Bill Walker

[NoraG1]

I'm more concerned about the useless screeches after dunks than the O'Grady episode.  Walker has to stand up there.  But this overt cockiness from a player who almost didn't get drafted is a lot much.  Walker is way beyond the fine line between exhuberance and cockiness.

Billy, let your teammates celebrate your dunk while you're sprinting back downcourt to find your man.  The only useful attention comes from the people deciding your minutes. All the other crap is going to get you a bunch of cheap foul calls and retaliation from a dirty player.

So what is Walker supposed to do bend over and worship those who were drafted ahead of him pr who are more established? I don't agree with that. All these players are in the NBA and alot of players in the 2nd round have come out and had really good careers. They did not do it by being timid and overly respectful of everyone drafted before them.

[POBstuntin]

I think Bill should do his thing out there, but he is a ridiculous man.  Everyone seems to forget when he peed on the court: http://withleather.uproxx.com/?p=4463
Or what he had to say about Lebron:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT3bY3oE4V4
But i still love him, he might be our little head case though.

[KCattheStripe]

I think Bill should do his thing out there, but he is a ridiculous man.  Everyone seems to forget when he peed on the court: http://withleather.uproxx.com/?p=4463
Or what he had to say about Lebron:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT3bY3oE4V4
But i still love him, he might be our little head case though.

Ehhh, I think that this proves that he admires and respects fearless competitors, which say what you will about him , Gilbert is. And I think we could do worse than having our second round draft pick emulating Gilbert Arenas.

[POBstuntin]

the peeing on the court also proves thats hes a lunatic

[Chris]

the peeing on the court also proves thats hes a lunatic

OK yeah, he may pretty similar to Rasheed Wallace...but there is plenty of good that comes with the bad.

[Chris]

I think Walker has been getting a bit of a pass from you guys. There's a difference between showing your not intimidated and getting in people's faces. Walker has been getting in people's faces. It's nothing I'm worried about, but I could understand why other teams would consider him a hot head. He's going a little too out of his way to show he's not intimidated.

If you think McGrady was in the wrong on that play your wearing some heavily tinted green shades. Veteran's shouldn't take any crap from rookies. McGrady was just sticking to the script.

I don't know, as much as I agree with you in general, McGrady took a pretty big shot at him.  I had no problem with Walker getting up and getting in his face after that.  I had much more problem with the way he pushed Lebron after his dunk in the first Cleveland game.

[xmuscularghandix]

he didn't lose his head in the houston game, it was Tmac and House that got technicals. KG actually said that he was happy/impressed with the was he stood up for himself but didn't lose control.

i see walker taking over the aspect of posey that i liked the most, the way he didn't allow opposing players to get their shot off after being fouled, the hard "dirty" plays that you have to make sometimes.
i'd love to see him start goaltending on shots after the whistle, favorite thing that KG/posey did.


...i know these are dirty plays and i'm not saying that i want people to get hurt, but somebody has to be the hard nosed player that gets on the other teams nerves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxU3YXcRwV0


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y72gBvGSFuk

[BballTim]

  T-Mac's a punk.

  The real problem was the crappy refs. Artest was playing out of control trying to physically intimidate players with hard fouls (that weren't called) on Paul and Ray. Things just got out of hand.

[ManUp]

I think Walker has been getting a bit of a pass from you guys. There's a difference between showing your not intimidated and getting in people's faces. Walker has been getting in people's faces. It's nothing I'm worried about, but I could understand why other teams would consider him a hot head. He's going a little too out of his way to show he's not intimidated.

If you think McGrady was in the wrong on that play your wearing some heavily tinted green shades. Veteran's shouldn't take any crap from rookies. McGrady was just sticking to the script.

I don't know, as much as I agree with you in general, McGrady took a pretty big shot at him.  I had no problem with Walker getting up and getting in his face after that.  I had much more problem with the way he pushed Lebron after his dunk in the first Cleveland game.

I have no problem with Walker getting in McGrady's face after he was knocked down. That's what any self respecting person would do. I just don't agree with it when people paint Bill as a saint and try to flip it around as if he had no part in what happened. For every action there is a reaction, you push you get pushed back sometimes even harder.

[moskqq]

Sorry guys, right now Walker is too full of himself. In the T-Mack scuffle, POB went over to hold Walker back and received a strong shove from Billy (so it's O.K. to retaliate against your own teammate?)....so that's O.K. too?  It's been said before, until Walker lets his emotions do the talking by his performance ON-THE-Court and not as a street punk, in my book he keeps the label.

His earlier shoving of KG seemed to be admired at first but his later actions seem more to indicate that he's still on the playground where that type of response is admired.  Let's not forget he's still a rookie trying to prove himself as an NBA player!

I didn't like what T-Mack did but back up the reel and see what instigated the hard hit.  As much as I try to dismiss Walker's previous shove of T-Mack, the fact remains that T-Mack was PROVOKED! His response, like that of Walker, was pitiful.

The NBA game isn't football but often gets played that way.  Walker MUST learn to play the NBA game and only retaliate by playing a physical-type game.  In that regard he should expect no favors when he goes around preciptating  confrontations by pushing and shoving other players. It's a game of "controlled" restraint, Paul Pierce has already learned that and Billy should take his cue from him. Unless his overly aggressive actions are nipped in the bud it could cost us a crucial game later on.

[moiso]

The bump on Lebron was unnecessary, and Walker seems to have had a few "Artest moments" in a short period of time.  I'm fine with him for now, but if he keeps this stuff up for a long period of time, it could get pretty annoying.  It does seem like strange behavior for a mid 2nd round pick.  He definitely has the ego of a lottery pick, which could be a good thing as far as reaching his potential as a player.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Sorry guys, right now Walker is too full of himself. In the T-Mack scuffle, POB went over to hold Walker back and received a strong shove from Billy (so it's O.K. to retaliate against your own teammate?)....so that's O.K. too?  It's been said before, until Walker lets his emotions do the talking by his performance ON-THE-Court and not as a street punk, in my book he keeps the label.

