Few gamers in NBA historical past present as a lot comedic reduction as Antoine Walker.

And it is smart. He was a goofy dude, with a funky-looking physique (extra on that later), and he took a ton of pictures (extra on that, a effectively). And generally, these pictures have been extremely unwarranted. Heck, by no means as soon as in his 12-year profession was his capturing effectivity (measured by true capturing) at or above league common.

However what if there was extra to Toine than simply jokes and perplexing shot choice? What if he served as a bridge between the outdated basketball regime and the longer term? And what if possibly his sport represented one of the vital distinctive participant sorts the league has ever seen? Let’s discover out.

(Sidebar: For the sake of simplicity, we’ll focus totally on his 2001-02 season with the Boston Celtics).

Many individuals (myself included) view Rashard Lewis as the primary full-time stretch 4 in NBA historical past. However almost a decade earlier than Lewis helped propel the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals, it was Walker who was beginning at energy ahead and hoisting up threes like there was no tomorrow.

In 2001-02, his 9.8 threes per 100 possessions put him within the 98th percentile in 3-point makes an attempt in the whole league (trailing solely Ray Allen and Jason Williams). His affinity for three-point capturing made him the proper participant to pair with then Boston Celtics head coach Jim O’Brien – a long-time disciple of Rick Pitino (a coach who, amongst different issues, had a fame for prioritizing the three ball).

Critics wish to level to Walker’s subpar three-point capturing percentages (34.4% in 2001-02) as an indication that he was misguided in taking all these pictures. Nonetheless, what these people fail to appreciate is the context surrounding these threes.

The early 2001-02 Celtics have been a defensively-slanted workforce that relied on Walker and a younger Paul Pierce to buoy their offense. A 34.4 % Walker three-point shot is price 1.03 factors per possession. That interprets to an offensive score of about 103. And guess what? Throughout that season, the Celtics as a workforce averaged an offensive score of 103.4 (good for 18th within the NBA). So, the effectivity of a Walker three wasn’t that a lot of a deviation from their regular offense.

One other factor individuals usually miss about Walker’s capturing is the varieties of pictures he was taking. In 2001-02, 91 % of his made threes have been assisted. That signifies that he wasn’t simply dribbling up the court docket and chucking up pictures. He was catch and shoot taking jumpers throughout the movement of the offense.

Walker was one of many few gamers throughout that point (together with Reggie Miller) who would run in transition and find himself on the three-point line.

Regardless of his burly construct, Walker beloved to get out and run in transition, each as a finisher (like within the clips above) and as an initiator. Regardless of boasting a top-5 protection, the Celtics completed fifth in tempo in 2001-02 (being a superb defensive workforce normally slows down your workforce’s general tempo).

Talking of initiating, Walker was a extremely underrated passer. Take this clip, for example. Right here he receives the ball within the submit and sees the double coming. However as an alternative of creating the cross to the now-open Kenny Anderson instantly, he waits till Aaron Williams turns his head to tag his man (in order that he can’t rotate over as rapidly), and when he does, he darts the ball proper in there (too dangerous Anderson smoked the layup!).

In 2001-02, Walker positioned within the 89th percentile in Ben Taylor’s Passer Score metric (a statistic that makes an attempt to estimate a participant’s passing potential on an ‘roughly’ 1-10 scale), with a rating of 6.8 (per Thinkingbasketball.internet). For some perspective on how spectacular that’s for his place, the one energy forwards/facilities (as characterised by Basketball Reference) forward of him that season have been Robert Horry and Vlade Divac.

Throughout his time, individuals tried to color Walker as a bumbling neanderthal, however in actuality, he was a extremely cerebral basketball participant. One who not solely understood the mathematical benefit three-pointers supplied, however may additionally map the ground and use his supreme confidence as a scorer/shooter to create appears to be like for his teammates.

You see, even along with his subpar effectivity numbers, defenses nonetheless reacted to Walker like he was a fantastic scorer/shooter. And due to that, he was in a position to create open appears to be like for his teammates that they in any other case wouldn’t have been in a position to receive (bear in mind, outdoors of Pierce, the Celtics’ offensive personnel was fairly lackluster).

On this subsequent clip, Walker drives previous the slower Derrick Coleman, which triggers the protection collapsing within the paint, and results in an open shot for Tony Battie.

(Sidebar No. 2: Groups would additionally attempt to deliberately run Walker off the three-point line, which he would counter by driving the closeout and attacking the scrambled protection.)

One other metric created by Taylor is Field Creation, which estimates what number of pictures a participant created for his or her teammates per 100 possessions. Based on this measure, Walker created 4.8 pictures for his teammates per 100, good for the 82nd percentile in 2001-02.

Walker may shoot, drive, and kick similar to a guard. Nonetheless, the rationale I say he’s the bridge between the previous and current (and why I nonetheless suppose Lewis continues to be the poster little one for the trendy stretch ahead) is as a result of whereas he performed like a contemporary ahead, he was nonetheless constructed like a classical one.

He was a mix of contemporary and old fashioned. He shot threes and attacked closeouts just like the forwards we see in 2023. However he additionally performed within the submit, defended the submit, and labored by screens like a typical Nineteen Nineties/2000s energy ahead.

And whereas his physique kind makes his sport much less like in the present day’s forwards than Lewis, Walker was in a position to do one thing Lewis by no means may. Due to his girth, Walker was in a position to sometimes function as one of many very first small-ball facilities. For his profession, he spent 7% of his common season minutes and 14% of his playoff minutes on the 5 (per Basketball Reference).

In the course of the Celtics’ 2002 run to the Jap Convention Finals, Walker spent 169 of his 703 (24 %) playoff minutes at middle. And regardless of his fame as a foul/lazy defender, the Celtics’ really held up very well. They’d the third-best protection within the postseason that yr, and that was with Walker as their de facto middle 22% of the time.

(Sidebar No. 3: From watching him, I’d say that whereas he’s extraordinarily stiff and motionless, he’s nonetheless in a position to hover round a impartial defensive impression due to his court docket mapping/IQ, energy, and sound fingers).

And by enjoying Walker on the 5, that allowed the Celtics to place extra offense on the ground – as a result of they didn’t should waste a slot on the defense-only bigs that have been commonplace of that period. As an alternative, they may give extra minutes to extra offensively-skilled guys like Rodney Rodgers, Tony Delk, and Erick Strickland. So, though they didn’t have nice offensive personnel, Walker allowed them to make up for a few of their shortcomings by placing extra of their higher offensive gamers on the ground directly.

Certainly, Walker was a flawed participant. He was inefficient, took some pictures he shouldn’t have, and struggled mightily to navigate screens and defend in house (which restricted the Celtics’ potential to change).

However he was additionally the proper participant in a number of methods, no less than for these early 2000s Celtics. His (and Pierce’s) quantity capturing, scoring, and playmaking helped hold an in any other case uninspiring offense afloat. In the meantime, his measurement and energy contributed to an elite protection (No. 5 within the common season in defensive score and No. 3 within the playoffs), and likewise enabled Boston to cheat slightly once they wanted extra offense on the ground.

It’s okay to make enjoyable of Walker’s foolish feedback or questionable shot makes an attempt. However whenever you do it, do it from a spot of understanding. A spot of understanding that Antoine Walker was an important piece of a really profitable workforce and, extra importantly, he was one of the vital distinctive gamers the sport has ever seen.