armageddon wrote:With all respect, you don't send a 20 year old US player to a foreign country to play ball against a bunch of men who don't give a **** about you. No way he develops over there. He's good enough to get playing time on many teams not named Celtics and if his agent is any good, he'll force a trade first.
They handled Pruitt nicely and with respect last year. I'd assume they'd do the same here. $400K and the 15th roster spot, not a big deal. But first they need to get those knees ready to play.
I too will be surprised if Billfromboston is right on this one. It might, or might not, be a good idea to send Walker overseas to play, but I have a hard time believing it is going to happen.
OTOH, from the contract wording posted above, it is possible that Walker could play in the NBDL *without* without taking up a roster slot on the Celtics. If the C's don't actually *sign* him, but do help place him with an NBDL team he could play there for a year without taking a roster spot and the C's could still sign him prior to the day of the 2009 draft. The money might not be good, and Walker might not go for it.
No, I think when Danny talked about Billy being better than he's every been with proper organization, development and rehab he meant it. What I think Walker gets this year is the Perkins' Plan. I for see for Walker, lots of work with the trainers rehabing and strengthening those knees and the rest of his body plus lots of work with assistant coaches on the fundamentals of dribbling, passing and shooting, interspersed with stints in the NBDL like Gabe got.