Former Celt, Heat champ Antoine Walker talks team culture in mid-2000s

The Miami Heat and Boston Celtics have long been Eastern Conference rivals, but Antoine Walker recalls when their cultures couldn’t have been much further apart.

The Boston Celtics and Miami Heat have a boatload of history between them going back to the days when their current GMs — Danny Ainge and Pat Riley, respectively — were themselves enmeshed the Los Angeles Lakers – Celtics rivalry of the 1980s.

And while the connections that would see the Lakers – Celtics rivalry morph into a Miami – Boston one through their general managers in the 2010s were established by the midway point of the previous decade, the Celtics’ roster hadn’t quite caught up to Ainge’s intentions of resurrecting his former team to contention status by that point.

Boston had wallowed in a decade of mediocrity many younger fans would have a hard time recognizing based on the values of the team under Ainge, and former Celtic forward Antoine Walker recently talked about the stark difference in culture he recalled upon changing teams in free agency.

Speaking in an interview with Heavy.com’s Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson for the “Heavy Live With Scoop B Show”, Employee No. 8 (as Walker was sometimes called) opened a window on just how far the Celtics had fallen before Ainge got his hands on the franchise.

And how Riley had used his head start with the Heat to nab a title for Miami while the Celtics were still cleaning up the cobwebs.

“It was unbelievable for me,” exclaimed Walker.

“When I was in Boston, it was all about ‘Let’s get back to the playoffs, let’s become a consistent playoff team'” he explained. “The championship was always kind of a long shot in the mindset, well at least my mindset.”

“I was like, ‘Man I just want to go to the playoffs and see how we can do in the playoffs and be on the big stage.’ Then suddenly as a free agent you sign with Shaq and D-Wade and that’s their only goal … a title. It’s a different preparation, it’s a different mindset and not only that, I’m playing with Gary Payton, Alonzo Mourning, James Posey, Jason Williams, Udonis Haslem … I’m playing with all guys that are in the prime of their career or at the end of their career and all they care about is the championship.”

“My mindset had to change and I was just proud of myself that I was able to lock in to that type of team and being able to be a big part of what we were able to accomplish,” added the Kentucky product.

“It was everything to me,” said Walker, “and I would always tell people it was the funnest year that I have ever played as a pro.”

The former Celtic’s years in Boston were marked by the fallout of the team’s bad luck with players like Len Bias and Reggie Lewis compounded by poor team management under Rick Pitino and others.

He, Paul Pierce and Kenny Anderson managed to make a deep run once during his Boston tenure, but it would take Ainge three more seasons after Walker left the team in free agency to right the ship.

Nearly a decade and a half later, both franchises have added to their banner collections, and face off this Tuesday in the East Finals as Riley and Ainge have another go at facing off yet again in their respective quests for another title.

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