No More Walton, Please

Add me to the list of people annoyed by Bill Walton. After listening to the former UCLA star in back-to-back nights, I was beginning to wonder if Walton watched the NBA regularly? It started with his "analysis" at the halftime of Game Six of the Pistons-Pacers series. Walton would have had you believe the Pistons were playing the worst basketball in the history of the league and the Pacers were only matched by Red Auerbach's Celtics.

Walton went on and on and on about just how putrid the defending champs were playing. You might start to take the Hall of Famer seriously, unless, of course, you happened to know what the score was. The Pacers were crushing the Pistons, 46-39. Maybe I am just too pro-Pistons, but since when is a seven point defecit on the road, against a rival, a team that must win to stay alive, while you are playing lousy ball such a horrible situation? Honestly, I thought the Pistons were in great shape at the half.

Now, I really just passed off Walton's in-studio analysis to over-reaction on both our parts. Bill grossly over-hyped the matter and, I presumed, I just was wearing my Pistons cap too tightly and jumped on his perspective too quickly. That was until the next night.

Walton, Mike Tirico and Steve Jones moved from the studio to announcing Game Six of the Suns-Mavericks. Walton picked up right where he left off the night before. Walton had the Suns dead and buried before halftime. Jason Terry and Josh Howard were just too much for the Suns. The Suns looked tired. They played no defense. They didn't make good decisions. Their bench wasn't helping. Nash was off his game. Blah, blah, blah.

I assumed Walton just didn't understand the Suns. They are not a deep team. They don't play D. Well, the certainly don't play much. They attempt to outscore you. Along the way, they make bad decisions. They also hoist a few shots that make you cringe. They can also drop forty points (and sometimes more) in a quarter. That's the nature of up-tempo hoops. Bill didn't know that?

I admit to rooting for Phoenix. I also admit that Dallas was playing wonderfully. However, just as an in-game sound bite from coach Mike D'Antoni indicated, the Suns figured the Mavs couldn't keep up their level of play. Walton did grab hold of that concept, but that's the problem with Walton's analysis. He grabs hold of everything.

Whatever the moment provides, Walton presumes will extend to the entire contest. Pacers go on a 12-0 spurt, it's the Pacers night. Jason Terry hits back-to-back threes and the Suns look tired tonight. However, when the Pistons come from behind to win in Indy, they played like champions. And when Nash zips past Terry to drain a game tying three, Nash appears to be on his game and the Suns are posting one of the greatest comebacks Walton has ever seen.

Even partner Steve Jones laughed about Walton's flip-flop analysis. It was particularly funny when Walton compared the Suns' Nash to Lance Armstrong early in the game. Walton said Nash may be the world's second best trained athlete behind the Tour de France champ. Then, as Nash missed a few shots later on, Walton suggested the league's MVP looked "tired". Jones quickly wondered aloud what happened to the world's second best conditioned athlete?

As the game progressed, and Nash's shots started to fall, Walton praised Nash's endurance, again. Jones jumped on that too, wondering if Nash was the Armstrong-like figure of early in the game or the tired player Walton suggested Nash had become a bit later?

This "what have you done for me lately" analysis makes Walton seem like he knows less about basketball than I do. Which simply cannot be correct. How can someone who played for John Wooden, won two NBA crowns and a league MVP award say such short-sighted things? You begin to think Bill might not watch any of his NBA League Pass package that he does commercials for.

Of course, by perpetually praising whomever is leading, Walton does cover himself in the end. But along the way, he sure sounds ridiculous.