Re: sorry about that.

[ishbak <ishbak@conknet.com>]

On Tue, 07 Dec 1999, you wrote:

> You know at the start of the second Rocky flic where Sly Stallone buys that
> embarrassingly tacky Camaro and matching black silk jacket? That's exactly the
> space Antoine Walker is in right now.

Is he? Or is he just trying too hard?
 
> I'm waiting for freaking "Adrian" to tell "Rocky" to go win, then to hear that
> theme music start playing in the background along with the Antoine jogging up
> the city hall stairs sequence etc. Basically, Antonio McDyess is in town to slap
> Toine around and outplay him thoroughly at power forward, and Toine will again
> act like he doesn't give a damn about his play. That's what is going to happen
> tomorrow night, yet I've seen what Toine is capable of in the past against
> purported All Star opponents and so it pisses me off royally to see his 6.5
> rebounds, 2.3 assists and falling .408 FG%.  Toine needs to finally wake up and
> start fighting back hard on those boards....if not tomorrow night then at least
> in time for the second showdown with "Mr T" (Tim Duncan) or in the Lakers game.

Is Antoine really uninterested in playing hard, or does he just not know his
role? His entire career in Boston he's been the "man", the guy that did pretty
much everything, like Grant Hill in Detroit(on a lesser level). Now he's just
part of the team, with Pierce and Griffen being equally important. As Jim
pointed out, Antoine has remained calm during the whole process, is trying
to fit in and isn't just looking at his stats. If Antoine scored 40, had 20
rebounds and 10 assists yet the team still lost would it matter? If he didn't
score a point, and the other power forward "outplayed him" and the team won why
should we care? All that matter is the W. I would rather have Antoine do the
little things, than have him outplay anyone.
	The whole emphasis on individual players is something I don't like very
much in modern basketball. Basketball is not a 1 on 1 sport. That's why the
Charles Oakley's and the Dale Davis's find a place in the league. How about
this... if anyone has the time and interest and is watching the next few games,
try watching Antoine off the ball. Does he set picks? Does he box out? Does he
hustle for loose balls? Does he get back on defense? Or does he sit in one
place and clap and hop for the ball? Does he just sit under the board and wait
for the ball to come to him? Essentially, are his statistics a problem of
putting his personal acclaim behind the team concept or are the a product of
just not caring? I think that should be our factor of judging him. What I would
really like to now is if the Celtics are winning *because* of Antoine Walker or
in spite of him.

> Look Jim, this guy literally sees million dollar monthly checks drop into
>his bank account, before taxes of course, which is a big improvement over his
>first contract. I wonder if he even cares to make the extra effort this
>season to turn things around? Let's face it, the guy is slumping so bad even
>Peter May won't bother rubbing. Antoine has amply proven the point of all his
>critics, so why even bother? He's just another overpaid, bad sport, snot
>nosed, statistically average NBA forward. 

Has Antoine ever been known for his lack of effort? He may be known to husband
his strength at times, but every game I've seen Antoine play in I've seen a
player who wants desperately for his team to win, and to have a part in making
it happen. Wondering if he cared never crossed my mind. Referring back to my
pet theory proposed in the previous reply, I wonder if Antoine is trying
*too* hard to fit in. That's what really strikes me about Antoine, he reminds
me of one of those people you know who tries too hard to do things. Rather than
analyzing a problem, in this case his game play, I think Antoine just tries as
hard as he can and when he fails, he tries again harder. This leads to a cycle
of failure and frustration because there's no real improvement or
acknowledgement of the actual problem. Antoine tries hard, he just doesn't try
*smart*.  
	Now this is where I'm going to bash ML Carr, I think ML was the
worst thing that happened to Antoine. By giving Antoine free reign and not
giving him the kind of tutoring and teaching that he needs, I think he really
set back Antoine's development. Actually, I think ML and Antoine are similar
personalities in a way, nice personable people that try too hard with really
understanding the problem they're dealing with. It's costing both of them.
	But to return to a ray of hope, I really don't think it's too late for
Antoine. He is young(this is becoming a mantra), he desperately wants to be
good and wants to win. He has a coach that is a father figure to him. I like
the situation, I hope it works out for the best.

Noah

To generalize from basketball, to sports and society in general, isn't it
interesting how(at least in American culture) people who don't live up to
expectations are considered, in some way, bad? Antoine, by not living up to
expectations, is "overpaid, a bad sport, snot nosed"(this isn't an attack on you
joe). The same was true for ML. ML was considered some sort of bad person
just because he was a bad general manager. Anyone who actually knows ML will
tell you that he's one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. I wonder if it's
part of the American ethos of social darwinism, where being poor is equated
will failure and being wealthy is a sign of merit. It's almost as if making 
mistakes makes one a bad person.
	Contrast this to people and players who are obviously cruel or
otherwise immoral yet manage to help their team/company/whatever to some sort
of success. Look at how quickly New York started to love Sprewell after New
York started going deep into the playoffs. Look at Karl Malone, he kicks people
in the groin going up for shots, he elbows people with such force that he
knocks them unconscious, and yet because his team wins, he's considered some
sort of god in Utah.
 	I'm not sure it's a healthy trend and I certainly don't like it.
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