Antoine

[Michael Joseph Byrnes <mbyrnes@leland.Stanford.EDU>]

Peter Delevett wrote:

> You know, I can;t quite understand this attitude. People talk about how
> what made players like Michael, Bird, Magic and Isaiah great is that
> they get on their teammates' case and demand the ball even when it's not
> going in.  They say Grant Hill and Tim Duncan are flawed because they
> don't do this more.  Then Walker does it and people want to strip him of
> his captaincy?? C'mon, it's not Walker's job to hold anybody's hand.

A few things that one should consider before even beginning to compare
Antoine Walker to Larry Bird:

1) As a rookie, Bird had more maturity in his left little finger than
   Walker does today.  

2) Going all the way back to his high school career, the focus of Bird's
   game was on making his teammates better players.  Antoine Walker may 
   occasionally lift the Celtics to victories on the basis of his 
   individual talent, but, at this stage in his career at leat, he most
   definately does not "make his teammates better".  

3) Work ethic?  No comparison between the two.  (Just look at Antoine's
   free throw percentage.  Any player with the range to knock down threes
   has no excuse for shotting below 75% from the line).

4) Larry Bird *earned* the right to demand the ball.  His teammates *knew* 
   that when Larry got the ball, he would do with it whatever was best for
   the team.  

5) Why, with Walker's physical superiority over Bird, can Antoine only
   barely outrebound Larry?

A few days ago, someone on this lust referred to Antoine Walker as "one of
the best passing forwards in the league".  What a ridiculous statement.
Maybe Antoine *could be* one of the best passing forwards, but he
certainly isn't now.  I mean, *Travis Knight* has better passing skills
than Walker.

Walker is certainly a better player than he has shown thus far this
season.  But, if he is going to be worth his $71 million price tag, he
will have to become much more mature and team oriented.  Thus far in
Walker's career, we haven't seen anything close to that kind of maturity.
(When did Larry ever dress down a teammate on the sidelines during a
game?)

Michael Byrnes
mbyrnes@stanford.edu