Re: Trade Walker?

[Cecil <cecil@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

With respect to the Pitino-esque excuse mongering, I was not referring to
you constantly comparing him to Magic, but rather Pitino.  I think you are
extremely capable of assessing and evaluating strengths and weaknesses of
players.  Many of your past posts have given that indication.  Plus from
having talked to you at games, I know that you know what you're talking
about.

I must really have written my previous post in haste if you think I was
trashing your insight.  You will notice that I never said anything about
your comments.

I guess what I was trying to say is that Pitino made those comparisons and
then reacted poorly when things didn't work out.  He may have been trying to
motivate Walker by comparing him to Magic.  I mean, a person could really
make a worse comparison rather easily.  Perhaps Magic was AW's idol for all
we know so RP might have been trying to use it that way.  I don't know.

But I do know that I did not intend to offend you and apologize sincerely if
that was the case.

Cecil

----- Original Message -----
From: Kim Malo <kimmalo@mindspring.com>
To: <celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2003 11:39 PM
Subject: Re: Trade Walker?


> 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