Re: [Celtic_Pride] A silk purse from a sows ear?

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

Jim Metz wrote:

>    I can add; if only Walker had taken Pitino's advice three years ago and
> worked out to get a Scotty Pippin type body.

JB that's not really fair. Walker got a lot of mixed messages from
Spintino/Pitinocchio that offseason, who essentially told him to go get a
Scottie Pippen body and a Karl Malone body in the same breadth.

It's always been about "team needs"...power forwards of all shapes and salaries
have come and gone (Radja, Popeye, Fortson, Battie, Moiso) but the fact is
Walker has led this team in rebounding five straight years and counting. He
outdid Radja, he outdid Fortson.

The only thing is that Walker has never said he wanted to be anything other than
a small forward. If a typical small forward tried to take Walker off the
dribble, I have a feeling he'd be up to that challenge and it might even do him
some good. And he can out-quick smaller players....we've seen it. He stole Tim
Hardaway off the cross-over dribble for goodness sakes. He nearly leads all
"small" forwards in steals this year.

It's not like its a novel idea to use a player like that at the three in the
NBA. Bird freaking played small forward for Boston, just as Nowitzki and Peja
Stojakovic do on winning teams this year. I sometimes wonder how far if anywhere
the small forward experiment had ever gone in Poultrino's practices, but just
because Walker maybe couldn't cut it at the three playing the fullcourt headless
chicken, or got beat guarding teammates like Paul Pierce, doesn't mean he can't
play the position any worse than Bird could.  Too bad we have such a crap
rebounding team and thus need this guy to stay closer to the paint. It's largely
about team need in the end.

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