Walker story an odd dichotomy

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Walker story an odd dichotomy
By Mark Murphy/NBA Notes
Sunday, October 26, 2003

You hear the word ``misunderstood'' used a lot when the subject is Antoine
Walker [news].

     Paul Pierce [news] smiled when asked why the term applied so aptly to his
lightning rod of a former teammate.

     ``A lot of people aren't used to his ways, that's all,'' said Pierce. ``A
lot of fans are used to more traditional kinds of players.''

     More, um, traditional?

     ``What I mean by that is that he's looked on as a new generation type of
player - his wiggle and the 3-point shooting are things that weren't really
seen in Boston before,'' said Pierce. ``These perceptions come from coaches
around the league, and people who don't know him.

     ``But if you ask everyone who has played with him and people in the
organization, they'll tell you that he's someone you loved to be around.''

     So you be the judge.

     The real Antoine Walker lies somewhere within the following mishmash of
extremes:

     He's not a team guy. He's a poor man's Magic Johnson. He's Mark Aguirre
with a little court vision. He's out of shape. He's Twiggy after shedding
those 20 pounds in the offseason. He's selfish. He'd do anything for you. He's
the square peg. He's the round hole.

      Now he either buys into Dallas' free-flowing ballet of an offense, or
Walker becomes a very expensive ninth or 10th man.

     The Mavs, you see, can afford to sit talent.

     That's why, when people such as Mavs owner Mark Cuban or director of
player personnel Donnie Nelson are asked about the old ``where will they find
all of the basketballs?'' dilemma, the response is usually a self-satisfied
laugh.

     ``That's never a problem, because we have three of the most unselfish
superstars in the league in Steve Nash, Dirk (Nowitzki) and Mike (Finley),''
said Nelson. ``They care about winning games, period.

     ``Nellie wouldn't go for it any other way,'' Nelson said of his father,
general manager and coach Don Nelson. ``If someone doesn't buy into that, then
they won't be on the floor for very long.''

     Flash back to some telling words two weeks ago, when Walker, commenting
on whether he intended to tailor his unique style to new Celtic point guards,
Marcus Banks [news] and Mike James [news], said: ``That will never happen -
impossible. What people have to understand is that people have to fit into me
and Paul.''

     As for the Celtics' new fast break initiative, Walker was similarly cool.
``To be honest, when all is said and done it's back to the grind, as always,''
he said. ``I've been playing too long to even worry about that.''

     Over the course of a Celtics career in which Walker played his way into
the dual role as the good Antoine and the bad Antoine, those words erupted
from the latter.

     But those who defend Walker claim his inherent stubbornness clouds
everyone else's vision.

     ``Misunderstood'' is their keyword.

     ``I think he is (misunderstood),'' said Walker's agent, Michael Higgins.
``He gave a lot of years to helping turn that team around. Despite his
scowling and the way he acts on the court, people have to understand that he
cares about winning - he comes to play every night.

     ``He's been there from Day One, and he had a lot of good years there,''
he said. ``He just plays basketball. . . . He understands that there's not
much he can do about things.''

     Especially now, in an optimum situation he probably wouldn't trade for a
return ticket.

     Mavs' gun loaded

     We already knew about Cuban's at-all-costs commitment to bringing a
championship to Dallas.

     But even at that, the Mavericks' deal for Walker - something the Dallas
owner says he needed to be convinced of by basketball operations chief Nelson
- pushes the idea of personnel juggling far beyond the pale for just about any
other NBA team except the Lakers.

     Sometimes it helps a team to know that the front office has as much in
the guts department as the guys on the floor.

     ``We don't have an advantage over anyone else, but people do know that
we're not afraid to squeeze the trigger,'' said Donnie Nelson. ``People who do
business with us know that we're not afraid to go ahead.''

     Before the trade for Walker and teammate Tony Delk even commenced, the
Mavericks had already added eight new names to the roster since last season,
including Antawn Jamison, Danny Fortson, Chris Mills, Jiri Welsch, free agent
signees Travis Best, Marquis Daniels, Jon Stefansson and Josh Howard.

     Most viewed these additions as being an all-out push to produce a title
now.

     Not so fast, according to Nelson.

     ``We still had to gel after bringing all of those people in,'' said the
Mavs personnel director. ``And the feeling is the same now.

     ``You can't put a time element on it. More than anything, we like the
assemblage of young talent that we've accumulated. And from that talent and
versatility, we have to be considered to be in the league's upper echelon.''

     He's being modest.

     The Mavs were already a charter upper-echelon club member. They've simply
taken a seat in the front row of the skybox.

     'Wolves at the door

     Let's see.

     Latrell Sprewell has already missed a couple of Timberwolves practices.
Sam Cassell still has one of the fastest mouths in the NBA.

     And offseason free agent signee Michael Olowokandi, after recent knee
surgery, is still more of a rumor (when is the last time anyone actually saw
the big guy play?) than an actual NBA presence.

     General manager Kevin McHale has assembled the talent, and now all Flip
Saunders has to do is coach it, right?

     That's why he felt like he was living in the Tower of Babel during
Wednesday night's loss to the Celtics at the FleetCenter.

     ``I heard more guys trying to figure each other out on the bench tonight
than I have ever heard before, and I said to them, `You guys just got to
forget about all of that stuff and just play basketball,' '' Saunders said
Wednesday night.
Thanks,

Steve
sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx