A classic read: "Danny is a snake"

[coco]

AW was the worst "franchise" Celtic to ever wear the uniform in my opinion.

Never liked his game, never admired his IQ - basketball or otherwise......

His game couldn't fool DA.  After all, DA played with the best and saw tons of holes in AW's game.

.....and so DA traded him to what was then a very formidable Dallas Mavericks team.

[walker834]

I think Antoine got a bad rap by a lot of fans here in Boston who just didn't like him or understand him or the situation the celtics were in at the time.  Danny did want him gone but both Antoine and Pierce were chuckers at that time mainly due to ownership and the type of team they had built.  Antoine wanted to be a part of the celtics future and I can't really blame him for that.  He was  a kid and I bet he was asked to tone down his game but I really wonder how genuine Ainge or either side was.  Walker probably wanted to be the guy in ways and a big part of things and Ainge really wasn't willing to work with Antoine and really adapt the team to his strengths.

Name me one athlete that doesn't have some form of ego whether it's Antoine's or a guy like KO who can actually be better than he is but isn't.  It was just the times then and mistakes were made  on a lot of players then.

I more just think it's sad and a waste when a player of Antoine's talents doesn't live up to it and a lot of is on Antoine himself but the people around him as well.  Saying he had an addictive personality and hope he has healed isn't really the truth either.  There is ignorance from a lot of people in general.

[walker834]

Rick Pitino is to blame too. So is Chris Wallace.  I think ownership was terrible and Paul Gaston who was just looking to sell the team at the time. There was really no leadership from the top in general.  Red was around but there were players with all sorts of issues.  We drafted quite a few of them.  Even Pierce had issues himself. Joe Forte etc.  Ron Mercer. Antoine was one of our better players and  people.  He lacked guidance in ways sure. He was hanging around with guys like Michael Irvin who was in a similar situation etc.  I still remember that story of  Antoine delivering Christmas trees though and Antoine was one of the good guys.  He was misguided in ways yes.  And was just surrounded by a lot of stuff.

Saying it's all on Antoine is a load of crap. Just look at the people back then.  No wonder Antoine felt that way in ways.  I bet he felt it was all on him in more ways than one.

We were a team that was still realing from the loss of Reggie LEwis and Len Bias who died from overdoses and guys like Pierce and Antoine really had that team playing pretty good for what they were.

I still remember that playoff game down 25 in the 4th quarter with antoine getting on Pierce and pierce going off.   Antoine had heart. Misguided heart in ways but he was human. He's still an NBA champion.

Thing is I saw it then. I knew what was wrong with the team then and I see it now too.  So whatever.  There is no hindsight with me.   I saw it then.  A lot of people had issues back then.

They still do today. There's always been ignorance in this world and there still is.  Not everyone gets opportunities like that.  There are players like Tom Brady out there who make the most of them and are in situations that allow them to or even rise above that and make it happen themselves, but a lot players don't or aren't as lucky.

Antoine was human and a flawed player in ways.  So are a lot of people. He still accomplished quite a bit.

People who were expecting Antoine to know everything and be our savior and do it all himself didn't know him. He was flawed.  So were a lot of people.

[walker834]

He grew up in Chicago idolizing Michael Jordan which says a lot about the type of player Antoine was though. So were a lot of players then.  They were all that way.  A lot of chuckers who didn't understand other aspects of the game.  ESPN has a lot to do with that.

It's like Red kept saying to hm you aren't michael jordan we need you down on the box. So many people back then were that way though and i hated it.  It wasn't really Antoine's fault.

I just remember that time nad how people were and the media.  People did not understand other aspects of the game or how to develop some of these guys.  A lot of people in general were more concerned with ratings and still are to this day.

The entire eastern conference sucked.  Allen Iverson.  Jason Kidd was the only guy who passed the ball and his team kept getting their butts kicked in the finals because he had no one to pass to and was a volume passer himself.

People were not capable of or even concerned enough with developing these guys.

Players like Duncan and KObe and Shaq really dominated that era because they were really the only guys maximizing their potential and fully developed. Even a guy like KG who was more unselfish and a different kind of leader,  took him a while to get a championship.

Antoine talent wise could have been a very good player but he was always trying to do too much.  He would have made a great glue guy or 3rd wheel type player and he eventually did in Miami.

He was that at Kentucky too and won there. He has an NCAA championship and NBA championship. When people expected him to be our savior he wasn't that.

I always felt like had we gotten Duncan and had Pierce, Duncan and Waler as the 3rd wheel it would have been great. Like Aikman Emmitt and Irvin in dallas.  He and Michael Irvin had more in common than people think.

A lot of fans were that way back then too where they were so set on us winning the lottery instead of developing Walker for what he was.  Once we didn't win the lottery it became a love/hate relationship with him and fans were bitter.

[walker834]

Paul Gaston was more concerned with selling the team and upping it's value and maximizing our playoff potential than he was with developing our players. 

Antoine was a kid and expecting him to be anything but what he was considering the time and who he was is ludicrous. Pierce was the same thing at the time and it sucked.  He should have been and developed, but he wasn't that's the whole point. 

A lot of people were snakes back then. They still are. I just remember that time and the stuff fans would say.  As a good person I notice these things.

People to this day were more concerned with just wanting him gone than developing him as a player and person.   They were more concerned with ratings than Antoine or Pierce taking ownership for themselves as celtics and winning with them.