Re: Trade Walker?

[Kim Malo <kimmalo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 09:02 PM 4/9/2003 -0300, Cecil wrote:
> Perhaps, but with respect to leadership and the reference to Pitino, Pitino
> was not around last year during the playoffs against the Nets.  Therefore, I
> am assuming that Walker took it upon himself to play that role.  You may
> have more insight to that since you see more games in person than I do.
Nope, I just apparently made my point badly, since that wasn't relevant. My 
point was that Pitino was constantly looking for and accepting excuses - 
'these guys are too young, Larry etc aren't walking through that door, they 
can't help not being legends, etc'  rather than accepting his own part in 
what's wrong and actually dealing it, as true leaders do. Pitino and Walker 
did not get along too well, reportedly at least in part because of Pitino 
looking to cover his own ass (more of those excuses) at the expense of 
publicly putting down his players. So I was saying that I thought enough of 
Antoine that he would not be happy with accepting excuses per se, but also 
because doing so should make him feel he was behaving like someone he 
reportedly despised for doing the same.

> But I don't know any athlete who goes out in front of thousands of fans and
> does not try to perform as best he can.  Including Walker.  I think part of
> his problem was the constant comparison to Magic which I think is patently
> unfair even though there are some subtle similarities.  I mean, I can't
> recall any player being compared to Russell lately.  That is an awfully
> large measuring stick.
See, this is Pitinoesque excuse-mongering again. I really resent being told 
I'm incapable of evaluating a player on his own merits vs just 
blindly  putting him down because he doesn't measure up to some ideal. Not 
just you doing this, but it is very very condescending and a big put down. 
Shades of Pitino's saying we were only complaining because they weren't 
hall of famers. I'm not comparing Walker to Magic or Bird or a zillion 
other guys he's not. I'm comparing him to the Walker he shows flashes could be.

As to the don't know any athlete bit, a) I didn't say that and went out of 
my way to say lack of effort was *not* what I meant b) no athlete gives 
100% all the time any more than anyone else does, that's not my complaint 
c) what does 'as best he can' mean anyway? It's in the eye of the beholder 
and when that holder is Antoine himself ...the whole point is that to 
Antoine it can mean taking 30 3s and missing almost all of them along with 
almost half his free throws vs listening to other people and doing some 
things that would lead to better results. Yes he's trying, but too 
infrequently the right things and yes he's still part of the problem.

> I think AW has grown somewhat as a player.  Of course he is part of the
> problem with the way this team is playing, but nobody in uniform is immune
> from that.  As much as I like Paul, I was pissed at him Sunday for not
> passing the ball at the end of the game.  But I'm not looking to get rid of
> the guy because he had tunnel vision.  (Not saying that you are either)
I'm pissed at Paul a lot too. And no, it's not because he's not Michael 
Jordan, Pete Maravitch or whomever else I supposedly might be setting up 
too big a yardstick with. I've never loved Walter, although I'm coming 
closer this year. Etc etc down the roster. But that doesn't change any of 
the points I was making about Antoine

Kim