If only Toine felt this way...

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>]

I found this in a Fox Sports story about Vince Carter, who despite being one
of the most marketed players in the NBA and a member of the Olympic team,
seems to have found time to work on his body and his game this summer:

The NBA's reigning slam dunk champion has spent the summer completing his
degree work at the University of North Carolina and continuing to work on
both his game and his body. He is perceptibly bigger across the shoulders
after putting in hours and hours in the weight room in between time in the
classroom. 
"Hey," he said, "I'm glad you can see that. The hard work is paying off."

Training camp isn't for getting in shape anymore. These guys make hundreds
of millions of dollars and are expected to maintain their physical condition
so they can come to camp ready to go. Vince Carter has accomplished more in
two seasons than Antoine Walker has in four, but he still is working to get
better.

Why should Toine have to put in the work in the offseason? Forget for a
minute that his coach and the team president asked him to. Here's a better
reason: Because everyone else is. Guys like Vince Carter were better than
Toine last year, and the gap is only getting wider because some players are
working at it, while Toine isn't.

So many on the list preach patience and gradual improvement, but why should
we expect improvement from Toine? It doesn't happen automatically, just by
getting older. It happens through hard work, something he seems adverse to. 

Some of us look at Toine and see Kevin Garnett or Chris Webber in waiting.
The rest of the league sees Shawn Kemp or Juwan Howard. I'm beginning to
think the rest of them are right.

Mark