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Bob Ryan Endorses The Deal
Calls Antoine a "physically gifted time bomb."
[The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
[Boston Globe Online / Sports]
This deal right on the money
By Bob Ryan, Globe Columnist, 08/04/99
OK, it wasn't all
about the money.
It was maybe 80 percent
about the money.
''We had no desire to
trade Ron Mercer,''
maintains Rick Pitino.
(Beware. With Rick
there is sometimes a
Pinocchio effect, but
let's take him at his
word. This time.)
In a more fiscally sane world, there would
be no issue. A player of the caliber and
personality of Ron Mercer would sign with
Team X and remain there for many years.
We, of course, do not live in fiscally
sane times. We live in fiscally
preposterous times. So if you're General
Rick Pitino or Lieutenant Chris Wallace,
you do what you gotta do to salvage an
unpleasant situation. You put Mercer on
the market and see if you can get, as
Pitino puts it, ''50 cents, 60 cents, or
even 70 cents on the dollar.''
Break out the bubbly. They may have gotten
a great deal more than that.
What's happening to the Celtics happens to
every team. A kid like Mercer enters the
NBA, does very nicely, and that's all. He
sets no records, evokes no memories of
Michael Jordan, does not establish himself
as a franchise player and, in fact, tails
off a bit in Year 2 from his nice rookie
season and then decides he is worth the
maximum money available for his next
contract (i.e. Keith Van Horn's six-year,
$73 million deal).
In Mercer's case, he was clearly the
third-most important commodity on the
team. Had he been realistic, he'd still be
here. But with him declaring he would
leave after next season if he didn't have
a new contract now, and with him being
millions of dollars apart from the Celtics
from a negotiating standpoint, this was an
easy call.
The only relevant question now is this:
Are the Celtics a better team on paper
today than they were at this time two days
ago? The clear answer is yes. Danny
Fortson and Eric Williams make them so.
Mercer is good, but this particular Boston
Celtics team can live without him.
Out of context, Mercer is a better player
than Fortson. It doesn't matter. The
Celtics need what Fortson does more than
they need what Mercer does. If Williams
resembles the 1995-97 Williams, that's a
major bonus.
They also get a bookkeeping aspect of the
deal known as Eric Washington, a huge
chunk of cash, and a future No. 1 pick
from Denver that has Lieutenant Wallace
salivating. ''That could be a very nice
piece of real estate, so to speak,'' he
points out.
Mr. Fortson has never had an identity
crisis. He appears to realize that the
reason he was put on this earth was to
retrieve loose basketballs. Playing just
28 minutes a game last year, he pulled in
11 rebounds a game and was, according to
the numbers, the best offensive rebounder
in the league. Given that the Celtics
were, as Wallace puts it, ''mauled on the
boards'' last year, the addition of a
young, Oakleyesque Mr. Nasty is very
welcome.
Messrs. Fortson and Williams do something
else. Each man finds his way to the foul
line. Fortson gets there for obvious
reasons, while Williams is a prototype
slasher whose entire approach to offense
is angular. He has never seen an opening
to the hoop he didn't like. The question
with him is health. He was exiled to
Denver the first time because his training
habits angered the coach, and he has
subsequently had the customary ACL knee
surgery. He didn't do much of anything
after returning to action last year.
But General Pitino says that Williams has
become a ''weight-room monster.'' He says
that extensive research reveals Williams
to be a completely humbled and matured
man. He assures us that Williams has paid
all the dues, learned all the lessons, and
made all the amends. Again, remember to
address all future complaints to the
General, not to this newspaper.
The Celtics are better than they were at
the end of last season, but they are still
a marginal playoff team, at best, and they
still have not addressed a need Pitino
identified on many occasions last season.
They need a prime-of-life veteran presence
somewhere. The key players are all young.
Antoine Walker will begin the new season
at age 23. Paul Pierce? 22. Vitaly
Potapenko? 24. Tony Battie? 23. Fortson?
23. There is 32-year-old Dana Barros,
sure, but he's a fringe player. Kenny
Anderson (29)? Please.
Pitino has rashly promised the playoffs
for next season, but may we do the math
together? There were eight playoff teams
last season, so one of them must fall out.
Tell me which one. Atlanta? Perhaps.
Philadelphia? Not very likely. Go ahead.
Find a truly vulnerable team.
Then factor in Toronto and Charlotte, each
of whom performed at a playoff level last
year. And don't forget about Cleveland,
which gets Zydrunas Ilgauskas back and
will benefit from a new coach. It's going
to get a little crowded.
Of course, you'd feel a lot better about
the whole thing if the best player were
someone other than Antoine Walker. As he
enters his fourth year he engenders not
even a teensy-weensy bit more confidence
that he has any more of an idea what
constitutes winning behavior in this
league than he did two years ago. He
remains a physically gifted time bomb.
Opponents pay homage to his package of
physical skills while having no respect
for him as a professional. He is a perfect
example of the system's essential folly,
since he already has been financially
rewarded far beyond his actual achievement
level. He is frighteningly comfortable for
someone who has so much to learn.
How can Pitino, of all people, not see
this? The answer, we can assume, is that
he does. It would not be at all surprising
to discover that Rick Pitino wakes up each
and every morning hoping that this is the
lucky day when some foolish GM wants to
make The Deal. Antoine is still young
enough to change and grow, but it would be
nice if he would show us a sign every now
and then. The supposed best player on your
team is supposed to make you feel secure,
not nervous. (If you'd like to argue that
Pierce is already the best player, you can
look elsewhere for an argument.)
This deal with Denver is not a Bill
Russell, Kevin McHale, Dennis Johnson, or
Paul Silas move. What it does is turn a
potential double bogey into a solid par.
In the modern world of sport, that makes
it a very good day.
Bob Ryan is a Globe columnist.
This story ran on page F01 of the Boston
Globe on 08/04/99.
© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.