RE: Antoine (was Re: Johnson Touted As Rookie With The Most Impac t)

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

To me an open look from the outside is a "good" shot to take (certainly by 
Pitino/Obie's definition)

A drive to the basket that draws contact is a "good" shot to take.

What percentage of Antoine's shot selection fall outside that category game 
after game?

Those are the shots he should be criticized for.

I certainly agree Toine shoots too much, but other gunners don't average 
five-and-a-half assists or lead their team in rebounds for the fourth 
straight year. These are saving graces.

I hope Walker improves. I realize fully why some of you don't see much hope 
for improvement. Its a real worry.

But as things stand right now with the Celtics, he's NOT the cause of our 
problems but our scapegoat.

He isn't beyond criticism. But even in terms of "value for money" (I feel 
this is the only justifiable grounds for fans to bash his production while 
making saints out of guys who do nothing like Chris Herren) Walker still 
isn't the worst offender on the team Pitino built.

For instance, he's got serious competition from Kenny and Eric Williams. Or 
Battie and Vitaly. Or our 14th man Walter McCarty.

To me Walker's an overachiever, just like Pierce in a different way. They 
are competitors.

Here's a fact. We should feel blessed by the Leprechaun on those two draft 
nights (and hopefully this past one).

I remind you that the guys picked immediately after Walker were (in order) 
Lorenzen Wright, Kerry Kittles, Samaki Walker, Erick Dampier and Todd 
Fuller. A few extra one-point wins that season and the probability is high 
that we'd still be, ahem, "rebuilding" around one of those guys.

Then came the draft where St Paul fell into our laps. But what if it were 
Traylor Trash that slipped instead of Pierce? Thank goodness that was the 
first and only time to date that Robert Traylor committed himself to losing 
weight and conditioning in order to boost his draft standing. Or what if 
Paul Pierce was long gone in the top five and we had to go with our 
projected selection Keon Clark?

We've had some tough times but it could be a lot worse. Rebuilding has been 
slow, but it can be potentially sweet and I enjoy being a fan. For 
instance, this is a better team than the one playing on fumes after Bird 
broke down that continued to win 45ish games. Frankly, a lot of teams in 
the East today are "better" than Boston right now because key components of 
there success are based on the cohesion of similarly decrepit veteran core 
players like the McHale-Pinckney-Parish-X-man Celtics of that era. Those 
teams may also be running on fumes, and facing the same down trend that 
Boston had in the last decade. Especially with the salary cap plus luxury 
tax. There's no easy way to buy yourself back into contention.

We're poised to make some real progress over the next two years. At least 
getting to the Milwaukee Bucks level is certainly within the realm of 
possibility.

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