Re: Notes from the Globe

[Andy Shaw <shaw@transmeta.com>]

|   Date: Wed, 04 Aug 1999 20:11:52 EDT
|   From: 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 agree, and I'd rather have Houston also ...

|   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.

Both Kobe and Ray Allen are better than Mercer.

Mercer can't or doesn't want to:

1. shoot the 3
2. drive
3. post up
4. create his own shot
5. defend
6. play within the system

I don't blame Pitino at all.

My question is whether Pitino is going to be able to change the system
to fit the players he has, instead of trying to force his system onto
them.

That will be the sign of whether he's an all-time great coach, or
whether he's just a clever and determined guy who's figured out one
weakness in the college system and exploited it ...

-Andy