His earlier shoving of KG seemed to be admired at first but his later actions seem more to indicate that he's still on the playground where that type of response is admired.  Let's not forget he's still a rookie trying to prove himself as an NBA player!

I didn't like what T-Mack did but back up the reel and see what instigated the hard hit.  As much as I try to dismiss Walker's previous shove of T-Mack, the fact remains that T-Mack was PROVOKED! His response, like that of Walker, was pitiful.

The NBA game isn't football but often gets played that way.  Walker MUST learn to play the NBA game and only retaliate by playing a physical-type game.  In that regard he should expect no favors when he goes around preciptating  confrontations by pushing and shoving other players. It's a game of "controlled" restraint, Paul Pierce has already learned that and Billy should take his cue from him. Unless his overly aggressive actions are nipped in the bud it could cost us a crucial game later on.

Wow, that he gave POB a strong shove? Are you kidding me? So now he's retaliating against his own teammate? What else are we going to make up, that he spat on him?

T-Mac was PROVOKED too? There's no doubt that T-Mac got a shot, but he got a shot because Bill had him beat and T-Mac tried to grab him. So who PROVOKED who? By the way, all Bill did was remove T-Mac's hands from him and ran into him... T-Mac clearly tried to flop to get a foul call and then he lowered his shoulders to hit Bill Walker. Bill had him beat, going forceful towards the basket, T-Mac grabed him a bit to get himself into position... in the way of a train going at full force, of course you're going to get a shot.

Now, I'm not saying that Bill Walker is a saint or anything, but please, get the facts straight and try to portray those facts as accurate as possible. Strong shove to POB? Lol.

The bump on Lebron was unnecessary, and Walker seems to have had a few "Artest moments" in a short period of time.  I'm fine with him for now, but if he keeps this stuff up for a long period of time, it could get pretty annoying.  It does seem like strange behavior for a mid 2nd round pick.  He definitely has the ego of a lottery pick, which could be a good thing as far as reaching his potential as a player.

I don't think the bump on LeBron was unnecessary nor do I think it was really intended. If you see Walker, after the dunk all he's doing is looking towards the end of the bench (were Giddens is usually seating). As he reacted after the dunk, he wasn't aware of where he was going, then he got too close to LeBron and simply gave a him a little bump... you know, those bumps that usually occur when you're jumping and running while the other player is standing still in your way. It happens all the time... I'd bet that if you go and watch most reactions after monster dunks, there's always someone that gets in the middle of someone's celebration... it just so happens that it was LeBron this time.

People are getting overly sensitive with players reactions after a good play... they should be allowed to celebrate however they wish because it was just that, a good play. This is getting as ridiculous as baseball were players aren't "allowed" to show much emotion after getting a huge strikeout or a home run. Who cares? So someone got happy he did a huge dunk, strikeout, home run. If you don't like it, next time prevent it from happening.

[Badfish35]

If Walker was on the pre-Garnett Celtics I might be a bit concerned.... If he was flying around dunking screaming during preseason games, getting into altercations with teammates during scrimmages, and getting into scuffles with established superstars (McGrady, Lebron) before even playing a meaningful game ---

--- I would have been kinda concerned if we had one of the worst records in the league and had guys like Ricky Davis to look up to and inexperienced cocky guys like Telfair and Gerald Green and yes, at times, Tony Allen to play alongside (and compete against for minutes), especially if we had a team with established NBA vets who had a history of well-deserved trash-talking (like Payton, Toine, and Pierce to name a few).....

As I said if this were one of the Celtics teams of the past few years pre-Garnett I would have been concerned... but with this team, with heady veterans, with a year of successes, and with leadership and coaching that will take advantage of much-needed toughness at the swing position as well as athleticism that they will need against running teams (see Hawks, Atlanta: 2008 Playoffs - Games 3,4,and 6), I think Bill Walker is a perfect fit for these Boston Celtics.

[Section301]

The rookie got a tech on the other team's star player.  Call it what you will, but that smells like an Auerbach tactic if ever I saw one.  Go ahead and get the veteran mad, if he loses his cool and gets tossed, the other team loses.  I'll take that trade every time.  When Rodman (man, but he made Karl Malone lose his cool), Bowen, Artest, Posey do it, they're "crafty veterans who know how to get under the opposition's skin."  When Walker does it, he's a punk.  Sounds like a double standard to me.  If the other team spends its time trying to show up the rook, they're not playing their game plan, they're being played. 

I cannot purport to know what is in Bill walker's mind.  To try to do so is only speculation.  So it is fruitless to try and tell you my take on his psychological makeup or the motivations behind his actions.  What I can say is the results of his actions are not unacceptable to me.  No matter how nice and polite the Celtics are, the other teams, and their fans, wil hate them.  The more they win, the more they will be hated.  Just like the Pats and Sox before them.  Being respectful and well behaved won't win them any more love.  No one likes the Spurs more just cause TD is soft-spoken. Frankly, I don't care what the other teams think.  No, on second thought I do.  The more they hate the Celtics the better, because that means that the Celtics are winning. 

[BballTim]

His earlier shoving of KG seemed to be admired at first but his later actions seem more to indicate that he's still on the playground where that type of response is admired.  Let's not forget he's still a rookie trying to prove himself as an NBA player!

  Show me a player who won't mix it up with players because they're established vets and he's just a lowly rookie and I'll show you a player who won't contribute a thing all year. The more Walker feels he's the equal of players like TMac the better he'll be.