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RE: Walker

I don't want this BDT making one more decision regarding this team. I hope they are fired the day after the season ends. With 2 first rounders, the C's have a chance to do some good things. 2 1st rounders allows you to get pretty creative in making your team stronger. The BDT will screw it up, we know that. So get them out of here and get someone who knows what they are doing. Thats a foregone conclusion.






From: "Wright, Cecil" <Cecil.Wright@JUSTICE.GC.CA>
To: <celtics@igtc.com>
Subject: RE: Walker
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2003 11:59:23 -0400

I agree with Mark in saying that the unwillingness of the refs to call fouls in his favor, should have no bearing on trade relevance.

That said, he acted like a goof in sulking on the bench when he was playing so poorly. For a short period of time, none of them could hold on to a pass or make a decent one.

My chief concern about trading him is the fact that the same BDT who you all ridicule will be pulling the trigger on such a deal, so why would we expect to come out of it with any kind of advantage? I say let's try to go after Mr. Larry Bird and/or Dave Cowens/Paul Silas. I wouldn't even mind seeing what McHale's contract status is.

Cecil

-----Original Message-----
From: Berry, Mark S [mailto:berrym@BATTELLE.ORG]
Sent: March 14, 2003 11:38 AM
To: 'celtics@igtc.com'
Subject: Re: Walker


Well, I agree with the first sentence. Walker needs to be traded.

The rest of it just doesn't wash with me. Granted, the officials hate
Antoine. He has brought that on himself through the years and he continues
to do it. He constantly complains, bitches, stares at and tries to
intimidate the officials. He leads the league in technical fouls by a wide
margin this season. If he would change his behavior, maybe they'd change
their opinion.

Does it have an impact on what calls he gets or doesn't get? Probably. But
not as much as you or many fans suggest. You point to the play near the end
of the third quarter, and I agree that was a great example. You say it
clearly was a foul on Martin. But Antoine put his head down and charged
blindly into Martin's chest. No one gets that call. Antoine was frustrated
and he turned into a bull in a china shop. He probably should have been
called for an offensive foul before Martin stripped him of the ball.

Antoine either doesn't try or doesn't know how to draw fouls. I've posted
about this before. I think it goes back to earlier in his career when he was
such a terrible free throw shooter (he's regressing to that form this
season). He really was awful back then-Shaq kind of bad. He didn't want to
go to the line. So he tried to get the shot off quickly without absorbing
any contact. It created some bad habits, so that now, even when he does
attack the basket, he still tends to rush the shot. He has gotten better,
but he's still not great. Tommy used to harp on Antoine using a fake, but
I'd contend that Antoine didn't want to use a fake back then because there
was a good chance he'd get fouled-not the outcome he wanted.

You couple this with the fact that Antoine more and more has become a
perimeter player, and suddenly you realize why he scores the lowest
percentage of points at the free throw line in the NBA (that's a true stat
that I saw for the first time this week-Antoine scores only 10 percent of
his points from the line).

Yes, Antoine needs to be traded, but not because of some vast conspiracy
against him on the part of the officials. He needs to be traded because he
still has far too many games like last night (how many stars have as many
truly terrible games as Antoine?). He needs to be traded because this line
(9-for-23, 2-for-7 on threes, 2-for-3 FTs, 5 rebs., 2 assts, 5 TOs) has
become the norm. I'm amazed at how many people still see games where Antoine
makes less than 40 percent of his shots and say "Antoine had a bad shooting
night." Wrong! Antoine had an average shooting night. Those aren't bad games
for him. They're typical.

Anyway, expect Antoine to play damn near 48 minutes and do pretty much
whatever the hell he pleases Saturday night in the wake of his flare-up over
his benching last night. He was 3-for-15, had four fouls, just one assist,
and was getting abused on both ends by Martin, but he's pissed at Obie for
benching him. Obie better be careful, the last guy who tried to coach
Antoine is in Louisville now.

As for last night, the "tired" excuse that Shira tried her best to give the
team doesn't wash. They were pretty well rested the night before, the trip
to Jersey isn't tough and Jersey has been struggling. They just stunk. This
is a great example of one of those tests of mental toughness that last
year's team would have handled. They might not have won the game, but they
would have battled to the end. This year's team just doesn't have that same
commitment. It's a slight difference, but the Celts aren't good enough to
win with anything but complete focus and toughness.

Mark

P.S. It'll never happen, but I've been playing around with some Antoine
trades on RealGM, looking at teams that might have an interest and a match.
How about Chicago, with the Bulls sending Jamaal Crawford and Tyson Chandler
back as the keys to a package for Antoine. Chicago would get the "star" they
need, and a hometown guy who could replace Chandler at PF. They could settle
their PG problem by giving the job to Jay Williams. And with Williams,
Walker, Rose and Eddy Curry, they'd be four-fifths of the way to a good
starting five. Boston would get their long-term point guard in Crawford and
a long, athletic, high-upside PF in Chandler. They fill the two spots you
have to fill with any Antoine trade. You'd have to build a little around the
edges (Eddie Robinson) to make the salary work, but doesn't this make sense
for everyone? I'm just dreaming, I know, but after nights like last night,
it's all I have...

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