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Bulpett: Antoine Arrives
Boston Herald
The ball's in Walker's court now
by Steve Bulpett
Monday, January 18, 1999
Now that Antoine Walker has gotten this far - Boston - the
distance he will travel in his career is up to him,
according to his teammates.
Celtics general manager Chris Wallace said yesterday that
Walker has made it into town from Chicago, and the
captain's colleagues have no doubt he will be ready for
training camp. They also agree that, in his third season,
it is time for Walker to accept the leadership obligation
his talent dictates he must.
``I think his game speaks for itself,'' said guard Dana
Barros. ``He has all the tools. It's just a matter of what
he wants to do with the tools.
``He's still only 22 years old. So I mean, from a mental
standpoint, he's only going to grow. As far as his
physical game, if he gets better than what he is now, even
if he gets 15 percent better, he'll be unbelievable. He's
already a great player now, but once he learns exactly
what he can do and can't do, I think the sky's the limit
for him. But again, what he does with that is up to him.
If he wanted to, he could be close to 20, 10 and seven
(points, rebounds and assists per game). That's all up to
Antoine and how he wants to use his skills, because he
does have the skills necessary.''
As guard Kenny Anderson sees it, Walker is simply passing
through the phases each young player encounters
``When I got here last year, I could see and understand
what he was going through and what he's playing for,''
Anderson said. ``The bottom line is you get in the league
and you're young and you're used to stats and used to
numbers. So you just want to continue that, just get stats
and just get numbers. I understand that. Then secondly,
you want the money. You want to take care of your family.
You want the big contract.
``Once you get the big contract, everything then is the
ring. Like, `What do I have to do to get this team over
the top?' That's where I'm at in my career. Hopefully
he'll understand that and be there, too, because for me
the window is open just a crack. It's about to close. I
know I'm on a young team, but it's time to get moving for
this team. We have a lot of talent, and Antoine's a big
part of that. Antoine's a great player, and I know we can
do some good things here with the nucleus we have. It's
time to step up.''
The most encouraging words come from Ron Mercer, who was
also a teammate of Walker's at Kentucky. Far from what
Walker's absence for the first week of voluntary workouts
seemed to indicate, Mercer believes his friend has put the
side issues together and will be ready to handle the full
extent of his job - on the court and off.
``I think Antoine's going to be fine,'' Mercer said. ``I
spent some time with Antoine during the summer, and he's a
totally different person. I've never seen him more excited
than he is about this year. He's a totally different
person. He's going to come out and play hard, and you'll
see a different Antoine Walker. He's just glad to be back.
A lot of people are going to be surprised. I think he's
going to be fine.
``I think he recognizes a lot of things from last year. He
wanted to go out and prove himself as a basketball player
last year. This year he's going to be more of Antoine
Walker as a leader. He's going to do a lot of things this
year. I wouldn't even worry about it.''
Because they know Walker's not a bad guy, his mates are
perfectly willing to cut him slack. The fact is just four
players attended the Friday and Saturday workouts, and
while it would have looked good for the club to have
Walker on hand, the situation did not create a true
problem.
``You have to remember Antoine's still young and he has a
lot of things going on in his life right now for a
22-year-old guy,'' Barros said. ``The media is on him, and
basketball is hard enough for a guy that age. Coming in
with all the pressure and the skills and everybody's
saying what he should do and shouldn't do - and then he
has the personal situations that he has with his contract
and all that.
``I mean, there's a lot going on for him right now. I
can't say what's going through his mind, but if everything
was normal, yeah, he probably would have been here at the
start of the week. I just think he didn't want to deal
with things until it was time to deal with them. And
whether that's right or wrong, I can't speak for him. I
just think he's doing what he has to do, and when the time
comes he'll handle everything.''
The time is drawing near for Walker, in the long-term
sense, as well.
``I think a lot of the things we're talking about will
come with maturity,'' said Anderson. ``But Antoine has
understand that he's the center guy on this team.''