by Larry Bird on Fri Oct 03, 2003 9:44 am
[quote]and walker shouldnt be top 15, more like 25.[/quote]
Why are we attacking Antoine??? Look, he's not a perfect player, but it's not because of his abilities, it's because of his decisions on the court. Ability-wise, he sure as hell is in the top 15 in the league. I don't know if you know anything about basketball, or have every really paid much attention to his game, but Antoine is amazing. First off, he is the best ballhandling power forward in the league, and that's not even a discussion. If you are going to deny that, then we're not going to have a discussion because you know nothing about basketball. Second, he's an amazing passer, possibly the best at his postion in this category also. I'm sure everyone is going to throw Webber at me, but he doesn't control the ball like Antoine does, in fact, no other PF does. He is the modern-day Magic Johnson, the 6'9" guy who can do it all. I'm not saying he's as good as Magic, that'd be silly, but he's the only comparable player in the league today to Magic's skills.
The only knock on his game is his shot selection. As a die-hard Celtics fan it can be stroke-inducing to watch, but there is a reason for it. When Antoine was drafted by Boston, they had NO ONE on their team. Pitino literally told him to take as many shots as he could. Pitino needed someone who could score and Antoine was the only player Rick felt comfortable handing that role to, so the shots kept going up, no matter how many he made or missed. This went on until Paul came to town, but Antoine was still told to keep shooting. Needless to say, when that mentality is grilled into your brain, it's a hard trend to get out of. It's slowly getting better through time, but he still needs to stop himself a little more often.
Now, everyone is calling for Antoine's head after the Nets series. Kenyon dominated Walker at every turn. Antoine can not match up to his style and Antoine tries too hard to beat him. His frustration was beyond obvious, and every time Kenyon would do him up, Antoine would come back with a terrible shot in retaliation to save some face. He played horribly and the Celtics lost, but I don't know why everyone blames Walker. If it wasn't for him, they sure as hell would not have gotten that far, and he's their leader on and off the court.
Maybe now that we have *fingers crossed* a PG, Walker won't have to handle the ball all the time and he can get set up instead of setting others up. I thought that'd be the case with Kenny, but it didn't pan out that way until his final season with Boston, then he got traded away (Thank you, worst deal in the history of all sports).
Antoine is just one of those guys that rubs everybody the wrong way, and he is treated like crap by his own fans. Every Celtics game I've ever attended, Antoine gets booed EVERY TIME he misses a shot, no matter how open or covered he is. At the same time, he is cheered only half the time he makes his shots. I tell people that we need to back Walker, give him some support, build up his confidence, but people around Boston really dislike the guy.... I don't understand it, and I wish people would just leave him alone.
Sorry for the rant but I can't stand the Walker-bashing already, before the season even started. I've got 41 games of it to look forward to.