Walker trying to move on after robbery

MIAMI -- Antoine Walker is used to being a target.

He’s been a lightning rod for criticism at every stop in his NBA career -- Boston, Atlanta, Dallas and Miami. Hearing a sporadic boo or two from fans hasn’t been an uncommon occurrence. And he was briefly suspended last season by coach Heat coach Pat Riley over missed conditioning goals.

Walker accepts all that, knowing it comes with the job. But being a target in your own home -- not knowing if you’re going to live or die -- is something no one is ever prepared for, and that’s the situation Walker found himself in one day this summer.

“The one place you always feel safe at is in your home,” Walker said.

That wasn’t the case in the early evening of July 9.

As he was leaving the house in his native Chicago, four masked robbers attacked. They bound Walker and another person with duct tape, holding them at gunpoint while rummaging through the home, eventually leaving with cash and jewelry and using one of Walker’s luxury cars to get away.

“You never know what guys with guns will do to you in that type of situation,” Walker said. “Luckily I was able to remain calm and they got out, an in-and-out kind of situation. The longest 15 or 20 minutes of my life. But you move on.”

You also move out; Walker hasn’t slept at that house since and is currently trying to sell the property.

Four suspects have since been indicted on charges of robbery, home invasion with a firearm and aggravated kidnapping. All have pleaded not guilty, and two of the suspects in the Walker case are also accused of committing a similar robbery at the home of New York Knicks forward Eddy Curry in a Chicago suburb this summer.

Walker left the Chicago area for a couple of weeks afterward, both out of concern for his safety and to clear his head. Now he’s at his regular-season home in Miami, getting set for another year with the Heat and saying the robbery is behind him.

“Just moving on,” Walker said. “Happy to be here, playing basketball, doing what I love to do.”

The 31-year-old forward who played a key role in Miami’s run to the 2006 NBA championship is entering his 12th season, the third with the Heat. He’d been a starter in all but 15 games of his pro career before coming to Miami, where he’s come off the bench in all but 34 of his 160 regular-season appearances.

Of course, as he’s morphed from being a first or second scoring option to a less-marquee role in Miami, his numbers have dropped. He averaged career-lows in scoring (8.5 points per game) and minutes (23.3) last season, yet that doesn’t mean he’s not still a valued member of the Heat rotation.

If nothing else, Riley wants to see more from Walker.

“He’s versatile. Obviously, he needs to get off to a better start, a much better start, than he did last year,” Riley said. “But he wasn’t the only one. He’s the one that got picked out by everybody. We had pretty much all of our perimeter players in the month of November get off to a bad start.”

And the new season also got off to a bad start for Walker. He was not allowed to practice when the Heat opened camp Tuesday because he missed a team-mandated conditioning goal. Walker, who was briefly suspended by Riley last season over his body-fat level, was back at practice Wednesday.

Still, Riley is convinced that Walker has managed to mentally overcome the anguish that followed the night his home was invaded -- and hopes a relaxed ‘Toine is a productive ‘Toine.

“He bounced back, I think, pretty good,” Riley said. “After the incident I talked to him a couple times. He’s very thankful and fortunate that something crazy didn’t happen. You can lose your possessions and all that stuff. It doesn’t mean anything. You can always get them back. I think he’ll be a little more vigilant about who he’s around and where he goes. But I haven’t sensed any traumatic impact.”

There doesn’t seem to be one.

Walker spoke candidly about the robbery for about 10 minutes at the team’s media day on the eve of training camp, even breaking into laughter when he asked a group of reporters if they knew anyone looking for a house. (He’s not willing to take a loss, he quipped.)

And even though he’s been robbed before in Chicago -- three armed men approached a vehicle he was in seven years ago and demanded cash and valuables, including a $55,000 wristwatch -- Walker says he isn’t moving out of the city. He isn’t getting a bodyguard, either, even though he acknowledges that high-earning athletes and entertainers are often targeted.

He’s simply thinking about the season now, thankful he escaped that night relatively unscathed.

“I’ve gotten over it,” Walker said. “I’ve had two months to get myself together and get myself mentally prepared to play basketball, and I’ve done that.”