Logical move is with Walker

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Logical move is with Walker

But could Ainge find any takers for him?

By Peter May, Globe Staff, 5/11/2003

t's Mother's Day. And my mother always told me if I didn't have anything nice
to say about someone, then don't say anything at all. Sorry, Mom. It's time to
take a long, hard look at Antoine Walker and his future in Boston. Then again,
that's not necessarily a bad thing. Unfortunately, Walker is making it easy
for his detractors with his unremarkable play in the Celtics' series against
the Nets, although you can make a case that he clearly looks either hurt,
burned out, or both. Indisputably, Kenyon Martin has outplayed him, badly,
and, to Walker's credit, he has faced the music. And the hecklers. He has
admitted that his play is hurting the team. He isn't shooting well. He isn't
defending well. He's one reason -- but certainly not the only one -- why the
Celtics are staring at a 3-0 hole against the defending conference champs.



Once this season ends -- and it could tomorrow night -- Danny Ainge must
seriously consider moving Walker while there still may be something of value
to get in return. (We know this much: The Nets won't offer much of anything
beyond Brian Scalabrine. They bring out the absolute worst in Walker.) We also
know this much: This Celtics team may have gone as far as it can go as
currently constituted. The thinking all along was to build around Walker and
Paul Pierce, but the foundation isn't as sturdy as it once was, and the role
players get you only so far. You can't expect instant help from the draft at
Nos. 16 and 20. (Look at what Nos. 10 and 11 got them two years ago.) There
has to be a trade. Walker is the logical choice.

This is nothing personal against Walker. He clearly enjoys being a Celtic and
has accepted his role as captain and leader. He doesn't get into trouble. He's
respectful in the locker room. Over his seven years here, he has matured both
as a person and a player. He does play hard, even if at times a bit
heedlessly. He wants to win in the worst way and he has been a member of the
Eastern Conference All-Star team in each of the last two seasons. He's
versatile. He can rebound. He's a terrific passer. He is, according to Jim
O'Brien, an excellent leader.

But here's something you may not have known about Walker. His stats in
virtually every offensive and defensive category have gone down in each of the
last three years. That usually is a red flag. After seven seasons, you want to
see things going in the other direction. It's going the wrong way with Walker,
and that is a signal to Ainge that it might be time to shake things up. It may
be Ainge's only legitimate option because dealing Pierce is both impractical
(he's a base-year player) and impolitic (he's the team's best all-around
player).

Here's a brief look at Walker's offensive production over the last three
years, understanding that the drop in points can be attributed in part to the
emergence of Pierce as the team's go-to guy:

As you can see, the only improvement in any of these categories was his free
throw percentage in '01-02. But then it went to a career-low this season. He
has led the league in 3-point attempts in each of the last two seasons, a
stunning statistic for a power forward whose 3-point accuracy is not even
among the top 50 in the league. For whatever reason, his coach allows this to
continue.

The unknown: How much value does Walker have, especially making the money he
makes? He earns $13.5 million next season and $14.625 million the following
season, assuming he doesn't exercise an escape clause following next year.
Those are pretty big numbers, which likely would require a substantial salary
back in return.

But the fact that he's got only two years left -- the Celtics can't be
thinking about extending him now at anything approaching what he's earning --
might make him attractive to some team. He can do things on the floor; I still
marvel at his April 6 game against Washington in which he went 3 of 16 from
the field but also had 10 rebounds and 14 assists. This past year, he was
named a reserve on the Eastern Conference All-Star team, so there must be some
coaches out there who think he's worth something.

OK, so where would he go? One possibility: wherever Michael Jordan ends up.
Jordan likes to think of himself as one of Walker's hoop godfathers and
undoubtedly would relish playing the role of Henry Higgins to Walker's Eliza
Doolittle. But if Jordan ends up in Charlotte, that means there is no chance
of a deal for at least two years.

It's hard to gauge what interest there is in Walker the player vs. Walker the
player with the big contract. But it is imperative that Ainge look under every
rock to see what Walker might bring in return. There are nights when Walker
can be numbingly horrible and other nights when he'll post the quietest
triple-double you'll ever see. He has talent but, as the stats show, the
numbers are on the decline.

That means it's time to start looking. Ainge has no allegiance to anyone on
this team. He is charged with making the Celtics better. He saw them Friday
night. He saw New Jersey Friday night. There is a pretty wide gap there, one
that isn't going to shrink unless Jason Kidd bolts for San Antonio. The
Celtics have no one coming along like Richard Jefferson or Martin.

Ainge can't assume that Kidd is going to leave. He can only narrow that gap
with what he has.


