Star's status dimmed fast: Ainge on job spelled doom for Antoine

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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      Star's status dimmed fast: Ainge on job spelled doom for Antoine
      By Steve Bulpett/The NBA
      Tuesday, October 21, 2003

      It can be no secret by now that the sand in Antoine Walker [news]'s
Celtics hourglass began to run a bit faster the day Danny Ainge took over as
head of basketball operations. Ainge had reservations about Walker's game (he
didn't trust him as a team player), and while he came into camp with an open
mind, those issues were raised anew.

           But if you're wondering why this trade happened and why now, it may
help to know where Walker's value stood in the league - to know that the
Celtics could not have gotten the coveted Elton Brand away from the Clippers
for Walker, Kedrick Brown [news] and a No. 1 draft pick. Nothing the Celts
were offered for the co-captain was nearly as good as Raef LaFrentz, Jiri
Welsch, Chris Mills and a No. 1 pick.

           Whether this is the right move is very much open to question, but
it was the best offered.

           ``When we got this one, everybody was unanimous that this was
something we had to do,'' said Ainge, who joked that beleaguered Red Sox
manager Grady Little ``must be the happiest guy in the valley right now'' to
have the attention off him.

           The trade, which also included Tony Delk, was the culmination of
Ainge's research on what the Celtics needed to do to contend for a
championship. Ultimately he decided that it would not get done by simply
building around Walker and Paul Pierce [news]. It was decided to work around
the latter and move the former, and for all his wise defenses of Walker since
taking over as head coach, know that Jim O'Brien, too, was on board with the
move.

           ``I was never in a meeting where it was ever said we can't build a
championship based on those two guys,'' the coach said yesterday. ``That's not
the case at all.

           ``But we thought there were some circumstances that would dictate
that if an opportunity like this came along with all of its ramifications that
this is the direction that we took as a franchise.''

           The circumstances included word the coach had begun to question how
Walker was going to react this season after Ainge had said he would not grant
'Toine the contract extension he was seeking. There was a change in Walker's
demeanor this season, according to team sources.

           ``I've been watching very closely all summer long,'' Ainge said
when asked of his general approach to altering the team. ``Coaches have been
out looking at players, trying to inspire them to get in better shape. I've
been watching from the first day of training camp and haven't missed a
practice or a game - been watching the demeanor on the bench, the attitude in
the locker room. (I've) been doing an autopsy on the team and on each
individual player, and ultimately I feel that this is a good deal for us.''

           It will be a good deal if Raef LaFrentz, who fits well with
O'Brien's idea of a center who can slip outside, steps up as a defender and -
perhaps most in the spotlight - if Vin Baker can survive the pressure that
will be put on him. The plan is to eventually have LaFrentz start ahead of
Tony Battie and have Baker open at power forward.

           ``If that happens,'' said one source, ``no one will question this
move. If not. . . .''

           If not, the backlash will be harsh, as Walker is expected to turn
it up a notch in Dallas to show he was wronged. But Ainge said he is prepared
for that. In doing the monumental trade, he is putting into play the license
he has to take a step back if need be so the product can be better down the
line. He made it clear he knows what the Celtics are and, more importantly,
aren't.

           ``Dallas is a team that takes a lot of chances, likes to make
things happen. They're on the cusp of winning a championship right now. I wish
I could sit here and tell you that we are one of the top two or three teams in
the NBA, but we're not. I can't sit here and tell you we are an NBA
championship team right now. I just don't see that, and I'm not satisfied with
winning 44 games in the regular season - and I don't think that's a great
accomplishment.

           ``I think that this is a step that initially I think is a small
step backwards just from the timing issue (nine days before the start of the
season). But I believe that this year we can become as good a team with this
new roster as we could have been at the end of the season - with a better
chance of moving forward to be able to compete with the New Jerseys and the
Detroits in the Eastern Conference.''

Thanks,

Steve
sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx

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