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Michael Holley: Antoine Says He's Happy To Be A Celtic For The Next Seven Years
[The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
[Boston Globe Online / Sports]
Walker plans on a long stay
By Michael Holley, Globe Staff, 01/09/99
Antoine Walker will be in Boston Tuesday. The Celtics forward is
planning to stay in the area a while. Like, say, for the next seven
seasons. The NBA lockout is over, and, Walker hopes, so are the questions
about his contract.
''I'm a Celtic, man,'' he said yesterday from his home in Chicago. ''Write
it down. Boston is where I want to be.''
There has been plenty of post-lockout analysis of the winners and losers in
the NBA's six-month labor dispute. Most people believe that owners, such as
the Celtics' Paul Gaston, won. Most also believe that young stars such as
Walker, prevented from earning $100 million multiyear contracts with the new
collective bargaining agreement, lost. But if you tell Walker that, he might
ask you to check your math as well as your perspective.
''I'm happy to be playing, to be honest with you,'' he said. ''The new deal
says I can make something like $85 million over seven years. That's good
enough for me. That's a lot of money. I look at it like this: If you can't
live off of $85 million, you shouldn't be living. I just want to be in a
position to take care of my family. I'm not disappointed about that.
''But my thing is that we could have been playing basketball a long time
ago. We could have been playing in November. We held out so we wouldn't have
a hard salary cap, and now that's what we have, so what were we holding out
for? I'm just ready to play now. I was kind of anxious in November, but now
it's real bad. I can't wait to get back on the court. I'm in good spirits.''
When training camp opens in this abbreviated season, the Celtics can then
begin negotiating with Walker. The team can offer Walker a maximum of $85
million over seven seasons. It looks as if that will happen sooner than
later. So it doesn't appear likely that the Celtics will wait for Walker to
play out the final year of his current contract before deciding to re-sign
him.
All of Walker's contract questions could be answered as soon as the end of
this month. But that's later. Now the 6-foot-9-inch forward is ready to play
in an NBA game for the first time since April 18, the last game of the
1997-98 season. Those with active imaginations may envision bloated players,
idle for six months, wheezing up and down NBA courts across North America.
That may happen. But Walker will not be one of the severely winded ones.
''We've had some real good games here in Chicago,'' he said. ''Me, Scottie
[Pippen], Ron Harper, Juwan [Howard], and Randy Brown have been playing
almost every day. Sometimes guys from out of town will come in, so we've had
some games with [Charles] Oakley, too.
''I'm not crazy enough to say that all the players around the league have
been playing during the lockout, because that ain't true. But I think you'll
see good ball played in the league.''
Walker said he remains locked at his playing weight, 245-250 pounds. He
often worked out twice a day in Chicago. Fortunately for him, he took care
of his body and his finances during the lockout. There are two reasons he
didn't find himself in a bind during the shutdown: He signed a 10-year
contract with adidas over the summer (the money from the shoe company began
coming in November), and he has saved his money from the first two years of
his contract.
''But I'm not saying it didn't hurt to look up every two weeks and be
missing a paycheck,'' he said.
Now that basketball has been returned to the courts after spending a summer
and fall on negotiating tables, Walker likes the idea of talking about the
Celtics and the playoffs.
''I think we have a real good chance of getting in there,'' he said. ''I
like our team. We've got everybody coming back. Compare that to the team
around here [the Bulls]. They have nine spots to fill. With us, we've had a
year playing under Coach [Rick Pitino], so we should know what to expect.
We'll be ready. And I think [rookie forward] Paul Pierce will pick things up
fast, because everybody can help him with the system.''
Some fans may remember Walker's comments from the summer regarding Pierce.
He said then that the Celtics may have been more improved if they had
drafted a big man. But that was before Walker saw Pierce play. He likes the
6-7 forward's game.
The only question is, will anyone be at the FleetCenter to watch the young
Celtics?
''I hope the fans come back,'' Walker said. ''I hope they understand that we
didn't call for the lockout. We didn't want the game to be shut down.''
In less than a month, arenas will host NBA games again. You will be able to
find Walker at the FleetCenter. Perhaps for the next seven years.
This story ran on page F01 of the Boston Globe on 01/09/99.
© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.