King-sized problem

You have to feel for the Sacramento Kings. They finally appear ready to take
the proverbial Next Step, and . . . boom. Down goes their best player for the
remainder of the postseason. It's hard to see Sacramento prevailing in a long
series against the Lakers or Spurs -- and that assumes the Kings can get by
Dallas. ''He's a huge part of what we do offensively and a huge part of what
they have problems with,'' said Kings coach Rick Adelman. ''It's like Dallas
losing [Dirk] Nowitzki.'' It may be premature to put an RIP sign over ARCO
Arena, however. One trait the Kings have shown the last two seasons is the
ability to win without Chris Webber, albeit in the regular season. They were
10-5 in the 15 games Webber missed this past season. They also were 21-6
without Mike Bibby, 8-2 without Peja Stojakovic, and 14-9 without Bobby
Jackson, who played last night despite a fractured cheekbone. But Webber is
the glue that holds the team together. Adelman used 13 different starting
lineups this season and among his options up front now are Keon Clark (how big
does his signing look now?) and Hedo Turkoglu. Scot Pollard is also a choice.
But Webber can't be replaced. The offense runs through him and Vlade Divac;
they may be the best big-man passing combo in the league. If the Kings do go
down, at least no one will be on Webber for passing up the big shot . . . It's
time for Eric Williams to get his own public relations guy. Somehow Williams
was totally overlooked in the balloting for the All-Defensive teams, getting
not a single mention. Then again, no Celtic did. (The one first-place vote
that Martin received? From the Celtics.) Williams also got no mentions for the
All-Interview team, which is too bad because he is as cooperative and
insightful and funny as anyone in the locker room. Walker and Pierce each got
one vote while O'Brien was one of 11 coaches who didn't get a mention (which
I'm sure is troubling him deeply). Hey, Pat Riley didn't get one, either . . .
Leave it to Coach of the Year Gregg Popovich to accurately sum up his Spurs
after Friday night's lay-down in LA against the Lakers. The Spurs still lead
the series, 2-1, but like the Timberwolves before them they have to understand
that you have to knock out the champ while he's reeling. ''I don't think we
came with an appropriate fear,'' Popovich said. ''A little fear is a good
thing. We played as if we expected someone to give us something. That was
disappointing. It was like, `Oh, the three-time champions. Here's a win.' ''
Lakers coach Phil Jackson was working the referees like a masseur before the
game. ''I anticipate Bruce [Bowen] is not going to get away with the kind of
defensive strategy he used on Kobe [in the first two games],'' Jackson said.
''Into him, on his arms, those things are things that probably will not happen
on our home court. Those minor things, I think, will be different.'' Probably?
Different? Kobe Bryant took 12 free throws in the first two games. He had 19
Friday. That's the kind of stuff that has people talking about conspiracy
theories. Keep an eye on the officiating today. The Lakers can't afford to go
down, 3-1, can they?


Princely sums

The Pistons have a 2-1 lead against the Sixers and one of the primary reasons
is a guy whose name has rarely shown up in box scores this season: Tayshaun
Prince. Where did he come from? He basically won Game 2 by tying the score and
sending it into overtime, where he scored the first 5 points. He has turned
into a secret weapon for coach Rick Carlisle, who tried to remind everyone
that Prince wasn't exactly invisible this season. ''He did play about 450
minutes for us,'' Carlisle offered. Sorry, Rick. That was spread over just 42
games, which meant there were 40 games in which he did not play. ''He even
started five games,'' added the coach. ''But at that time, with our identity
being that of a tough, defensive team, the way we decided to go was with
Michael Curry. Tayshaun could have gone one of two ways at that point. He
could have dropped his head and felt sorry for himself and packed it in for
the year, or he could have decided he needed to work harder and get stronger.
He has responded well when we needed him.'' In the first seven playoff games
in which he appeared (he missed two games in the Orlando series), Prince
averaged 10 points and 4.3 rebounds in 23.9 minutes. His regular-season
numbers: 3.3 points in 10.4 minutes a game. Last night in Detroit's 93-83
loss, Prince had 17 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists. ''What he's doing now
reminds me of what Reggie Lewis did in the 1988 playoffs,'' said Carlisle.
''But Reggie had barely played that year while Tayshaun had given us some
significant minutes.'' (Lewis didn't do much in the 1988 playoffs, but he had
some flashes. The next year was his real coming-out party.) Prince is 6 feet 9
inches but plays with a 7-2 wingspan. He has length, he's a lefty, and he can
score from inside or outside. Not too shabby for the 23d pick in last year's
draft. ''When we got into the Orlando series, we saw we needed his length to
guard [Tracy] McGrady, and we always knew he could score,'' Carlisle said.
''He has seized the opportunity and shown that he can do a little bit of
everything. He's a good playoff player.''

Thanks,

Steve
sb@maine.rr.com

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