Report: Ricky Davis to vie for spot in Knicks training camp
Rick Davis last played in the NBA with the Clippers in 2010. (Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images)
It's been three full seasons since we've had the pleasure of seeing Ricky Davis ply his trade in the NBA, but he's apparently attempting an earnest comeback.
According to Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report, Davis is one of 10 players to snag an invite to Knicks minicamp -- a common trial that often decides a team's final training camp inclusions. Davis, who turns 34 next week, still has a ways to go to impress team officials enough to actually make the roster. But we probably shouldn't rule out the possibility, given the way that New York nabbed Rasheed Wallace (who, at the time, hadn't played in the previous two NBA seasons) out of semi-retirement around this time last season.
Davis is a very different case as a player, though, having never redeemed two-way value even remotely comparable to that of Wallace. Even at his best, Davis was frustrating; he was as likely to shoot his team out of games as he was to contribute productively (if not more so), and only went as far as to offer entertainment value on defense.
But Davis kept getting NBA jobs because of solid all-around production, standout athleticism and the ability to generate offense, up to the point where his numbers no longer validated consistent playing time. Davis' last two seasons in the NBA -- both with the Clippers -- were ugly, as his scoring took a sharp, downward turn amid more general regression. Los Angeles waived Davis in February 2010, and since that time he's played for professional teams in Turkey, China, France, the D-League (for all of a month) and Puerto Rico. In most of those instances he was released by his team midseason, having been deemed more trouble than he's worth.
