Walker situation a reminder of the past
Monday’s big news out of New York, that the
Knicks will take
Kemba Walker out of the rotation entirely, was just more proof of how quickly the
NBA landscape can pivot. Just 15 months ago, he looked poised to break out as a playoff star.
It’s easy to forget now because of how the last year-plus has gone for Walker, but he opened the 2020 postseason with a streak of excitement. Thrilled for his first chance to build a deep playoff run, he averaged 24.3 points per game on 49.3-percent shooting during a first-round sweep of Philadelphia. Early in Boston’s second-round matchup with Toronto, his numbers were again close to that mark. The
Raptors even respected Walker enough to use a box-and-1 defense against him while
Jayson Tatum and
Jaylen Brown were also on the court.
Times didn’t stay that good. Walker’s left knee bothered him more and more as that playoff run continued. The Celtics fell to the
Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals, then lost
Gordon Hayward to free agency. Walker went on a plan to strengthen his knee, but never could recover his previous form. After the point guard failed to stay healthy through the end of last season, the Celtics traded Walker in June. It was the first move
Brad Stevens made while in charge of the Boston front office, and it now looks better than ever. Give Stevens credit for moving on from Walker before his contract became even more difficult to deal, but the Celtics still have a lot of work to do even to return to where they were just 15 months ago with Walker as one of their stars.
The news Monday led me to reflect on Walker’s brief stay with the Celtics. Considering everything that has transpired, I now believe these two clashing ideas to be true:
1. Walker briefly helped put the Celtics on the shortlist of teams with a title chance.
Even with him and Hayward both banged up, Boston almost reached the finals in 2020. With a plus-6.3 net rating despite some bad injury luck, that year’s Celtics team had the statistical profile of a fringe contender. If Walker and Hayward had both been at full strength when it mattered, well, who knows. The Celtics would not have been favored against
LeBron James and
Anthony Davis, but were one of the few teams that season with a legitimate shot — although in their case, a long shot — to win a championship. Walker helped make that possible even after the Celtics lost
Kyrie Irving,
Al Horford, Marcus Morris,
Terry Rozier and
Aron Baynes to free agency during the same offseason.
2. Signing Walker still wasn’t smart business for the Celtics.
Walker’s knees may have been damaged before he ever signed with Boston. Even if they weren’t, his ability to age gracefully was always in question. For a 6-foot point guard, any loss of shiftiness or explosiveness promised to cause major issues. Unfortunately for him, we’ve seen that play out over the last couple of seasons.
After Irving and Horford decided to leave, the Celtics had a chance to pivot into a youth movement. They could have done everything possible to build around Tatum and Brown, hoping to set up the franchise to peak when those two were beginning to hit their primes. Instead, the Celtics took a chance on an aging point guard who wasn’t enough to make them title favorites even at his best. The Walker era could have gone much differently if he had stayed healthy, but the downside of the signing became all too apparent instead. Even so, it was stunning to see Walker fall out of the Knicks rotation as quickly as he did.