Way back in '98, I thought Antoine was a lock to get his jersey retired. Only his 2nd season and he had already put up a few triple doubles and was an All-Star. Along with Kobe, was the first in that historic draft class to be an All-Star, beating out Iverson, Ray Allen, Marbury, Nash, etc. And Kobe only made it because he was voted by fans, while Walker earned it by being selected by the coaches! I figured dude was a lock to get his jersey retired at that point.
Then in the mid-00's, man did Big Al look legit. 16 points, 11 rebounds, 1.5 blocks in only his 3rd season straight of a high school. He looked like he would be the foundation of Celtics teams for the next decade. Would love to see some polls of C's fans from '07 asking if they'd prefer to build around Big Al or Pierce, as I think many preferred Big Al. At the time, it probably seemed like his jersey is definitely going in the rafters, right?
And up until about 6 months ago, to me at least, it seemed pretty much unfathomable that IT wouldn't get his jersey retired here.
All that to say, way too earlier to make a call on Kyrie's number hanging in the rafters.
Walker was a great player, but Kyrie is leaps and bounds already above him and that's not even a question.. Walker have had so many freakin' chances with the Celtics, it isn't even funny... Sure he had gaudy numbers, but over the next few years, it got into his head, and he eventually relied heavily on his 3 point shooting... At the age of 25/26, he was taking 7.5 and 8.0 3PA.. At
.344/.323 clip average.... That is horrendous...
NBA champion (2006)
3× NBA All-Star (1998, 2002, 2003)
NBA All-Rookie First Team (1997)
NCAA champion (1996)
First-team All-SEC (1996)
NBA champion (2016)
4× NBA All-Star (2013–2015, 2017)
NBA All-Star Game MVP (2014)
All-NBA Third Team (2015)
NBA Rookie of the Year (2012)
NBA All-Rookie First Team (2012)
NBA Rising Stars Challenge MVP (2012)
NBA Three-Point Shootout champion (2013)
USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year (2014)
FIBA World Cup MVP (2014)
Now which resume looks relatively better?
Everyone knew Kyrie was a stud even after he finished college... No one was worried whether or not he could or not play in the NBA. It was a matter of his injury history in high school and college that had people worried.