Walker and Gaston

[Theresa Lee <tjoyce@mit.edu>]

Did anyone see the Jayson Williams interview this weekend? He is
refreshingly frank about his upcoming negotiations with NJ. He is basically
saying, "hey, I want to stay, but I'm not going to take below market value.
I know the difference between 10 million and 12 million is ridiculous to
argue about, but I just want them to be fair. I'm not going to say that 10
million a year is an insult to me...blah, blah, blah, but I don't want to
get less than I deserve. There aren't a lot of guys who can do what I do.
Negotiate with me and give me a contract as soon as possible. If you don't,
I'll go check out the marketplace and then it might get complicated."

One could surmise that Antoine Walker is saying the same thing basically. I
think that's fair. He wants respect and that comes in the form of money and
support from the owner and coach. Thus far, the owner is publicly using him
as an example of excessive salaries. That's not a good place to start
negotiating from. It ups the ante from the players side....they say: you
don't want to pay me...but I'm going to make you PAY for not wanting to pay
me.

Maybe Gaston should have said: "I'd love to be able to give Walker a huge
payday, but I can't mortgage the future of the team and org. on one player.
I hope as owners we can find a way to make the players happy, but we can't
bankrupt our teams to do that. I'm going to try my hardest to get a deal
with him. If any of you want to break the bank to pay him, be my guest, but
I am going to stop at a number that is fair for both the player and the
team."

Instead, we get a flip remark from Gaston.

I thought Boston was trying to become more attractive to players.

Young walker and young Gaston have a few things in common, eh? A little
immaturity on both parts?

TJL