Walker Airs His Grievances Over Trade From Celtics

[Vinny Natale <vnatale@xxxxxxx>]

Walker Airs His Grievances
Over Trade From Celtics

In October the Boston Celtics cut ties with Antoine Walker, sending him to 
the Dallas Mavericks with Tony Delk for Raef LaFrentz, Jiri Welsch, Chris 
Mills and a first-round pick next year. It's a deal every Celtics fan had 
an opinion about: 'Toine's theatrics and love for the three-point shot made 
him a favorite of many fans and the scapegoat for an equal number of others.

It's a deal every Celtics fan still has an opinion about -- particularly 
now that Mr. Walker has weighed in with a bitter commentary on the trade 
and the man who made it, Celtics GM Danny Ainge.

As Shira Springer reports in the Boston Globe, Mr. Walker sees the deal as 
a personal assault on him by Mr. Ainge, contending (at length) that it was 
made to set his career back by putting him in a poor situation. And Mr. 
Ainge, he adds (also at length), is "a snake."

Is this the usual solipsistic blather from a pro athlete who imagines the 
word revolves around him -- as 95% of all pro athletes do? Of course it is. 
But the arguments won't die because of this: The Mavs are tied for the top 
spot in their division, with Mr. Walker averaging 17.3 points, 10.1 
rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game, while the Celtics are two games behind 
the Sixers in their division and haven't gotten much from the players they 
acquired in the deal.

The Globe's Bob Ryan argues that those unhappy with Mr. Ainge and the 
Celtics need to take a long-term view -- and accept some hard truths.

"One problem is that a lot of people have misinterpreted what went on here 
two years ago," he writes. "They don't seem to understand that the 2001-02 
Celtics were not a great team. They see a team that was up, 2-1, in the 
Eastern Conference finals after that huge comeback win in Game 3 and 
somehow think that club was close to a championship, rather than a team 
that was two games away from a four-game humiliation at the hands of the 
Lakers, and which was never really that good to begin with."

Mr. Ainge, he adds, is "thinking years. That's years; not minutes, 
quarters, halves, games, weeks, or months. Years. That's the reality of the 
Boston Celtics."

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