Re: dilettantish-Reply-Reply again

[j.hironaka@unesco.org]

Jim Hill wrote:

>  I believe Walker to be a very talented "tweener" who doesn't make anyone
> on this current team better.  Not because he can't, but won't or rather
> hasn't.  Maybe the chemistry doesn't work, hopefully yet.  But the team
> sure flowed
> better with Walker out injured. Does anyone think it will flow better with
> Mercer out and Walker at the 3?

Jim Hill has a point IMO about the risks of building a team around an eratic
"point forward" (Antoine) who has far from proven himself in this league,
and this year let guys he previously took special pleasure in torturing blow
past him into mature, full-fledged superstardom (Chris Webber, Kevin
Garnett, Antonio McDyess). But having said this, a polished version of
Walker  is also a more explosive machine gun dribbler (he is already) and
far more intuitive about the split-second opening & shutting NBA  passing
lanes than Paul Pierce. You risk A LOT of potential downside with Walker at
the three, compared to an intelligently risk averse, elegant, old school
wing forward like Paul Pierce. As bookend forwards, I think they meshed
wonderfully in the month of February like fire and ice (remember
incidentally that Pierce never took his nationally number one ranked Kansas
teams out of the first rounds of the NCAA tournament). I believe these two
guys have chemistry.

But I wish Jim wouldn't get me started on Ron Mercer. What actually got me
started on Mercer is Peter May's comment in the latest The Sporting News
that Ron Mercer is a guy who "doesn't mind staying out of the limelight".

As I've stated before - and hope I made crystal clear - it does NOT
necessarily imply racism to say that Boston fans expect our sports athletes
to behave in certain specific ways (act humble, mind your own business, seem
as appreciative of ethnic white working class values as we all are).
Wracking my brain, the two exceptions to this rule I can come up with are
Cedric Maxwell and Oil Can Boyd (athletes who were applauded despite their
different mannerisms).  But I think each player got shipped out of town at
basically the first excuse, and Oil Can later told the Montreal press that
Boston was actually quite racist, much to our indignant outrage. Remember
that winning isn't always quite enough. Bill Russell had brought 11
championship banners to Boston by the time his house was broken into, his
trophies smashed and his bed defecated on.

My hopefully non-racist point though, is that certain type of superficial
behavior will sometimes fog our otherwise intelligent capacity to judge the
merits of an athlete in Boston. To put it another way, on what factual basis
should Peter May claim that Ron Mercer "doesn't mind staying out of the
limelight" or that Antoine Walker, by contrast, is a "me first" player. It
is not because Antoine Walker outperforms Ron Mercer in every quantifiable
category of "hustle" (twice as many rebounds) and "selflessness" (basically
twice as many assists per game over his career despite playing power
forward, not guard). Nor obviously is it because Ron Mercer took more shots
per game after the month of February than Antoine Walker did. Sure, I know
I'm probably beating up again on a recognized moron (Peter May), but I still
want to carry through and try to demonstrate a point.

Here is my take on the past season, if you folks don't mind. After a
disappointing season opener versus Toronto etc., the Celtics still entered
March not only above .500 but also having literally blown away three
straight division rivals (including two 8-3 record teams in Orlando and the
Knicks plus the Nets) to go along with that nice early season triumph over
Miami. Expectations were running even higher because of the anticipated
return of Ron Mercer (and Walter McCarty) from injuries.

But the moment Mercer returned to the lineup, he seemed to take it upon
himself to lead the team in shot attempts. The team lost 17 of their next 21
games, I believe. Paul Pierce's field goal attempts dropped essentially by
half (his scoring plunged from 20+ppg to 13ppg in the span of a few weeks).
Antoine Walker's field goal attempts also dropped, although he was the one
who ultimately got booed by the fans for pressing and trying to win games by
himself (read being "selfish").

Granted, I'm applying the same sort of simplistic and self-serving arguments
as those who have argued that the "Celtics play better without Antoine
Walker" based on the last few meaningless games of this season (the only
games the kid has EVER missed). As we all know, you can make stats work in
your favor to prove pretty much any point you want (e.g. "the Celts played
MUCH better before they drafted Paul Pierce, damnit!!").

But don't you all at least question the logic of why no one (outside this
list) has EVER criticized Ron "the Saint" Mercer for his 3-19 shooting
nights, while Antoine gets booed for missing an open 17 footer? Have we been
unfairly "judging a book by it's cover" (Antoine's wiggle)? If not, find me
a better excuse for picking on Antoine and defending Ron Mercer to the
bitter end. In the win over Miami, some people rushed to criticize Antoine
for "excessive celebration". How about criticizing Mercer for delivering 0
rebounds and 0 assists in 32 minutes in that big game?

This may be an underlying reason why Rick Pitino would publically make the
bizzaro comment that Ron Mercer shows a lack of "Celtics Pride", after
reviewing all the game videos etc. I still think this was an unfair and
hypocritical criticism by a coach toward a player on talk radio.  Still, I
believe Pitino would have cut Ron Mercer a lot more slack if the kid
contributed something a bit more tangible in the measurable "hustle"(i.e.
rebounding) and "unselfish" (i.e. assists) categories. Pitino clearly cuts
Antoine Walker a lot of slack for these very reasons. We won't.

Okay fine, some of you no longer feel you can trust Pitino's "biased"
comprehension of basketball. But then how do you explain the Tommy Heinsohn
thing (admit it, he's an even MORE vocal Antoine Walker booster than I've
ever been)?  Heinsohn knows a thing or two about coaching emotional
athletes, the critical role of TEAM CHEMISTRY for building championships,
not to mention how to play the forward position intelligently and with
passion (Heinsohn scored 37 points and 21 rebounds in the decisive 7th game
to lead the Boston Celtics to it's first ever championship in 1956). Why
does he seem to take it so personally (his "give this kid a BREAK!!" line)
that Boston fans seem to go to comical lengths to bash Antoine and not use
an open mind God gave them? Don't you dare argue that Heisohn is just
following company broadcasting guidelines (he's untouchable within the
Celtics' pantheon).

Both Heinsohn and Pitino watch Antoine Walker every day, in addition to
being able to compare the "measurables" between Walker and Mercer (points
per shot attempt, rebounds, assists). These guys sense how trivial the
wiggle is in comparison to questions related to character (and talent) that
they see and can judge every single day. Yet some fans continue to view
these factors as utterly meaningless as "evidence" compared to Ron Mercer's
stellar qualities of "keeping humble and quiet", "keeping to himself" etc.
(tell that to the woman who accuses him of being a gang rapist). That's not
smart. That's a quasi-racist double standard. That's self-induced brain
washing.

I'd call that a stupid bias. An idiotic bias. I'd be more tolerant of this
attitude toward Antoine Walker and Ron Mercer if I wasn't so sick of losing.

How many other NBA basketball towns are wasting this much energy bashing and
booing a selfish, irritating jerk of a black kid who (yikes, wait a
minute!?) seems to say pretty much all the right things as team captain with
a sincere, rather than slick, delivery (if you'd even bother to listen);
has done nothing remotely controversial off the court (even as we lump him
together with other punks like Iverson, Rider, Spree etc.); leads the team
in scoring and rebounding; has dramatically improved his dribbling; cut down
dramatically on turnovers and technical fouls; improved his 3-point
shooting; works in the communities and surely seems to act like a good son
and father. Yet there will be people who won't stop at anything to make this
kid's life in Boston miserable, and can't wait to kick his kind out of our
fair town.

I'd love to proof read what I just wrote but I have to run (and get a life)
because my wife is waiting in the car outside my office. No insults
intended.

Joe