Re: Antoine

[Vinny Natale <vnatale@map.com>]

As far as Antoine's maturity versus Larry's?  I submit the following:

1)  I believe that Antoine is still a year younger than when Bird was a
rookie.  Antoine's class just graduated.  Bird came to the Celtics a year
after his class graduated.
2)  Larry sure showed his maturity when he actually expected Bill Laimbeer
to get into a fist fight with him on national TV during the play-offs.  And
Larry exhibited all the maturity in the world when he got into the fight in
the bar during the play-offs which ended up severely affecting his shooting
in that series and significantly contributed to the Celtics getting knocked
out of the play-offs early.  He sure was thinking about his teammates at
that time!
3)  And there was an unauthorized biography of Larry Bird.  The line I most
remember reading from that book was, "and the guy went down by the fists of
Larry Bird."  

Now at this time Larry has certainly matured beyond many of those but I
don't buy that his maturity level was any higher than Antoine's at the same
stage of their careers.  Actually I'd rate Antoine's higher.  

Vinny



At 01:30 PM 2/23/99 -0800, Michael Joseph Byrnes wrote:
>
>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
>
>