Mercer Article from Denver Post

[clittlefield@lycos.com]

Mercer would take physical Monday
By Vicki Michaelis
Denver Post Sports Writer

August 6 - Ron Mercer plans to be in Denver on Monday to take a physical and
attend a news conference, completing the six-player trade that will bring him to
 the Denver Nuggets from Boston.

But questions still linger over Mercer's long-term future as a Nugget.

Mercer and his representatives are interpreting the Nuggets' refusal to offer
him a contract extension immediately as a sign the Nuggets want to trade him,
agent Tevester Scott said Thursday.

"My response is that we want Ron, we traded for Ron because we think Ron can be
an all-star,'' Nuggets general manager Dan Issel said. "And if Ron comes in and
becomes an all-star for the Denver Nuggets, he will be compensated like one.''

One report out of Boston on Thursday said that Miami Heat coach Pat Riley called
 Issel earlier this week, expressing an interest in Mercer. Issel called that
report untrue.

"I didn't talk to anybody who wanted to trade for him, and we don't want to
trade him. We traded for him so that he would be a Denver Nugget,'' Issel said.

If the Nuggets neither trade Mercer nor sign him to an extension before the
start of the 1999-2000, they can expect him to test the free-agent market next
summer, Scott said. Scott is aware that the Nuggets would be in the position to
offer Mercer the biggest contract of any team at that time, but he contends that
 "a lot of other teams could offer him a lot, too.''

Yet, under the NBA's new salary structure, few teams have the salary-cap room to
 lure premier free agents, especially to pay the kind of money Mercer is likely
to demand. Mercer is eligible for a maximum salary of $9 million per season.

This off-season only the Los Angeles Clippers, Chicago and Toronto had enough
money to sign a free agent to anything approaching that figure. There are likely
 to be even fewer teams in that category next summer.

Issel has not wavered on his stance that the Nuggets will not discuss an
extension with Mercer before this season begins.

Issel last talked to Mercer and his agents on Tuesday. Nuggets assistant general
 manager Denny McGowan talked to both Mercer and Scott on Thursday.

"Ron was exactly the way he was with me - he was looking forward to coming in,
and he was excited,'' Issel said of Mercer's conversation with McGowan.

Another player headed to Denver from Boston, 6-8 forward Popeye Jones, was in
Denver on Thursday to take his physical. He passed, although he's still
rehabilitating from arthroscopic surgery on his left knee that sidelined him for
 all but 18 games last season.

"I'm not back to 100 percent,'' said Jones, who plans to return to Denver next
week and stay through the start of training camp in order to work on the knee
with the Nuggets. "It's just needing strength right now.''

The third player headed to the Nuggets in the trade, center Dwayne Schintzius,
will not take a physical. The Nuggets have waived that condition of the trade,
further evidence they plan to cut Schintzius.

The only thing holding up the completion of the trade, then, is the sticky
situation with Mercer, for which Scott is not blaming the Nuggets. Rather, he
fingered Celtics president and head coach Rick Pitino.

"It's not Denver's fault. It's totally Rick Pitino's fault,'' Scott said. "You
can't believe anything that he says.''

According to Scott, Pitino led Mercer's representatives to believe the Celtics
were going to deal with any one of a number of other teams, some of whom may
have been willing to give Mercer an extension immediately.

"There were other teams we knew wanted Ron, who were willing to work a really
good deal and wanted to go ahead as soon as he got there and sign him,'' Scott
said.

Pitino has said he was forced to make the trade because he didn't think the
Celtics and Mercer could agree on a contract extension.

Scott said Pitino talked to Mercer alone at one point last month and offered him
 a six-year, $25 million deal. Mercer told Pitino to call his representatives,
and when he did, Pitino suggested he might go to $30 million.

"That's disrespectful to Ron,'' said Scott, who would neither confirm nor deny
countering with a demand for the maximum - more than $70 million over six years.

Whatever the numbers, Mercer's contract talk won't resume until next summer. If
he passes a physical before the 4 p.m. Monday deadline, he will be a Nugget.

How long, nobody knows.