Former Celt 7-2 Thomas Hamilton cut

[opi@unesco.org]

Here is news on the former Celt Thomas Hamilton in Mark Cofman's NBA
Notes. Guys who waste the talent that we all envy so much give the NBA a
bad name. The worst are teases like Hamilton who have mastered how to
"talk the talk" until saying and doing start to seem like the same
thing. For every Hamilton, I believe there are many more far lesser
talents in the NBA willing to work a lot harder and with more daily
discipline than most fans do in their jobs. I think the Celts have if
nothing else a team of relatively good characters, with very little
off-court controversy or egos for such a young (and wealthy) bunch.

The only "exception" may be El Busto, who last time I checked still had
a state police officer attached by the arm to the window of his Lincoln
Navigator. He's a multi-millionaire, so he won't take any orders from a
lower middle class cop (especially one who is black).

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Former Celtic fizzles with the Rockets, too

Thomas Hamilton, offered a shot with the Celtics by M.L. Carr during the
1995-96 season and another with Miami last year, had been given every
opportunity by Houston coach Rudy Tomjanovich to stick with the Rockets
this season. He even started seven games and appeared to be making
progress.

But Hamilton wore out his welcome in Houston last week and was cut by
Tomjanovich under strange and controversial circumstances.

The 7-foot-2 center and former Chicago high school star, who walked away
from a full scholarship at the University of Pittsburgh without ever
having played a college game, suffered from a lack of maturity and
experience when he arrived on the scene with the Celtics four years ago.
Apparently, nothing has changed.

In a peculiar exchange with his coach after the team had lost its
seventh straight road game in Sacramento, Hamilton reportedly dared
Tomjanovich to cut him. Hamilton, 24, had been upset over diminished
playing time in recent weeks, and even initially refused to go into
Tuesday's game with four minutes left until Tomjanovich all but kicked
him off the bench and onto the court.

Once in the game, by all accounts, Hamilton displayed little interest.
According to the Houston Chronicle, Tomjanovich called a timeout and
asked him, ``Do you want to play?'' Getting no response from Hamilton,
he said, ``I asked you a question.''

After the game, faced with the possibility he would be released,
Hamilton said to Tomjanovich in front of stunned teammates, ``Do what
you have to do.''

This marks the latest chapter in a sad story of a young player with a
world of potential and millions of dollars within his grasp if he would
only apply himself to his trade, stay in some semblance of shape and
remain out of harm's way. And though another team is likely to give  him
a shot at some point (big men with skills are few and far between in
this era), the 330-pound Hamilton is drawing dangerously close to
throwing his career away.

 He has an ongoing weight problem. He's six months into a 36-month
probation after agreeing to a plea bargain for possession of cocaine.
He was working on the first year of a $1.1 million two-year contract,
but next year was unguaranteed. That's more than a half-million down the
drain. It doesn't make sense, particularly with a young man who's
intelligent enough to say all of the right things.

When Hamilton was in town with the Rockets last month, he openly
discussed the mistakes of his past. Asked what he'd do differently if
he could start his basketball career over, Hamilton said, ``I'd
definitely go to college. I missed out on a great opportunity to get an
education and establish myself first as a college player. That set me
back. I wasn't ready for the NBA -- as a player or as a person.''

It doesn't look like much has changed, which is sad for Hamilton and
the Rockets. It looked like a good marriage.

``It's too bad he chose to do that,'' said Houston forward Matt Bullard.
``He's got some skills we can use. But if (he's) not with the team
mentally, you can't have that kind of player around. He had a great
situation if he worked hard. It's just weird -- one of the strangest
situations I've ever seen.''

Added Rockets center Anthony Miller, ``It's disappointing to see because
he really doesn't know how much talent he has. There's a lot  he could
bring to the game. It's a messed-up situation because he could have
helped us. He lost a lot of weight over the summer and it was starting
to pay off for him. He just needed to keep working.''

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Here's another cut and paste from the same column, revealing
similarities and differences between Antoine and "White Chocolate":

"(Jason) Williams' flashy play in running  the Sacramento offense has
made the Kings one of the more  entertaining teams in the NBA. During
the team's visit to Boston last  week, he was cheered throughout the
game.

He also has a shooter's mentality when his shots fail to drop. ``You
miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take,'' said Williams. ``So I'm
just going to keep jacking them up there until they go in.''

Comment: Jason you are shooting .357 from the field and play no defense!
Get a life.

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