Mercer

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

I don't think many of us really want to trade Mercer unless we could really 
rip another team off and get a really great player. The points that have been
made are that Mercer has a lot of improving to do before he can be considered a
very good shooting guard, let alone an All-Star.

There's a lot of aspects of his game to be improved; many people focus on
three-point shooting because that's a typical role that a shooting guard fills
and that Mercer could clearly use some work in. It's not going to make or break
him as a player. As for Kim's point about the three-pointer being a 
low-percentage shot, to accurately measure that, you should multiply the 
three-point shooting percentage by 1.5 to compare it with two-pointers. This is 
something that Pitino figured out when the line was introduced in college, and 
that is why his teams put up so many three-pointers (with a lot of success).

There are 20 shooters in the league who shot better than 40% from the 3-pt line, 
which is the equivalent of 60% from 2-pt range (which no one in the league 
averages). For these types, who take it intelligently, the three-pointer is 
really a "high-percentage" shot. If Mercer could develop that sort of range, it
would make him a more complete player and definitely help the team. For
instance, if the team in general shot better from 3-pt range, other teams would
be hesitant to sag down on defense and double-team Walker while giving up the 
perimeter shot - a strategy that worked pretty well in many games this year.
Right now the team usually only has one real three-point threat on the floor (at
point guard). I don't count Walker because it doesn't really help the team when
he's the one putting up three-pointers.

The other thing that Pitino has mentioned about the three-point shot is that
when the clock is running down and your offense is stalling, you might as well
take a low-percentage three rather than a low-percentage two-pointer.

James Meninno focused on ball handling as the top priority which was a very 
perceptive comment. In fact, that may be Pitino's primary focus for Mercer also. 
I remember that he mentioned that Mercer had to develop some dribble moves to 
become a great scorer. Definitely that would help the team a lot also, to have 
another player besides Walker who can create his own offense.

Alex