Pitino weighs in on Antoine's (im)maturity

[Mike Dynon <mdynon@ix.netcom.com>]

In his comments after the Bucks game, Coach Pitino made some
observations about Walker that go to the heart of recent debates on this
list.  Since he knows Walker better than any of us do, perhaps his
remarks should be given some extra weight.  The transcript taken from my
videotape:

	"Antoine Walker has a lot to learn, a lot to improve on.  But
	I said this the other day, if you said to me, 'What type of 
	season did he have for an All-Star?'--good.  If you said to me, 
	'What type of season did he have as a second-year pro?' I'd say 
	awesome.  Because he's 21.  And we all forget that sometimes.
	
	"Would I like him not to sometimes do his antics?  The best way
	to handle that?  He'll grow out of it.  It's not the worst thing
	in the world, because he's a good person deep down.  If he
	wasn't a good person, he'd be hearing from me every second of
	the day.  So, sometimes you can't ask people to be veterans
	before their time.  You've got to let them--he'll grow up, and
	he'll learn certain things.

	"Do you remember Gary Payton a few years back, and everybody was
	saying--now he's the consummate leader.  So it just takes time 
	and patience with that type of stuff.  I've been through it with 
	New York, you know, Mark Jackson was flying a plane around 
	Madison Square Garden and everybody was complaining about that, 
	and I said, he'll be fine, he's a great guy, one of my favorites 
	of all time.  Now today he's one of the best leaders in the 
	game.

	"It all works out, it's just a matter of getting older, getting 
	wiser, knowing what to do, what not to do.  Just picture all 
	yourselves at 21 years of age, what you looked like and what 
	you did."

-- 
Mike Dynon
North Kingstown, RI