Celtics Central

The locker room before games is usually much calmer than after. Maybe that’s for obvious reasons.

Sometimes you get to have a quieter conversation with a player. Sometimes you don’t, and it turns into a mini-press conference with a player holding court when 4 or 5 other reporters will join in.

It’s a bit of a weird dance actually that the reporters and players engage in, if you stand around and observe it happening.

I say that because I haven’t really engaged rookie Bill Walker in conversation much at all this season. Honestly, there wasn’t any ‘official’ information that I wanted to get from him and be the first to share with you. Other writers have done well enough with all the main stuff you’d like to know, I think.

For our more casual readers, Bill Walker is a rookie 6′ 6″ small forward from Kansas State University. He was drafted in the second round (17th pick, 47th overall) by the Washington Wizards and shortly after traded to the Celtics…for cash.

He was famed earlier in his basketball life as the running mate and friend of O.J. Mayo in high school. But Walker was carving out his own reputation as a bonfide NBA prospect along the way. His college running mate at Kansas State was the second pick overall in this past draft, Michael Beasley. With such a big time game, why so low in the draft? Two ACL knee injuries (one in each knee) and two operations is the answer.

Probably due to the success with Leon Powe, another high school stud who had injury issues,(who was top 5 rated in the U.S. according to one source), Danny said, let’s try it again with a guy who had a big time game, a top 20 rating, and ran into injuries and surgery in college.

Speaking of injuries, with all the Celtic players out (particularly Tony Allen), Walker has been getting a bit of regular playing time of late. As he will readily admit, the offensive end of the game has come easier, and less is expected, than on the defensive side of things.

He was at his cubicle and just finished having a bite to eat. I think Stephon Marbury and Ray Allen were ‘holding court’ with most of the media. It was one of those somewhat rare times for a low key conversation.

With the minutes you have been getting lately, what has Doc been telling you to work on?

He’s just been telling me to play hard. Put more of my energy toward the defensive end, because, right now, I don’t have to be a scorer on this team. Just go in and make an impact on the defensive end.

How is it different playing defense here than in college?

It’s a world of difference. There are so many things that you have to be aware of, because…..if one person moves then you have to move in unison. The weak link always gets scored on. Sometimes it’s me.

Would you say that it’s because you’re caught with trying to stay with your man?

No, it’s not knowing where you’re supposed to move to, or you know, but you’re just a step late. It’s in the back of your head, and watching film, it’s getting a little easier to adapt to.

So, ‘it’s basically “helping the helper.”

Exactly.

That is probably the easiest misconception a casual viewer will make when they see an open player score. They will assume it is that man’s main defender who isn’t doing his job. That can be true. But, more often, that man had to go help on another player and someone else didn’t slide over to cover the man left open. That is especially true with the type of defense the Celtics play.

It’s said that Doc spends more time on defense in practice than offense. So what is the hardest thing to learn? Pick and roll defense?

Just the awareness. You have to guard a man and see everything that’s going on. I think that’s the biggest difference between the pro program and the college program.

In college, you can just hug a man and watch. this is more…because of that three seconds that…if somebody pulls over I have to be ready to help. You have to come from so far away, it’s just being aware.

Offensively, are you happy with what you’ve been able to do so far?

(calmly) I just play to my strengths. I’m a slasher, and I can hit mid range jumpers. I don’t do anything that’s out of my (range). The shots I get are within the offense. I’m around the basket.

What are you looking for this year and going forward from here?

Just keep learning from this experience, learning from the veteran guys and (more much animated) win a championship. I want to be part of a championship team.

We are spoiled in Boston right now. How few players, let alone rookies, can say that they’ve played on a championship team. It is a once-in-a-lifetime (make that – hopefully – at least twice) experience. Many players would kill for that chance.

What did you think when you got drafted?

I got drafted by the Wizards. I didn’t know what to think.

Then shortly after you were traded to Boston…

I still didn’t know what to think. You know…you see it (the NBA) on TV, it looks totally different than real life……it’s totally different game. The speed of the game is crazy. There are so many good players out there. You’re kind of nervous at first. Man…..am i good enough? You just got to get out there…

Have you had a moment when you felt like you definitely belonged, or is that moment yet to come?

Uhm…I believed I was always going to be in the NBA..ever since I started playing basketball as a kid. But you know, when you get here, you just realize that guys are so much better than what they look like on TV

.

Paul Pierce……I didn’t know he had all that footwork…you see them score, but you don’t know (the nuances of) how they do it, even the off balance stuff is planned. It’s crazy.

Who, outside of the Celtics has surprised you this year at better/stronger than you thought?

Hmm….I’d say Dwight Howard. I mean, he’s huge. I didn’t think he was that big. Shaq…Shaq’s unfair. (laughs).

How about on the court, someone you would man up against, that you would say, wow, he is really good.

Ummm…..Watching what Kobe did at the Garden. Watching what he did unconsciously. That would probably be the guy.

Again, just seeing it all in real time and seeing how calm he is at all times. Just looks like he’s going through the motions. He makes it look easy in person, (compared to TV). He’s so calm.

Well, we’ll have to give him a pass on the Kobe reference. I wasn’t even sure whether I should print that answer on the East Coast. Hey let’s just call it a rookie mistake. He gets a do-over on a later date, okay?

Bill Walker says the game and players are even better in real life than they appear on TV. Like warnings on mirrors on cars, maybe there should be a sign posted in locker rooms that says – Caution: Players are better than they appear.

That is a lot of humility from a player that you might not expect it from. Bill is not known as a shrinking violet on the court. In fact it might seem strange to hear those quotes from him.

Instead, in hard-nosed physicality, he has already stood his ground and then some with his own team mate Kevin Garnett in pre-season, LeBron James, and Jermaine O’Neal to name a few of the league’s top stars he has rubbed shoulders hard with. As a rookie, he gets under other player’s skin with his absence of timidness.

But in this league, that is a mostly a good thing. And now Bill might be expected to play a bigger role than anyone thought at the beginning of the season, come play-off time. He can put in the hoop. He just has to continue to work and get the pro defense down to where he can be trusted to hold the fort when Paul goes out.

He is now one of those players that is really better than he appears on TV. With as much aggressiveness as the Celtics need, and more humility than one might expect, Bill Walker wants to win a championship. He will get the chance to make that dream come true, and be part of it making it happen.

As Bill says about the game itself, when you see Bill Walker getting all up in someone’s grill on TV, he’s even better than what he looks like on TV.