Re: Toine Talks Hold Up

[Joe Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

Thndrblt31@aol.com wrote:

> Does anyone realize how close the Celtics came to another tragedy?  It's a
> good thing that Antoine had the common sense to give the gunmen what they
> wanted instead of trying to be a hero.

If Antoine had followed Michael Holley's advice and had a bodyguard with him,
there could have been a tragedy and the next day's papers would likely have
splashed the same speculations about Walker's role that NFL All Pro Ray Lewis
went through recently in his high-profile, accomplice-to-murder trial.

Anytime I read articles like that which mention "the 23-year-old Boston Celtics
star", it makes me wonder why every team in the league isn't trying to fleece
Boston's management on August 1st and trade for a kid who has already led his
team in scoring, rebounding and clutch games for four straight years and
counting. Because of Boston's conservatism, historic expections of a winning
basketball franchise, and tough sports media hatchetmen, Antoine Walker has
become the very definition of "underrated". Get him while he's cheap.

I admit many of us expected Walker's breakout year to come as a 21-year-old and
worse he still stubbornly retains rather than sheds bad habits (poor
coaching?), but his last two months of ballplaying were NBA MVP caliber. Over
the last 26 games (March+April), Walker led every Celtics' player in steals
(1.96), assists (5.35) and rebounds (8.8) while shooting .495FG% on
non-3-pointers and over 20ppg. In the final 10 games the "power forward" dished
out 6.2 assists and had more steals than Pierce (#2 overall in the NBA). To put
that stat into perspective, it takes Austin Croshere more than five games (or
130+ minutes of consecutive playing time) to match that passing production.

Now is the PERFECT time to trade Walker....not.

I have to think/hope the inside rumors are either false or have been shelved.

The Celtics are not going to rebuild around Jerome "Tebucky Jones" Moiso, much
less Austin Croshere and Christian Laetner/Jerome Williams.

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