Every Celtic fan I know had (at least) a little man crush on Bill Walker when he played for the C’s. Every Celtic fan I know also had beef with Doc Rivers for never giving Walker his shot.

Not that we ever had any real evidence for our opinion. Almost a year after Walker was traded away in the Eddie House-Nate Robinson swap, Walker still hasn’t accomplished anything substantial in his career. His numbers so far this year (4.3 points, 2.0 rebounds, 15.6 minutes) do nothing to support the notion that Rivers should have played Walker at all. But then Walker goes and does something like this, and we remember when we salivated in unison and chanted for him to enter the game.

With hops like that, we Celtics fans wondered, why couldn’t Walker have filled in for Paul Pierce or Ray Allen when the C’s starting wings were both playing 55 minutes per game? (Wait, they can’t play that many minutes — there’s only 42 minutes in a game. Right, Zach Randolph?) Why didn’t Walker deserve at least a few shifts here and there? We clamored for Doc to play Walker every day. Never mind the fact that he wasn’t ready, that he was raw. He could dunk!

Even now, many months since Walker has been my worry, I still complain that Doc Rivers never played the youngin’. But I wrote this post to tell Doc one thing: you were right, we were wrong. Walker wasn’t ready to contribute, back when Doc kept him stapled to the bench. Even with dunks like these, dunks that cause a Twitter earthquake, he still isn’t. If we weren’t so blinded by his superhuman springs, we would have realized that too.

On second thought, Doc, maybe he should have played a few minutes here and there? That’s the way to develop, no?

Oh man. Even now, I remain confused and angered and bedazzled by Bill Walker. Maybe I should just let his memory go and simply enjoy his dunks from now on.

P.S. – Happy 26th birthday, Perk. I don’t believe there’s a much better present than seeing your arch-nemesis get crammed on.

After the jump, Paul Millsap picks the world up and drops it on its head. Read more »