Big Baby’s Mental State

Posted by Brian Robb on Jun 26, 2011 214926 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2011%2F06%2F26%2Fbig-babys-mental-state%2FBig+Baby%27s+Mental+State+2011-06-26+13%3A00%3A39Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D21492

In case you missed it, Glen Davis joined KFXX in Portland with Isaac and Big Suke to discuss a variety of topics, most specifically his mental mindset and how he got some help with it this offseason from a sports psychologist:.

How often is a guy’s play affected by matters off of the court?:

“A lot of players are affected in ways that you would probably never even imagine, even little things a coach says or little things off the court, teammates. The game of basketball, especially on this level, you have to be mentally strong. Instead of always practicing shooting and working on your body and making sure you’re strong, you’ve got to also practice mental toughness. You’ve got to put yourself in tough situations mentally and just exercise your mind. A lot of guys don’t really recognize that. When you see the guys who do it, like the Kobe Bryant’s and Michael Jordan’s … you’ve got to be mentally tough in the game.”

What happened in the postseason, where you said your play wasn’t up to your standards?:

“Mentally, I wasn’t there. … I had to kind of adjust the way I played in the second half of the season and mentally I didn’t get a rhythm as far as just the way the game went and then just mentally like drained. That’s my offseason workout this year is to practice mentally. I’ve been doing a lot of things mentally to get ready for the upcoming season.”

How do you practice mentally?:

“I hired a sports psychologist to help you tap into the zone … as far as you miss a shot, you don’t worry about that. You go to the other end and use that energy to do something else on defense. … Let it pass like a cloud. Clouds pass by you all the time and you don’t worry about it, you’ve just got to keep going. That’s what I’ve been concentrating on, just how to handle things like a professional.”

The entire interview is worth a look, as are Danny Ainge’s  comments on WEEI about Davis on Friday:

Did Baby [Glen Davis] hurt his real or perceived value with his playoff performance and his recent comments?

I don’t know. I think that Baby has value on the market, there are teams that like him, there is a big need for a player of Baby’s caliber. I don’t think he hurt his value, no. Obviously, he didn’t help it like he could have by playing better.

Was it also a physical thing too? Had he not put on weight by the end of the year? He fired his personal trainer.

He didn’t fire the team trainer, who was working with him on a regular basis to keep him in shape. Baby puts in the work. His weight does fluctuate, but he works hard to try to keep himself in shape, and he gets all his work in with the team and with our personal trainers, our team trainers, our strength and conditioning people. He does all the work.

Baby did not play as well as he’s capable of. I don’t know why, maybe he had an outlook that was different. When he says “mentally prepared,” I don’t know exactly what that means. He was certainly prepared by the coaches to go out there and play. If he had a different agenda, or was playing the game the wrong way, had the wrong priorities, maybe that’s what he means. I don’t know.

Did Big Baby let you down?

I think “let you down” is tough. He didn’t play like he’s capable of playing, absolutely. He’s a better player than he played. He had played better for us in the three previous playoff series, but that does happen. You play long enough, you’re going to have a bad stretch and a bad run. That did hurt us, that he didn’t play as well as he’s capable of. We needed him.

We will have a full breakdown on Baby’s standing with the team and likelihood to be signed in the upcoming days here at CelticsHub, but with the lockout looming this is a situation that could track on for a long time over the course of the summer. It’s importance to this team’s chances next year though can not be overstated.