Re: Mercer talks about next season

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com>]

The Celtics really don't need Mercer.  What they do need is a
quality power forward and point guard.  Mercer was made obsolete
with the arrival of Pierce and the need to move Walker into
his more natural small forward position, which should take place
next season.  So, then do you bring either Pierce or Mercer
off the bench or better utilize one of them in a deal to supplant
a need?  In terms of basketball resources, dealing one for a quality
power forward or point guard makes more sense.  Pierce, it seems to me,
is a better defender than Ron and has the three point skills necessary
to stretch out a defense.  Ron's game seems to be more suited to be a
NBA small forward anyways, while Pierce has the ability to be a big
guard in the mold of Steve Smith or Michael Finley.

There are also other factors to consider:  Mercer has gone from a
Celtic-friendly
agent and also severed ties with another Pitino compadre.  The C's are
stuck with Walker because of base-salary compensation issues, so you
can't
deal him easily.  Pierce is on the cheap for the next four years, so you
don't 
want to  trade him.  If they re-sign Mercer, they may have difficult
dealing
him in the future because of the same base salary compensation issues
that
are affecting Walker.

And there's Pitino's expressed desire to add veteran players to the
team.
You have to give up something to get something, including possibly
packaging
Mercer with Anderson to move out his contract and bring a few somethings
of
quality back in return....
Ray     



> Subject: Mercer talks about next season
> Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 13:16:08 +0200
> From: j.hironaka@unesco.org
> To: celtics@igtc.com
> 
> Ron Mercer talks about next year in a game summary from the Herald
> Tribune. It sure sounds like Ron isn't going anywhere! I say we sign up
> Master P to one of our summer league teams this year, or even a 10-day
> contract if necessary.  Pitino needs to start buttering him up, because
> some in the media blame Master P's exhorbitant contract demand as the
> reason Heisman Trophy winning RB Ricky Williams wasn't the first overall
> NFL pick (or even the first overall running back drafted).
> 
> Joe
> 
> ------
> 
> Copyright Bos Herald:
> Added Mercer: ``I think everything is coming together for us right now.
> Unfortunately, it's at the end of the year. I wish we could have done
> this at the beginning of the year, but we had injuries and other things
> that we had to deal with. We realize that we're not going to make the
> playoffs, so we have to go out and get excited about something. Most
> important is that we're all Boston Celtics and we represent the
> organization, so we're going to go out and play very hard and try to get
> momentum going into next year.''