Antoine Walker is not about to claim he is in a better place, not when he returned Monday to AmericanAirlines with the 3-19 Minnesota Timberwolves.

But from a personal standpoint, the former Heat forward said he was glad to be away from the constant scrutiny by coach Pat Riley regarding his conditioning during his two seasons in South Florida.
“It was better for me to leave,” he said of his Oct. 24 trade from the Heat. “I wasn’t getting any positive press. Riles kept my name in the paper for some negative, back-and-forth thing.”