Re: Sporting news article on Pierce

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

Joe H. wrote:
And when comparing Walker's national reputation to his contributions both 
on and off the court, as wacky as it may sounds it is he who by the 
strictest definition ranks as the most "underrated" player in the NBA. 
Walker led all NBA forwards in assists, steals and triple doubles last year 
at the age of 24, which is uncommon for a player who has also led his team 
in rebounds every year since entering the league.

---end---

I really don't want to get into another Antoine debate, but here goes... I
agree, Joe, that Walker's reputation as a punk/jerk/cancer is mostly
undeserved, but he brings it on himself with the trash-talking (maybe the
worst in the league), wiggle (he does it less, but he still does it, and it
fosters a certain perception-fair or not) and constant arguments with
officials. I can't muster much sympathy for him when the power to change his
image rests in his willingness to give up or at least tone down these
behaviors. It's up to Antoine, and it hasn't been important enough to him to
make a real change yet.

More importantly, however, is the stats argument. Antoine supporters throw
out the stats, and they're good... 20 ppg, leads the team in rebounds and
assists, etc. But they only throw out the good stats. What about the 41
percent shooting for a power forward? The complete and utter inability
(unwillingness) to play physically and get to the free throw line? The
continued reliance on the 3-point shot when he only this season shot even a
semi-respectable percentage and when he knows those shots take the team's
best rebounder out of rebounding position? The assists? Antoine dominates
the ball, by demand. He hasn't gotten along with any of the Celtics'
admittedly below-average point guards during his career, probably because
Antoine's idea of offense seems to be to give him the ball at half-court and
let him either shoot a 3 or drive to the basket. In short, the numbers are
deceiving, and worse yet, you get the feeling that Antoine is satisfied with
the numbers. Antoine clearly would be a more effective player and make the
Celtics a better team if he took your advice and scored an efficient 18
points per game while dominating the boards and creating offense for
teammates, but we all know he never will accept that kind of role. Isn't
that selfish? I certainly think so.

Does he want to win? No question, he plays hard (especially when he has the
ball in his hands). But has he ever shown the dedication to prepare to win?
Or adjust his game to win? How many times has he come in out of shape? Has
he ever worked on building up his body? There's more to it than just showing
up on game night and playing hard. Offensively, he is so glaringly
inefficient, and yet he never has made a concession to that by scaling down
his shot attempts to get others better shots. You combine his 41 percent
shooting and truly pathetic free throw attempt numbers (and pedestrian at
best FT percentage), and Antoine clearly is the most offensively inefficient
power forward in the NBA. And his defense? He's the worst PF defender in the
league. He could compensate for his natural size disadvantage by running the
floor, but he is routinely beaten down the floor in offensive and defensive
transition by bigger, slower opponents.

Bottom line? I think Antoine is a player who absolutely loves to play
basketball, has considerable overall abilities, but hasn't a clue about how
to play smart basketball. By all accounts, he plays pickup games all summer
long and has to be chased away from the gym. But he plays the real games
like pickup games, too. In those pickup games, nobody cares about the shots
you miss, or how many points the guy you're guarding scores. But those
things count.

Antoine's supporters love to talk about how young he is. Let's drop that
argument once and for all. He's entering his sixth season in the league. He
is what he is. Is he a bad player? Of course not. And if you're satisfied
with what you got from Antoine Walker last year, then that's fine. But don't
expect him to suddenly become Kevin Garnett or Chris Webber. It's not going
to happen at this point.

Mark