Toine

[W <titans@ihug.com.au>]

Antoine's antics take steam out of Celtics' engine
  FEBRUARY 1, 2000

  Dave D'Alessandro
  The Sporting News

  We've seen the best of Antoine Walker and the worst of Antoine Walker.
And I suspect the canyon-sized variance between the two is the
  primary reason the Celtics still are the little team that could. But
won't.

  We've seen Walker go 5-for-21 against Tim Duncan one week and torch
Karl Malone for 36 points the next. We've seen Walker take apart
  Shawn Kemp for 32 one night and shoot 6-for-22 at New York two nights
later, busting his team's comeback with a technical foul.

  We've seen him in times when he shows all the gifts of a special
player who can finish with a flair and make plays in the post. We've
also
  seen him when he is the proverbial black hole, getting blocked four
times in a single possession against the Clippers. We've seen nights
  when he looks as if he gets it and other nights when he has far
greater interest in trash-talking and ref-baiting than in making
defensive
  transitions.

  Haven't we seen enough? It is my obligation to be critical, but it is
hard in this case because it is a chore for any critic to learn how to
sleep
  undetected at one of Walker's performances. They've become almost too
boring, too predictable in their unpredictability. He'll wow you
  one night, break his team's heart the next. So I'll stop now and leave
the rest to Tim Hardaway.

  Yes, Tim Hardaway. He was asked by a group of reporters about Walker
last week, and he dropped all those bombs the writers themselves
  are tired of dropping. Nothing perceptive, mind you -- just all the
stuff that even Walker's teammates always have thought but never got
  around to saying.

  "He's not mature yet," Hardaway says of his fellow Chicagoan. "He's a
great, great athlete. He has all the skills you can put in a player. But

  his attitude is (messed) up. That's how some players are.

  "Someone asked me why he's the least-liked player in the NBA. It's
because he has a (messed)-up attitude. You've got to change your
  attitude to win games, and he hasn't done that."

  Again, no great revelation. Everyone knows Walker is a selfish player,
that his stats are inflated because he's one of those
  star-in-his-own-mind types whose entire self-esteem is based on big
numbers and style points. The refs hate him as much as they hate the
  IRS. He consternates his teammates with his inconsistency. And
management, long past its tolerance threshold, has been trying to trade
  him for two years running.

  Yes, he is a great talent. But Hardaway explains why it is so hard to
reconcile the talent with the rest of the package, why it is hard to
  separate the salesman from the product.

  "I like Antoine. He's not a bad guy," Hardaway says. "He's just an
(expletive). I know it, and he knows it. Once he gets over being an
  (expletive), he'll be fine. Maybe hearing me say this will open his
eyeballs."

  After four years, it's not likely. Walker has never been one to
actually heed the advice of anyone else -- just watch him ignore Rick
Pitino
  when the coach tries to stop him from disputing a call -- and his
impulsive tendencies annd self-indulgence are the biggest reasons the
  Celtics are fading right now.

  Shame about that. There was a time, not long ago, when we all thought
Pitino was onto something -- a style that was such a dramatic
  departure from what everyone else was doing, he would eventually turn
the league on its coollective ear. No one else did what he did,
  except for Hubie Brown during his Atlanta years, when he unleashed a
wire-to-wire trapping style for 48 minutes and gave his players a
  perpetual green light from downtown.

  Pitino had great success with this in New York, and he could have won
a title had he stuck it out there. He could have won it in his second
  year, in fact, had the Knicks not run into the one player -- fella by
the name of Jordan -- who could get in the middle of their pressure and
  tear it apart from within during the secoond round in 1988-89. (Folks
tend to forget the Knicks swept four games from the
  eventual-champion Pistons during the season).

  Pitino moved on to Kentucky, but you know he had unfinished business
on this level. Now that he's in his third year, a large part of me
  wanted to see the Celtics turn the corner, if only because I was tired
of having sounded so delusional when I had predicted he was onto
  something.

  It hasn't happened. It may never happen. One reason is, Pitino can't
part with Walker for a reasonable return -- he's a base-year comp
  player -- and another reason is we have no idea what Pitino regards as
the truth about Mr. Walker annymore. One week, Pitino thinks he's
  the best forward in the game. The next, Pitino sees him for what he is
-- a player who cannot fuse the mental commitment with the physical
  talent to be the star he should be.

  I'm not saying the Celtics should have been an extension of their '60s
dynasty by now, or even a robust subsidiary of Russell & Co. They
  have been hit as hard by injuries as anyone, with Danny Fortson (their
best rebounder) missing two months, Paul Pierce (their best player)
  missing one and Adrian Griffin (their most versatile player) going
into his third week on the injured list.

  But they could have taken a significant step in a mediocre conference
by now, or at least shown some signs of maturity. We're still
  waiting. Make no mistake, this is a very solid team at

  FleetCenter (though it's not surprising) fans seem to hate Walker
there. And perhaps he will never be greeted with wild and untrammeled
  affection at Fleet, even if the Celtics were 16-6 at home coming out
of last weekend.

  That's because Boston fans are smarter than most, and they know this
is an unwatchable team (4-17) when it leaves town. They know the
  Celtics show none of the mental toughness, none of the maturity and
none of the leadership they need to win on the road. They know
  their inconsistent power forward, the one making $71 million, is a
primary reason the team may never break through.

  They've seen the best of Antoine Walker and the worst of Antoine
Walker. They've seen enough.

  When will the Celtics?

  Dave D'Alessandro covers the NBA for the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger.
E-mail him at daved@sportingnews.com.