BOSTON -- Antoine Walker has again come up a few votes short for a spot on the Eastern Conference All-Star team. His coach called the snub a "travesty" which, given Walker's numbers, is a pretty fair assessment.

	If Antoine Walker goes down, the Sports Guy's fantasy team -- and his favorite team -- are in big trouble.

A more accurate judgment: Walker can put up whatever numbers he pleases, but until his team wins, and until he cleans up his act on the court, he will have a hard time with any popular vote. He remains a talented, versatile, but still unlikable player.

The fans didn't think Walker was All-Star worthy; they voted him seventh among forwards in the Eastern Conference. Then again, the fans also voted in two starters who are both out for the season. Walker's best hope was in the coaches' selection, but they Mutombo'd him, choosing only two forwards out of seven reserves.

It's not about Walker's numbers. It can't be. He is a slam-dunk if you simply do a by-the-numbers evaluation. Among Eastern Conference forwards, he is second in scoring (to Glenn Robinson), fourth in rebounds, first in assists, first in minutes played, first in double-doubles and first in triple-doubles.

"I think it's a travesty," said Celtics interim coach Jim O'Brien, who, by rules, could not vote for anyone on his own team. "I take my hat off to the people who made the All-Star Game, but I think it's a travesty. If he's not one of the best players in the NBA, then I'm not paying attention."

Well, coaches do pay attention and they spoke volumes with their selections. They didn't snub Walker because he plays on a bad team. They didn't snub Walker because he doesn't have the numbers. He does have the numbers. He has more than enough numbers.

	“	I take my hat off to the people who made the All-Star Game, but I think it's a travesty. If he's not one of the best players in the NBA, then I'm not paying attention. ”
		— Celtics coach Jim O'Brien on Walker

The only explanation for Walker not being on the team is his demeanor. He need only look in the mirror to understand the snub. There was an incident this past week which again illustrates why this enormously gifted athlete is so unpopular.

In the closing minute of a very rewarding Celtics' win over Detroit on Monday night, Walker had the ball at halfcourt. He started doing some show-off dribbling in the face of Ben Wallace, who responded with a hard foul. Walker then started to laugh. He laughed at Wallace. He laughed at the Pistons. He laughed as went to the free-throw line for what were supposed to be two window-dressing free throws.

Two Detroit players, Chucky Atkins and Jerry Stackhouse, both came up to Walker as he prepared to shoot and started jawing with him. Eventually, referee Michael Smith stepped in and gave technicals to Walker and Stackhouse. That also happened to be the second technical of the night for Walker, so he headed to the locker room. He did so with a smile on his face, with his arm raised in triumph.

That is exactly the kind of behavior that coaches don't forget. Walker has been a streaming trash talker since he came into the league, which hardly makes him unusual. But the NBA is a league where you have to walk the walk as well as talk the talk. The Celtics, in case you haven't noticed, are still crawling. So all that trash talking simply makes Walker an irritating lout.

He is always in the face of officials. If they had a vote, he'd never make the team. And there still is an over-riding feeling around the league that Walker remains an untamed, out-of-control self-absorbed player who takes too many bad shots and makes too many bad decisions. You never, ever, heard his name mentioned as a potential Olympic fill-in when players started dropping last year.

Fair or unfair, that is the prevailing league-wide view of Walker. Throw that in with his occasional behavioral lapse and you have a player who makes himself very hard to embrace. The guess here is that most of the coaches who didn't put him on the All-Star team could and would find a spot for him in their rotation. But in what essentially is a popularity contest for a over-hyped marketing event, Walker is perceived as the veritable skunk at the garden party.

	Stackhouse

	Marbury

	Pierce

"Sometimes, his antics work against 'Toine," conceded former Celtics coach M.L. Carr. "But he still should be on that team."

We were all told before the coaches' selections were announced that the Celtics' record would work against Walker, as well as Paul Pierce. We could accept that until we saw the selectees. Stephon Marbury is playing no better than Walker and have you happened to notice where the Nets are lately? Watching the mighty Wizards in their rear-view mirror. Stackhouse is on the team because he's among the league leaders in scoring. But he's putting up numbers for a bad team -- which always was an argument against Walker -- and he sometimes has a shot selection process that makes Walker look discriminating.

Then there's the spin that this is payback to the Celtics for their roles in the coup that toppled Rick Pitino. But that would only work if the coaches actually cared about the recent putsch in Boston. That could even be construed as a sympathy vote for Walker, given his loathing of Pitino and the fact that Pitino kept him on the floor in the final minutes of his last game, a blowout loss in Miami. And look what happened in the Western Conference? Denver mutineer Antonio McDyess was selected, as well he should have been.

Walker has been playing exceptional basketball in the O'Brien era. All of this has played out against a tough, personal background in which he has had to make three trips to Chicago to care for his ailing grandmother. The woman died Tuesday, so chances are Walker has other things on his mind than not being chosen to play in the All-Star game. Walker was close to the woman, who helped raise him on the mean streets of Chicago.

But unless Commissioner David Stern chooses Walker with one of his two picks to replace Mourning and Hill, All-Star weekend will again be one of all watching and no playing for the 24-year-old Walker. Looking at the available candidates, that doesn't seem likely to occur. He didn't get the support of the fans and he didn't get the support of his coaches. They didn't care about numbers and Stern probably doesn't either. That's all Walker has working for him, but, as we've already seen, it's clearly not enough.

Peter May, who covers the NBA for the Boston Globe, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.