Popeye Passed his Physical!

[Josh Ozersky <josh_ozersky@yahoo.com>]

We're almost out of the woods...now all that has to
happen is for Ron to report and for Antoine and Pitino
to bury the hatchet.  Don't those guys own telephones?


--- clittlefield@lycos.com wrote:
> 
> 
> 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.
> 
> 
> 

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