Re: Berry/Walker,

[Peter Delevett <pdelevett@xxxxxxxxx>]

I don't know if this puts me in the camp of "realist"
or "walker apologist," but I look at Mark's
description of Antoine's "sub-par rebounding" and I
see a guy who ranked 16th in defensive rebounds and
tied Dale Davis for 29th overall in rebounding,
directly behind Paul Pierce.

You could certainly argue, of course, that a 6'9 PF
making the max salary should be in the top 10 in
rebounding. But you also have to concede that of the
28 guys who averaged more rebounds per game, only six
also averaged more points: Garnett, Duncan, Jermaine
O'Neal, Nowitzki, Shawn Marion and Karl Malone.
Shaquille O'Neal and Webber also should be on that
list but apparently didn't play enough games to
qualify. But either way, that's pretty select company.


And only Garnett and Webber also averaged more assists
(Antoine was 29th league-wide). Only Marion and Malone
had more steals (he was 27th). If I'm reading this
right, that makes Walker the only NBA player in the
top 30 in points, boards, assists and steals.

My point: sure, it would be nice to have a Ben Wallace
or PJ Brown ripping down double-digit boards, but
Walker plays many roles on this team. And one of them,
indisputably, is giving defenses somebody besides
Pierce to worry about. Any deal that ships out Walker
for a rebounder also must include a premier scorer
just to keep the team on par. 

I'm as unhappy as anybody about Walker's shot
selection and shooting percentages, but I agree with
Josh that the guy works hard and I absolutely believe
he bleeds Celtics pride. Those aren't qualities to be
dismissed, and if the team ships him I hope for his
sake it's to a good team. He deserves better than
Memphis.
(PS: Yes, Walker did rank 10th in turnovers per game.
His numbers were just slightly worse than Webber's and
Duncan's, and much better those of Paul Pierce - who
was third in the league in turnovers.)

 

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