Antoine Walker: How has history treated your feelings toward Employee #8?

[Roy H.]

I was watching some Antoine highlights this morning, and it reminded me how much I loved that guy.  I don't think I've ever had affection for such a flawed basketball player.

I know a lot of Celtics fans weren't huge fans.  He was a chucker, didn't play much defense, and never maximized his talents.  Still, I love the guy.  The one small regret from the 2008 season is that the team didn't sign Antoine as a 15th man, so that he and Paul could have celebrated together.

Retire his number, Wyc!  (I say this last part mostly in jest, but there have been worse travesties.)

[hardlyyardley]

Clown.....wasting talent like that....his ex is equally a clown

[Fafnir]

He was an exciting player, but his play drove me nuts more than anything. Martin just completely leaving him in the dust is when I was ready to move on. I still thought he was good, but just not good for Paul at his salary.

When the C's traded back for him is when it really hit me how ugly his game was and how much he'd been hurting our team.

[Roy H.]

Clown.....wasting talent like that....his ex is equally a clown

You have a hard heart, my friend.

[Finkelskyhook]

Hard to help but love his exuberance for the game.  He was a good bridge between good teams.

[TBreezy]

The tragedy of antoine is that he joined an organization without any leadership and was given the keys to the kingdom.  Nobody to demand that he defers to them on the court and a court of jesters in the front office.

Pitino came on and provided the advice "come back different" well actually like pippen or like malone.  Really?  Tell him how you want him to improve!

Antoine had the tools, and the skills to be much better and I think the celtics failed to provide the leadership necessary.  Those that doubt the skills youtube some of his left hand drive / left hand finish moves.  Too many little guys cannot do that, nevermind someone with his size.  II miss his passing and the immediate  impact his departure had on pierces game.  i missed seeing pierce pinning his guy on the block and toine threading a pass over the top for an easy pierce bucket.

Antoine is at fault for allowing his ego to develop, but the celtics leadership, in his early tenure, was tragic. It is  sad (as far as failing to meet you hoop talent can be sad).

I liked toine.  He had heart and he was the only ray of hope in some dreadful years.

[jambr380]

The tragedy of antoine is that he joined an organization without any leadership and was given the keys to the kingdom.  Nobody to demand that he defers to them on the court and a court of jesters in the front office.

Pitino came on and provided the advice "come back different" well actually like pippen or like malone.  Really?  Tell him how you want him to improve!

Antoine had the tools, and the skills to be much better and I think the celtics failed to provide the leadership necessary.  Those that doubt the skills youtube some of his left hand drive / left hand finish moves.  Too many little guys cannot do that, nevermind someone with his size.  II miss his passing and the immediate  impact his departure had on pierces game.  i missed seeing pierce pinning his guy on the block and toine threading a pass over the top for an easy pierce bucket.

Antoine is at fault for allowing his ego to develop, but the celtics leadership, in his early tenure, was tragic. It is  sad (as far as failing to meet you hoop talent can be sad).

I liked toine.  He had heart and he was the only ray of hope in some dreadful years.

TP - I agree with most of this. I will add that even though Antoine had no leadership when he joined the team, he really turned into quite an amazing leader. His teams really had no business going as far as they did in the playoffs. His passion rubbed off on those around him and I truly believe that Paul needed that to become the player that he finally became.

Antoine was my favorite player for his entire tenure with the Cs. Sure, he took to many 3s (which was a planned part of the system), but I loved everything about his style, his attitude, his talent. I was extremely happy to see him finally get a championship with the Heat (when I didn't hate the Heat) as the team's 3rd best player - probably what he always should have been to a team.

His eventual demise - financially and physically was upsetting to me, as was the fact that he and Paul really didn't stay in touch after his departure. Antoine is awesome, though, and I always thought that the trade for Raef LaFrentz (and his atrocious contract) was just a desperate move by Danny to put his own stamp on the franchise and remove any realistic chance of Antoine actually having his number retired.

[Fafnir]

His eventual demise - financially and physically was upsetting to me, as was the fact that he and Paul really didn't stay in touch after his departure. Antoine is awesome, though, and I still think the [atrocious] trade for Raef LaFrentz was just a desperate move by Danny to put his own stamp on the franchise and remove any realistic chance of Antoine actually having his number retired.

Because leadership is chucking while shooting well below .500 TS%?

I know he was passionate, but he was a poor defender, didn't give the effort on the glass, and was a chucker.

He's basically everything people accuse Melo of being, but far worse on the court.

[Donoghus]

Falling in love with the 3 point shot was the worst thing that happened to him.

He had some ridiculous tools and they just eroded away when he decided to linger out on the perimeter.

In the rare instances he was playing his back to the basket, he was pretty awesome to watch.  He was ridiculously agile.

All being said, that '01-02 team probably was my favorite Celtics team to watch post Bird Era including the New Three era.

[moiso]

I liked him early in his career but I agree that the 3point shot helped make him an extremely annoying player and pretty much a net negative.

He came into the league with some excellent skills but in Antoine's mind he was a superstar.  I agree with Ainge's assessment that Walker had a "stranglehold" on the organization.

He also lost his legs extremely early in his career and also became overweight.

[BballTim]

I was watching some Antoine highlights this morning, and it reminded me how much I loved that guy.  I don't think I've ever had affection for such a flawed basketball player.

I know a lot of Celtics fans weren't huge fans.  He was a chucker, didn't play much defense, and never maximized his talents.  Still, I love the guy.  The one small regret from the 2008 season is that the team didn't sign Antoine as a 15th man, so that he and Paul could have celebrated together.

Retire his number, Wyc!  (I say this last part mostly in jest, but there have been worse travesties.)

  I liked him a lot  when he was in his first couple of years but he lost a lot of goodwill with the whole "veteran all-star" thing. Things digressed to the point where you'd watch him do something that you rarely see from someone his size (like eluding a defender by dribbling behind his back in the open court when he ran the break) and wiEdited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline.lly think about how good he'd be if he made better use of his skills.

  If there's nothing else you like about him, though, his quote about shooting threes because there are no fours is a HOF worthy line.

[D.o.s.]

Enjoyed him then, enjoy him now. Fun player.

Guys that end up cowtailing to their handlers and publically acting as Basketball Drones are boring to pay attention to. 'Toine was certainly not one of those.

Also, he helped presage history with all those three's.

[thirstyboots18]

I thought he was a whiner (to the refs) and a waste of amazing talent.  I still feel that way.  I think it was/is sad to watch...but I guess if we don't make a hard choice to improve, don't listen to the right influences, that is what comes of it.  I never thought  of himas a leader, although he did have moments...  (That was in a basketball sense.) 

On a more personal side, he is not the first to lose money and won't be the last.  Bad choices again?  To me, a waste of talent is worse than a loss of money.  JMO

[More Banners]

All heart, no brains.

[ssspence]

a talented guy with desire but no discipline. like, none. pretty sad.

he did have some great games though. i recall one game against the Lakers -- i believe his rookie season on the road -- where he was absolutely unstoppable.