Fine: C's Try To Deal Walker

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com>]

http://www.ledger.southofboston.com/display/inn_sports/sports07.txt

PRO HOOPS: Celts will try to move Walker


By MIKE FINE
The Patriot Ledger

For about 16 seconds after the final buzzer brings down the Boston
Celtics' 2000-01 season, management is going to reflect on what went
wrong.


Then it's going to roll up its collective sleeves and figure a way to
facilitate Antoine Walker's departure – permanently.


Now that Rick Pitino isn't around to pump the kid up, management is
going to make a move. It would do so sooner, if possible, but because of
base year compensation cap rules, Walker, who's earning $10.125 million
this season, could only bring in $7.6 million worth of value. Unless,
say, Vancouver wants to trade Shareef Abdur-Rahim straight up – they
make the same money – the Celtics will have to wait until the summer,
when Walker's base year business clears up, and they can get $11.25
million worth of bodies for him.


Celtics brass is simply fed up with Walker as a player. He's an
unabashed ball hog who distrusts his teammates on the court, which is
why he tries to take it upon himself to run the offense. They're tired
of his penchant for taking the ball futilely into traffic and for
tossing up indiscriminate threes. Nor are they pleased with the way he
insists on floating around the perimeter, the way he incessantly
complains to officials or his inconsistency.


The only conceivable way that Walker would stay is if Larry Bird becomes
involved with the Celtics. While he was coaching in Indiana, Bird stated
his fondness for Walker, and there was even some talk that he could wind
up there. Whether Bird was just blowing smoke or not, who knows?


The other thing you can take to the bank is that the Celtics will not be
hiring a college coach, which would put a quick end to this Mike Jarvis
talk. After their experience with Pitino, there's no way management is
going to entrust the rebuilding to another know-it-all who knows nothing
about the NBA's inner workings. They'd bring M.L. Carr back before a
college coach, and why not? Carr at least left the team in decent shape
after his 15-victory season of 1996-97.


The team will go after a fairly high-profile name, one that would be
palatable to the fans and one that might have Celtics ties. Those names
would include Dave Cowens, Paul Silas and Danny Ainge. Two of them, of
course, are tied to other clubs, which might preclude their
consideration, and Ainge said he doesn't want to coach again. Unlikely
he would change his mind simply to coach the Celtics, because with him
it's a quality of life, family issue.


Do not discount the possibility of Jim O'Brien returning. O'Brien is
finished with Pitino. After coaching with him in New York, Kentucky and
Boston, O'Brien has had it with the three-ringed Pitino circus and is
ready to be his own man. Whether he gets the nod would depend on his
team's performance in the final half of the season.


That said, what will Celtics brass do about 17 seconds after the season
ends?


Try to unload Vitaly Potapenko.