Re: Celtics Barely Win: Celtics 100-Rockets 96

[opi@unesco.org]

> C'mon, triple double tools? Did he ever have one? Walker may have pulled
> off *one* of the biggest capers in NBA history, financially speaking,
> concerning worth. I say may have because he isn't near where he should or
> could be. I believe it's laziness, especially in the off season where he
> could have honed some of his glaring weaknesses. The boo birds have always
> been in Boston like any other town. NY is a good example. They just didn't
> boo when Bird and Company were in town because they produced. And when they
> started to falter they left them alone because of respect. Respect is
> something is you earn, it isn't bestowed upon one. The bomb here is, too
> black for Boston, unless I don't understand the context, it's an absurdity.
> My question is did we trade the wrong man??

He had triples in back-to-back games as a rookie and repeated the feat I believe
once more that season and again in his second. While I agree this isn't very much
compared to Bird,  there really are very few triple doubles in the league these
days going all the way back to the Jordan era, despite many great players being
more athletic than Toine. If you can put up those numbers as a teen in the NBA,
then IMHO this qualifies as having "triple-double tools". Still, Toine obviously
signed for 71 million largely because of "potential" rather than any services
rendered (not that it's his fault what they signed him to), but 20-10 happens to
also be a serious stat no matter what the age of the player. Kevin Garnett was
actually nowhere near a proven 20ppg or 10rpg when he signed for (I'm pretty sure)
twice as much the off-season before.

As flawed as Toine was and is as a player, leading a team 65 freaking times in
rebounds and scoring 23ppg are bonafide SERIOUS numbers compared to what Mercer is
putting up now or likely ever will (I may be wrong, but that seems to be implied
in your "we traded the wrong man" statement).

The jury is still out on Walker, but the point of my post is that people seemingly
will hate him until the very day he leaves Boston, regardless of whatever
self-serving excuses made to justify rooting for Antoine to blow another shot and
secretly (or increasingly openly) revelling in watching him fail. This comes down
to a blind hatred (imagine what it would be like if we had actually lost the
Houston game and he hadn't so inconveniently shot an unselfish 7-12 from the field
with 9 boards). The fans seem to want young men who behave like Antoine to feel
distinctly uncomfortable, unwelcome, if not unsafe (as through the hatemail and
vandalism Bill Russell faced). Once Toine is long gone we as fans can all get
behind the Celts and love them, and that would be a big relief for me too just
because it's pretty tiring what's going on. I personally don't believe at all that
this level of hate will transfer eventually onto another player presently on our
roster. Fans basically hate Toine for how he behaves out there, not for how little
he contributes to our winning chances compared to more white-audience friendly
Celts players, how much money he's paid, much less any actual misdeeds he's
committed in the course of his life (zero) compared to other stars (Mercer's gang
rape charge etc).

Joe

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