Life so far. In short, getting >75% support achieves Honorary Warrior For Life; >50% support of voters who know them achieves Honorary Warrior.
For the rare players that are very much the opposite, we have special statuses. For >50% anti-support votes among voters who know then, we award Warriors Villain status, and for the rotten creme de la creme, >75% anti-support votes, we award Warriors Villain For Life status.
Baron Davis
February 24, 2005, Baron Davis was traded from the Charlotte Hornets to the Warriors for Speedy Claxton and Dale Davis. He arrived with a reputation for fighting with coaches and constant injuries. He left as a local hero for life. To be fair, Baron did have his injuries, and his share of run-ins with the coaching staff, culminating in Coach Don Nelson benching Baron for the playoff-losing game against the Suns.
But in 2007, Baron also was the heart of the most thrilling run of Warriors basketball for the decade before and after, We Believe.
Now from an objective eye, we’re talking about a first-round upset win and a big dunk in a gentleman’s sweep in the second round. But by old time Warriors standards of abject consistent incompetent demoralized failure, that’s more than enough for herodom.
That first round upset was a shocking 1-8 matchup upset, and set back Dirk Nowitzki’s championship timetable years. (Dirk to his credit used this defeat to address the weaknesses exposed so he’d eventually knock off LeBron’s first super-team Miami Heat.)
Baron Davis filled up the box score for the magical playoff run averaging a 25.3 / 6.5 / 3.5 / 2.9 line.
And he had what is still the most beloved dunk in Bay Area history:
Even Kevin Durant remembered watching the dunk:
All good things must come to an end, and in the good old Chris Cohan days good things came to an end FAST. Baron Davis left town as a free agent a year later, but with time passed, does Dub Nation still love Mr. Davis?
Baron is still putting up sweet lines for Dub Nation:
Well 88% / Poorly 0% / Don’t care either way 12% / Don’t know who they are 0%
He easily qualifies for Honorary Warrior For Life status, notching the 5th highest Well vote to date. Congratulations!
Also: We Believe Documentary and Re-broadcast
A documentary is said to be in the works:
Former Warriors forward Matt Barnes broke some news Friday during an appearance on "The Bill Simmons Podcast."
"We're in the midst of getting a 'We Believe' documentary together," he revealed.
Plus, the We Believe Run will be re-broadcast on NBCSN Bay Area all afternoon on Saturday May 30 starting 2pm Pacific.
Baron Davis is right up there with Curry for me as favorite Warrior. He brought a swagger and skill set that a cure for all the bad years leading up to his arrival. Always a place in my heart for the man.
Of course they/we would. He was only on the team for such a short time but he helped put us on the map. Even Laker fan friends of mine said it was must see TV.