I don't know if this has been linked here already or not, so please forgive if this is redundant. I thought this piece captured the side of Walton that IMO made him standout beyond his basketball greatness and maybe was a significant part of his basketball greatness and perhaps to large measure may have also fueled his broadcasting style (which I mostly enjoyed). Basketball in it's most glorious state is a team game run with a high degree of improvisation. Great jazz music relies on it and The Grateful Dead lived by it and perhaps that's what was most attractive for Bill.