'Big Baby' big question

For some NBA team, he will be a big gamble.

Operative word: Big.

Though he stands only 6-foot-9, Glen "Big Baby" Davis' weight fluctuates between 289 and 295 pounds.

He hardly looks obese. In fact, he seems much more solid than flabby. But with a baby face and perhaps some unneeded baby fat lingering as well, the question of pounds vs. productivity cries for an answer.

It's an issue that concerns some decisionmakers around the league, yet one that probably won't prevent the Louisiana State University power forward from being picked somewhere in the first round of Thursday's NBA Draft.

"Like most of the kids that we bring in, he struggled with recovery from the thin air," Jazz player personnel director Walt Perrin said after Davis worked out in Utah on Sunday along with fellow big men Joel Anthony of UNLV, Warren Carter of Illinois and Levon Kendall of Pittsburgh.

"But," Perrin hastened to added, "he's a talent."

The likeable, somewhat soft-spoken Davis readily acknowledged that the Wasatch Front's altitude got the best of him Sunday.

"Up here in these mountains, hey man, you're running good up here, man," said Davis, a possible pick for the Jazz — if he's not already taken — when they choose No. 25 overall in Thursday's opening round.

"It's like you can't breathe sometimes," he said between an occasional huff and puff, sweat still rolling in the minutes after his on-court audition ended. "Your lungs lock up on you, you start coughing. You've got to get used to it."

Davis — who is leaving LSU after his junior season and was named Southeast Conference Player of the Year after averaging 9.7 rebounds and an SEC-high 18.6 points as a sophomore — also admitted Sunday that he's become quite accustomed to scouts and executives from various NBA teams asking him about eating habits.

His answer:

He's already cut down on sweets and tries to make better decisions about when he eats. Davis also says that while he already has dropped "a little bit" of weight, he knows he needs to lose more.

"You probably want to play a little bit lighter," he said. "But you've got to gradually lose the weight. You can't just drop it fast."

Pondering the response are executives like Jazz basketball operations senior vice president Kevin O'Connor, who said that while Davis has "worked on trimming himself down a little bit" the weight topic "always is a concern."

"There are always questions when you've got somebody that's started 'here' and has gotten to 'here,"' O'Connor said. "You don't know if that's the bottom, or if he's willing to work.

"If he's willing to work at it," the Jazz basketball boss added, "I think he can get himself in better shape and get some (pounds) off."

Perrin, for one, thinks Davis can.