Re: Notes from the Globe

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

The thing is that Mercer is not as good a player as Kittles or Finley. 
Well, Kittles had a pretty wretched year but if you look at his first
two year, he's statistically superior to Mercer - great three point
shooter, and he rebounds better too, which is hard to believe since he's
such a skinny guy; beyond that he's supposedly an excellent defender.
New Jersey also may have overpaid due to the "David Falk effect" after
getting Marbury.

Finley is just flat out better all-around though I suppose that may not
have been the case when he got his contract. 

I can see Mercer's side though; he sees Kittles who had a horrible year
and still got $52M. He see Kobe and Ray Allen get the max. Anyways, I don't
feel too bad for him because Denver's probably going to end up giving him
a fat contract.

You are right too, Pitino was going to change the makeup of the team 
regardless of what Mercer wanted. He just threw out a low offer; if 
Mercer accepts, it simply increases his value in a future trade. Even 
before any negotiations, Pitino had hinted about his desire to move Walker 
to 3 and Pierce to 2. So Mercer wasn't in the Celtics' long term plans.

Alex

> Hm. I could see how they'd be floored by $30 mil -- that's even less than Joe
> H theorized. I mean, $5 million a year is nothing to sneeze at, but if he sees
> himself in the same category as Kittles or Finley, they make around $52
> million, so maybe $60 mil was a start-high opening point. What was the max he
> could have received, $72 mil? So at least we know (or think we know) that he
> wasn't asking for that. (Anderson reportedly is seeking $60 mil too, and IMO
> has less reason than Mercer to demand it.)
> 
> I'm a little surprised the Celtics wouldn't feel he was worth anything close
> to Kittles/Finley money. Allen Houston is around that neighborhood too, as I
> recall. I'm sure Denver will give him that. Which just reiterates my belief
> that the Celtics didn't want Mercer back at any price; that they felt he
> couldn't coexist with Pierce and Walker (or Pitino?) and needed a rebounder
> instead. I'm sure they could have done $50 million if they'd wanted to --
> that's $8.3 mil a year, which falls well under Gaston's alleged "allowance" 
> to Pitino. I'll bet Mercer would have gone for that.