Re: O'Brien's two cents

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

Cecil Wright wrote:

> Dropping 47 and 13 on CWebb seems to signify that he's part of the problem
> though.  I mean, did you see all the shots he had to take to get that 47?
> Get rid of him.

Exactly! One things for sure,  the posts we'll read today will be of the "yeah,
but where was Walker on D?" and "Webber actually outplayed Walker and, besides,
look which team won." Surely we won't here a peep about the great CWebb "not
playing any defense" (where was he?) or the tired excuse that the woman who
helped raise Walker is still hospitalized and in a coma.

On a serious note, one thing that worries me is that if Walker gets shut out
from the All Star game he might sulk quite a bit. If you polled most basketball
fans, the vast majority would say it would be postively "criminal" to choose
Walker over Pierce as the Celtics representative. Walker lives as the NBA
poster-child of the uncoachable, selfish, unintelligent player. Casual fans
describe him that way as a simple matter-of-fact because his character has been
assassinated by the media so many times he'd need 9 more lives.

Meanwhile Paul Pierce has next to no chance because of the depth in the East at
his position, so in the end, I think neither player will be selected. The
Celtics also have too weak a record for any player to automatically deserve
recognition, even if in the case of Walker he is playing head and shoulders
above any power forward in the East (which may not be saying much). So althought
there are perfectly valid reasons why he might/should get left out,  I wouldn't
blame him for feeling "blacklisted". FWIW, the fact that the kid even still
talks politely to the Peter May's of the world shows he has a Gandhi-like
tolerance and decency.

Personally I do hope either Pierce or Walker makes it. They've had good years,
even if the rest of the team hasn't, and while you want your stars to make a
greater difference on the won-loss column you can only go so far in blaming
Pierce and Walker for the fact that Eric Williams isn't very talented and
happily tells people he didn't even pick up a ball or exercise during the
offseason.

Add one impact player this summer and Walker and Pierce won't look like the
problem, they will look like the key. Walker won't have to account for 70% of
his team's scoring through points and passing like he did last night, even if it
is nice to know he is capable of it. BTW, I don't recall a player getting 13
assists on top of 47 points, much less a power forward. No doubt Zeke or Jordan
may have done it but I don't remember any particular game.

------