Lenny Meglioga: Players Ponder Trades

[wayray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Well, if Williams plays every game like the past one,
if trade value will certainly increase.


http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/sports/columnists/scolmegliola10232003.htm

Megliola: New-look Celtics strut their stuff
By Lenny Megliola
Thursday, October 23, 2003

BOSTON -- Now Eric Williams wonders who's next. His good friend and
business partner Antoine Walker is running with the Mavericks these
days. Williams is a bit uncomfortable with this, a little nervous. He's
been traded himself. He gets it.

"You get the feeling you ain't wanted," said Williams. But there's a
flip side. "You're wanted by somebody else."

Walker's name had always come up in trade talks, and when Danny Ainge
took over running the Celtics' operation, well, Danny Boy was never a
big 'Toine fan. "But he made it through training camp," said Williams.
Walker felt a little safer. He had bought some time. He might get the
new boss to appreciate his game from up close.

"Then four weeks into training camp and this happened," said Williams.
"Now it's like, what's next?"

Ainge said Monday he's not through dealing. Who's next? Tony Battie?
Williams? He'd hate that. Absolutely hate it. "Antoine and I were the
oldest Celtics," said Williams. "That bond was broken. In the back of
my mind I'm thinking, I'm on the last year of my contract. Maybe
they're totally going in a new direction."

Listen to coach Jim O'Brien and you'd think Williams didn't have
anything to worry about. That he'd be around for a while. "I told Eric
the other day, 'You give me confidence when you're on the floor,"' said
O'Brien. Williams had 18 points in 19 minutes in the Celtics' 96-80
cruise over the Timberwolves last night at the FleetCenter.

After the Sunday night trade, Williams said he talked to Walker until
"two o'clock in the morning. We went down memory lane." When Williams
came to the Celtics in 1995, Pervis Ellison took him under his wing.
Pervis must have shown Williams how to pick up a fat paycheck without
working up a sweat. But that's not Williams' style. Nobody works
harder. When Walker was a rookie the next year, "I was the one who
showed him around," said Williams.

Now everything seemed to be up in the air with the Celtics, run by an
ex-Celtic with a baby face. But don't be fooled. Nobody's safe. "This
is where I want to end my career," said Williams. No guarantees though.
Definitely not now. Yet Williams gets words of assurance from the
coach, and last night chief owner Wyc Grousbeck stopped Williams as he
left the locker room, telling him "You played a great game. That was a
lot of energy you brought."

Walker's exit made a Celtic of 6-11 1/2 Raef LaFrentz. It's the second
time he's been traded. Like Walker, he didn't expect to be shipped out
this late, a week before the start of the regular season. "Did the
trade shock me? Not necessarily. The timing? Yes," said LaFrentz. "You
don't expect to be traded at this point." He had just settled into a
new home in Dallas. The other Maverick in the deal, Jiri Welsch, bought
a house last week! "That's the nature of the business," said LaFrentz.

So what did he think of Antoine Walker? "He's a tough matchup. He can
create. His shot selection isn't the greatest."

It was a hectic morning practice for the Celtics before last night's
game, O'Brien trying not to force feed his new players. "We had a busy
morning, 3 1/2 (hours), trying to get familiar with what we want to
do," said O'Brien.

At first glance, LaFrentz impressed Williams. "He was blocking shots
and rebounding (at practice)." His past impression of the ex-Kansas
star went like this. "He played hard every game. That's what I noticed
about him."

LaFrentz managed to log 19 minutes and had nine points and five
rebounds to show for it. "He played very composed," said O'Brien. "It's
hard to believe he didn't start practicing until this morning. He paid
attention for 3 1/2 hours."

Vin Baker you ask? Twenty-five minutes, 4 for 6 from the floor and 11
rebounds. "He's playing great," said O'Brien. "You can't play any
harder than Vin. It's impossible."

So the post-Antoine period has begun. "It's definitely strange," said
Paul Pierce. "It's something I've got to get used to."

(Lenny Megliola is a Daily News sports columnist.)

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