Hoffarth: Baron Davis' 'Drew League' doc raised to Showtime standards

Baron Davis’ basketball career isn’t quite ready for the closing credits.

The 37-year-old who is actually eight months younger than Kobe Bryant has a couple of D-Leagues on his radar, powering through a comeback from what should have been a career-ending right knee injury in 2012 while in the playoffs for the New York Knicks.

The NBA’s Development League was his first testing ground, as he just finished playing a handful of games with a team in Delaware to see how he’d fare (averaging 12.8 points, 3.5 assists and 2.1 rebounds in 22.5 average minutes).

His upcoming summer will include a run in the famed Drew League in South Central L.A., not far from where he grew up.

What the Drew League has meant to his personal upbringing, to community pride and the future of basketball in Los Angeles, was Davis’ inspiration to become involved as a director, producer and on-camera subject for a rich and historic documentary titled, “The Drew: No Excuse, Just Produce.” It made its notable debut at last summer’s Los Angeles Film Festival and receives more nationwide attention starting this weekend as premium cable network Showtime picked it up for distribution in May.

Davis, the former Santa Monica Crossroads and UCLA star who lives with his wife and two children in Pacific Palisades, explained more about how this project got to this point and how he continues to assist in its message:

Q: Before talking about specifics of the Drew League, can you go back to how much time and sweat was put into just making this film? From starting the project in 2011 — during the NBA lockout, when star players like Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant and LeBron James were showing up to play — to crowdfunding for $100,000 to finish it, getting it premiered at the LA Film Festival last year and now it has this Showtime platform?

A: It started as something from being there (as a player), to the camaraderie that had built over the years, and noticing all the people who had been there with cameras filming games — we needed to be able to capture all that. We knew that in this moment, the Drew was is in a transition period. Every year, every summer, it embarks on new storylines. We had to be nimble and move week to week as different athletes or NBA players came through. It came to a point where we wanted to allow the fans have access to what we were doing.

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It was taking so long, and we kept telling people we were doing this and that in order to finish it. We went to the crowdfunding to help build an audience for it and complete it. That was crazy, and it showed a lot of support for our vision, people wanting to see it come to life.

Then getting it ready for the (L.A. Film) festival was an amazing thing for us from a local standpoint. That was a major step, and it was well received, an opportunity for people at the Drew to be interviewed and see themselves on the big screen in a theater full of movie-goers and filmmakers.

For myself, it was a sigh of relief and a humbling moment, seeing people walk out of the theater and share their thoughts and their stories, how the movie made them feel. That’s what we were going for, trying to drive home.

Now with Showtime, their generosity to see the vision and wanting to premiere it to the world … It’s a long process every step along the way, but it’s been fulfilling and humbling for someone like me making a transition from sports to film and TV.

Q: What did lea about the Hollywood and film industry while doing this?

A: Man, you lea a ton (laughing). How not to have tuel vision. How to listen and hear perspective, how to button up a film, from the legal side to editing to making deals. The beauty of it is trying to use your creative resources but also think about the business side of the budgets and so forth. There is a lot of begging that happens (laughing).

Q: Calling in a lot of favors?

A: A lot. You have to sell yourself and sell the project, and then you’re at the mercy of the person you’re asking. Every little bit of it, from investors to crowdfunding, worked at the right time.

Q: There’s more than just the history of the league in this documentary. It hits on many notes beyond who has played in it. What was your intent for the film going in and what did it end up becoming as you went through the process?

A: We wanted people to get a good feel of the family importance of it and give the audience an opportunity to be part of that community, the competitive energy. A lot of times you see on TV is negativity, and they wouldn’t want to be part of that. We wanted to give the sense of who we are, where we’re at and spread the word about something positive as it pertains to African Americans. We didn’t sugarcoat it, or overdramatize it, or glamorize it. We’re showing what it’s like for many of us who have come out of, and still come back to, South Central L.A.

Q: How do you characterize the value of the Drew League today? Even with all the sponsorships and Nike branding, does it stay true to its roots?

A: It’s stayed true, definitely. It’s growing the right way. The same people are still involved. It’s still great energy and the competitive level has risen in the process.

Q: In your appearances in the film, you explain a lot about your upbringing. How you grew up near Manchester and San Pedro streets, in the Drew Middle School area, but your grandparents wouldn’t allow it because of the dangers. You talk about how basketball saved your life. Were there things you wanted to talk more about in the film but didn’t have time?

A: I wanted to get into more of the gang issues, the impact it had on them, how they used the Drew as a place to set a truce. I wish I could have had more time talking about the long laundry list of the cast of characters who played there. That includes Raymond Lewis, who had one of the most interesting stories about growing up there. Hopefully, this will open up a part two or three to this project.

Note: “The Drew: No Excuse, Just Produce” premiered at 8 p.m. Friday on Showtime and is available on all Showtime On Demand platforms (TV, online streaming, mobile apps). It’s next TV airings are Sunday (12:30 p.m., Showtime Extreme), Tuesday (4:25 p.m., Showtime), Wednesday (7:40 p.m., Showtime 2) and Thursday (8:35 p.m., Showtime Extreme).

MEASURING MEDIA MOMENTUM

WHAT SMOKES

• An HBO press release this week has asked us to wait until June 22, a Wednesday night, at 10 p.m. to see the latest project they’ll unveil with new employ Bill Simmons. “Any Given Wednesday With Bill Simmons” has a 20-show run that Simmons says, in the release, he’s excited about … “and I’m really, really excited to drop my first F-bomb on TV. We are going to figure out nudity down the road, as long as it’s tasteful.” Aim high. The show is executive produced by Simmons, Eric Weinberger and Stuart Miller. Weinberger is president of something called the Bill Simmons Media Group, and previously served as executive producer of the NFL Network. Miller used to produce for “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”

WHAT CHOKES

• Pending departures of Mike Tirico (to NBC) and Skip Bayless (to Fox Sports 1) do not signal another mass exodus from ESPN, but is more on par with what happens at TV sports networks. Consider, however, this perspective from Dan Le Batard on his syndicated radio show, which the Sports Business Daily picked up on, if you lump Tirico and Bayless into the mix of recent ESPN escapees like Bill Simmons, Jason Whitlock and Colin Cowherd. “The ego of these guys is such that they don’t believe they’re choosing money over wiing; they believe they’re making a difference,” Le Batard said. “It’s happening right now in the sports opinion business. I told Colin Cowherd not to leave this spot. ‘If you leave you’re going to get lost … no one’s going to know where to find you.’ … Skip Bayless thinks he’s going to make a difference, and he’s not … What’s been happening to athletes is now happening in the gasbag business … It gets intoxicating. Now we’re recruited in the opinion business, and how much time we have been spending criticizing those who get lured by the recruiting?”

More media notes and the conclusion of 30 baseball book reviews during the 30 days of April on www.insidesocal.com/tomhoffarth