Antoine walker

[jmc@ptc.com]

Dan Butts wrote:
> William Lee wrote:
> > Did anybody else think that Walker wanted to wiggle several times but
> > intentionally clamped himself down?  I was thinking that he was trying to
> > display the new, improved, *restrained* 'Toine.
> >
> > Bill
>
> I thought that first mini-wiggle hurt his back.  He was in pain shortly
> after that.  He does seem to be more restrained, though.  Let's see if
> he can tone down his exuberance if the C's can get a big lead.  That
> will be the measure of his maturity.

  Antoine definitely wiggled several times, and was more emotional as he 
played better.  In the interview he said he'd been holding back and 
restraining himself the first 3 games and that he really just needs to 
let loose and get in the flow of things to be effective.  

Mark Berry summed it up well:
> One thing I haven't seen anyone on the list mention is Antoine's comment after
> Tuesday's game, when he said he was worrying too much about his shooting
> percentage in the first few games. I thought this was a great point. Although
> we all want him to shoot a higher percentage, I think we'd all agree we want 
> it to happen naturally. The one thing we don't want is our best player
> second-guessing
> himself or worrying about missing shots. A coach once said to me "basketball
> is a game of risks, and winners take them." I believe that's true, the key is
> taking calculated risks. Anyway, it seemed to me that the more aggressive
> Antoine just seemed to loosen the entire team up.


  The concern in the past is that he's gotten too emotional and gotten
technicals and argued with refs too much, as well as getting so carried 
away with his individual agressiveness that he think in terms of team 
agressiveness, and ended up taking foolish thoughts.  The real change that 
I saw Tuesday night was that even as he was getting more agressive in his play, 
he wasn't taking foolish shots, and he didn't argue with the refs much, 
even when a technical was called on a Miami player and him.  Rather
than reacting in his traditional way by throwing a tantrum and risking
getting thrown out, he said a few words, smiled, walked to the Boston
bench, explained to Pitino what had happened (he demonstrated that the
Heat player was slapping his forearm away, as if Antoine was doing a
hand check instead of a forearm check, and Antoine must have gotten
upset at the slapping) then Antoine sat on the bench and laughed at the
situation.  That was the most encouraging show of restraint that I saw
by Antoine.


> Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 15:51:30 -0800
> From: "Shailendra K Mishra" <skmishra@us.oracle.com>
> Subject: Re: OH BABY!
>
> I don't want a toned down Walker..I want him taking 3's, rebounding,
> scrapping for the ball, talking trash, wiggling the whole works. - Mishra

That's exactly right!  That's when he's at his best.  He just needs to be 
able to get into that aggressive state, but keep his temper under wraps. 


> Subject: Re: Antoine!
> 
> As Tommy might say: I love Antoine!
>
> In all honesty, I spent the majority of the first half in a pretty-near
> state of shock.  I simply cannot believe this is the same player I watched
> a year ago.  All the bad stuff I said and thought about Walker (FT
> shooting being the exception) I now retract.  We knew he could rebound.
> We knew he had nice moves to the basket.  We knew he could drain the 3
> with some (ish) consistency.  But the passing!  Oh, the passing!  Again, I
> watched with near incredulity as he made pass after pass in the first
> half.  And we're not just talking desperation, "damn I've got three guys
> on me, I have to pass!", passing, we're talking flow-of-the-game,
> make-the-extra-pass, hit-the-open-guy passing.  The Antoine I remember
> from his first two seasons would ignore (or not be aware of?) the open man
> and make those crazy drives to the hoop, ending in a blown opportunity or
> a wild shot.  Or he'd just sit behind the arc and toss up threes like they
> were going out of style.  The #8 I saw out there tonight was *a different
> player* (the two ill-advised threes towards the end of the 1st half
> excepted).  I'm much impressed.  Thank goodness he's our for a good while

Antoine has always had the ability to make those kinds of passes, and on 
certain nights (namely the last week of his first season, when he was 
going for triple doubles) he's demonstrated it.  However, most of the 
time he hasn't LOOKED to pass, and has just not allowed himself to be 
aware of the passing opportunities.  In the past he's made up his mind 
to shoot too early.  It looks like Pitino's talk of trying to get Antoine 
to be like Oscar Robertson is sinking in. 

Jon Mc