Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 29, 1994                   TAG: 9405290051
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-15   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Reviewed by JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

WALTON STILL TAKING HIS SHOTS

The Bill Walton viewers see as an analyst on NBC-TV's coverage of the National Basketball Association is the same Walton they get in these 257 pages. He's opinionated and colorful, bordering on radical.

Perhaps only Walton could combine two of his favorites - the Boston Celtics and the Grateful Dead - and make it sing. Then, his personal drive to overcome a stuttering problem and fear of public speaking shows how he also was able to overcome injuries and reach the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Walton tells the stories of his career with an edge. He's respectful and humbled by much of a sport he once dominated, and in this book, he leaves no question about his likes and dislikes. For instance, he calls the performance of New York Knicks center Patrick Ewing in last year's NBA Eastern Conference final series "a disgrace."

The book explains the often-strange coexistence he had with UCLA coach John Wooden, including the time Walton used UCLA basketball office stationery to write to President Nixon and demand his resignation. And in reading about his respect for the game, it's also understandable why he once filled a jar with dirt from the basketball court on which Larry Bird grew up.

It's an easy read - at times entertaining, at times thought-provoking, at times amusing, at times stunning. And it's more entertaining than these NBA playoff games with no transition play.

Jack Bogaczyk is this newspaper's sports columnist.