Was Antoine Walker ever good?

[nickagneta]

Udonis Haslem is a role player and never has been more than that. Antoine Walker has always been a good all around player. You cant compare the two players other than they both play PF.

No one in their right basketball mind can question whether Toine was ever "good". He was very talented player in this league for quite a while and his career was ruined because he was the first piece of a rebuilding franchise. He never had a veteran to take him under his wing. Toine was forced to grow up too quick and it hurt him in the long run.

It could also be argued that he never grew up as a player or a professional and that's why he fell in love with inefficiently shooting 3's, never working on his game or conditioning in the off season, and ignoring what some coaches told him to do on the court.

As for the "he was playing so many minutes he had to recover in the off season" remark your do realize that out of the 8 seasons Antoine played here he only average over 36.9 MPG in half those seasons. Here are his MPG averages for the seasons he was here in consecutive order:

36.2, 39.9, 36.9, 36.6, 41.9, 42, 41.5, 34.5.

As a comparison and maybe this isn't fair but Larry Bird every single off season of his career came back into camp having worked on something new and bettered his game every year. His MPG averages in consecutive order his first 8 years:

36, 39.5, 38, 37.7, 38.3, 39.5, 38, 40.6.

Not really all that different. but in those eight seasons Bird also averaged playing 16 playoff games per year and averaged over 40 MPG in every single playoff season he was in. Yet somehow he didn't have to recover from the beating he took because a week after the season ended he was working on perfecting his free throws one season and extending his range another season, and perfecting his left hand shots in the lane another and developing a new post move another year. he got better every year because he was mature and driven and professional.

So Larry averaged having longer seasons, shorter off seasons and yet didn't have to rest because of the beatings he took in a possibly more physical league. But he came back better every year.

What exactly was Walker's excuse again?

[Roy Hobbs]

How can you knock Toine for his shot selection during his time with the C's? Tell me who else on the team you would rather have shooting the ball.

I think you're mixing up two concepts, "shot selection" and "number of shots".  I doubt very many people fault Antoine for taking a lot of shots; he was clearly one of the top two players on the team throughout his career in Boston.

What people take exception to, however, is the quality of those shots.  Far too often, Antoine would settle for jacking up a quick three early in the shot clock, or taking an off-balance three while covered.  For a player of his talent to settle for poor outside shots was very frustrating for a lot of folks, and I don't think he should get a free pass just because he was one of the best players on the squad.  If he'd had better shot selection, he would have been quite a bit better.

Still, I like Antoine, and do agree that it would be hard to argue that he wasn't at least "good".

[PSquared]

sooooo....Do we or don't we bring him back eventually?

[crownsy]

sooooo....Do we or don't we bring him back eventually?

to what purpose at this point?

[Redz]

sooooo....Do we or don't we bring him back eventually?

to what purpose at this point?

So we can stop talking about it?

[PSquared]

sooooo....Do we or don't we bring him back eventually?

to what purpose at this point?

So we can stop talking about it?

TP for Mr.Redz. 

[moiso]

Anyone can just not click on this topic if they aren't interested...

[RebusRankin]

sooooo....Do we or don't we bring him back eventually?

to what purpose at this point?

So we can stop talking about it?

Yeah but then it'll be threads on how he should start or play more minutes.

[moiso]

He would overtake Ray and Eddie as our prime 3 point sniper!

[Tnerb02]

Antoine Walker was more than just good, he was the face of the Boston Celtics organization while he was here. It's a shame that so many people underestimate the greatness and mystique of Antoine Walker. He is a living legend and one of the greatest Boston sports icons we have ever known. We should all be thankful that we were merely alive to witness such greatness. If it was not for number 8, who would  we have had to shoot those deadly 4 pointers. WHO I ASK?


I rest my case.

[Chris]

He would overtake Ray and Eddie as our prime 3 point sniper!

Shooter, not sniper...sniper infers that he actually hits the shots.




sorry, couldn't help myself

[FatjohnReturns]

Yes he was. Antoine played hard and had amazing skill set. It seemed like he never worked that hard for it though. Danny was smart to not give Antoine a max contract.
Although I still do the walker wiggle at the start of the 4th quater

[Chief]

Antoine Walker was more than just good, he was the face of the Boston Celtics organization while he was here. It's a shame that so many people underestimate the greatness and mystique of Antoine Walker. He is a living legend and one of the greatest Boston sports icons we have ever known. We should all be thankful that we were merely alive to witness such greatness. If it was not for number 8, who would  we have had to shoot those deadly 4 pointers. WHO I ASK?


I rest my case.

Last time I saw him, you could add about 100 lbs. to that picture.

[Chris]

How about we just replace the dance team with Walker and Cassell?

[PRIDE]

Udonis Haslem is a role player and never has been more than that. Antoine Walker has always been a good all around player. You cant compare the two players other than they both play PF.

No one in their right basketball mind can question whether Toine was ever "good". He was very talented player in this league for quite a while and his career was ruined because he was the first piece of a rebuilding franchise. He never had a veteran to take him under his wing. Toine was forced to grow up too quick and it hurt him in the long run.

It could also be argued that he never grew up as a player or a professional and that's why he fell in love with inefficiently shooting 3's, never working on his game or conditioning in the off season, and ignoring what some coaches told him to do on the court.

As for the "he was playing so many minutes he had to recover in the off season" remark your do realize that out of the 8 seasons Antoine played here he only average over 36.9 MPG in half those seasons. Here are his MPG averages for the seasons he was here in consecutive order:

36.2, 39.9, 36.9, 36.6, 41.9, 42, 41.5, 34.5.

As a comparison and maybe this isn't fair but Larry Bird every single off season of his career came back into camp having worked on something new and bettered his game every year. His MPG averages in consecutive order his first 8 years:

36, 39.5, 38, 37.7, 38.3, 39.5, 38, 40.6.

Not really all that different. but in those eight seasons Bird also averaged playing 16 playoff games per year and averaged over 40 MPG in every single playoff season he was in. Yet somehow he didn't have to recover from the beating he took because a week after the season ended he was working on perfecting his free throws one season and extending his range another season, and perfecting his left hand shots in the lane another and developing a new post move another year. he got better every year because he was mature and driven and professional.

So Larry averaged having longer seasons, shorter off seasons and yet didn't have to rest because of the beatings he took in a possibly more physical league. But he came back better every year.

What exactly was Walker's excuse again?

Hey I never tried to say Antoine was better than Larry Legend