BOSTON (AP) — Boston Celtics forward Glen “Big Baby” Davis is looking to change his image. Step One: Drop the nickname.
Davis, who missed the start of the season following surgery for a broken thumb he sustained in a fight with a childhood friend, was recently fined $25,000 for directing inappropriate language at a fan during a game against Detroit last Wednesday.
“I’m in the public eye. Kids look up to me. You just can’t make those kind of statements,” he said before Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers. “It (stinks) that you have to learn this way, how to keep your emotions intact. I know who I am as a person, and hopefully my fans know who I am as a person, that I am a good guy. I’m not a troublemaker or a fighter.”
Davis went on to say that he’d like to drop his ‘Big Baby’ nickname. When asked what he’d like to use in place of it, a reporter suggested “Uno. Uno.”
He smiled and agreed.
“No comment,” Boston coach Dic Rivers said, when informed Davis no longer wanted to be called ‘Big Baby.”
Then asked if it was a sign Davis was ready to mature, Rivers said: “That’s a start, right? He’s young. He’s got to grow up in front of a lot of people.”
During the summer, Davis signed a contract that will pay his $6 million over the next two years.
He said he now understands what he needs to do and appreciated the Celtics’ understanding this season.
“Sometimes, in the game of basketball, you kind of show your emotions in a different way, just like when you go to work and you get a staple in your hand or your boss is messing with you,” he said. “In my job, it’s just a different experience. I’m a young guy who is trying to learn how to live life in this sport and adapt to this lifestyle. There are some tough bumps. The Celtics have done a great job of sticking with me and understanding.”
Davis, in his third season, is averaging 5.8 points and 4.1 rebounds.
Davis played a key role in Boston’s playoffs last season with Kevin Garnett missing the entire postseason because of a knee injury. Davis hit a game-winning buzzer-beater in Game 4 of the second round against Orlando before the Celtics lost at home in the seventh game.
