Mabye better question to ask is why did Maloofs hire Walton in the first place? The official story is after they hired Jim Gray for PT duty he told Joe and Gavin about Walton's recent difficulties - back surgery and downslide of late in his B-Ball announcing career. The Kings owners called Bill up and immediately offered him a PT job on Kings TV and radio. The unofficial story is that MSE is looking to eventually replace some or all of Kings announcers as Jerry Reynolds and Gary Gerrold near retirement and Grant Napear continues to be at best a controversial figure in Sac sports broadcasting circles.
I recall vividly when Bill Walton was teamed often with Steve "Snapper" Jones on NBA broadcasts 10-15 years ago. Jones was a perfect foil and not intimitated one bit by Walton's comical but also egotistical personality. He would let him go on and on but when Bill stepped out of line with a huge exaggeration or something completely off the wall, Snapper would snap back and put the Big Redhead in his place with some caustic humor. No one on Kings broadcasts comes close to handling Walton the way Snapper did. Least of all humorless sour puss Napear, althought Reynolds likes to clown back and forth if given the opening. Bottom line for me is, hiring of Walton was much more about the latest gimmic by Maloofs to try and look for something, anything to get some excitement going with Kings fans who - let's face it - are in an ongoing rather depressed or at least disinterested mood.
